As far as bread, tomato and cheese dishes go, the magnificent pizza remains something of an enigma. Despite the relative simplicity of the meal, a visit to many a pizza joints (especially here in Asia) will often yield unimpressive results. From, thin cracker like bases, to wet under cooked dough and greasy congealed cheese, I’ve lost count the number of times I’ve been presented with a cheesy disc of disappointment. To achieve truly exceptional results, however, the pizza aficionado needs an oven that can reach temperatures way out of range of the general kitchen. Therefore, I will take this into consideration when explaining how to produce The Best Pizza you can Make at Home!
The Best Pizza you can Make at Home
Equipment
- 1 Cleaver
Ingredients
Pizza Dough
- 500g (1lb) White Bread Flour
- 6g (1tsp) Instant Dry Yeast
- 10g (2tsp) Soft Brown Sugar
- 3g (½tsp) Salt
- 20g (1½tbsp) Olive Oil
- 325g (11oz) Luke Warm Water
- Semolina Flour
Pizza Sauce
- 400g (14oz) Tinned Italian Tomatoes
Instructions
Pizza Dough
- Place 500g of Flour, 6g of Instant Dry Yeast, 10g of Sugar, 3g of Salt, and 20g of Olive Oil in a mixing bowl and thoroughly combine
- Add 325g of Luke Warm Water and mix together until you are able to form a rough ball. Then turn it out onto a flat work surface and knead for a solid 10 minutes. Alternatively, throw everything into a stand mixer with a dough hook, and let it do its thing for 10 minutes
- Once Kneaded, return the dough ball to the mixing bowl, coat with a thin layer of Olive Oil, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap, adding a little oil to the rim to make it stick
- Leave the dough in a relatively warm place until it has doubled in size
- Then crack on with the Pizza, using the dough within 24 hours
Pizza Sauce
- Open a can of Italian Plum Tomatoes
- Dump the whole thing into a blender, and blitz until pureed. Add a touch of sugar if it's a little on the sour side
- There you go, sauce!
Building the Pizza
- Fire up your oven as high as it will go. Mine tops out at a pathetic 250℃, but I'm sure yours will go higher
- Using a pastry brush, lightly oil your designated pizza tray
- Take approximately 200g of dough per 12 inch pizza (115g for a 9 inch pizza), roll it into a tight ball, then press it into a rough disc shape
- Dust the work surface with a little semolina flour, place the dough disc in the middle and, using a rolling pin, flatten that sucker until it is at least half the size of the pizza pan, turning the dough several times so it is liberally coated in the semolina flour
- Place the dough disk in the middle of the pizza pan, then working from the middle out and turning the pan the whole time, lightly press the dough with the fleshy part of your palm, delicately pushing the dough towards the edge. This will take a little practice, but you're aiming for a thin layer of dough, leading to a thicker crust barrier that will help hold the cheese and topping in place
- Once satisfied with your doughy disc, add a big dollop of pizza sauce to the middle and spread it outwards using the back of a tablespoon, being sure to leave the thick outer edge clear so you have a place to grip the pizza slice later on
- Next, liberally cover the top with a layer of mozzarella, again leaving a gap at the outer edge
- Now that you have the basic pizza prepared, you can add whatever topping you like, in whatever quantities you desire
- Follow this up with a little salt (remember, Pepperoni and Bacon are both already quite salty) and a sprinkling of dried oregano
- Once the oven has reached its absolute maximum temperature, place your pizza on the very bottom shelf, and leave it to cook until the dough begins to brown lightly and the cheese starts to bubble. Then, carefully remove it from the metal tray with a long metal spatula, and let it cook on its own until the cheese bubbles have become a golden brown colour
- Carefully place the fine smelling cheesy disc onto your pizza board, then, using a big knife (I hate those stupid roller things) chop it into as many equally sized slices as you like
- Take a slice, close your eyes, and bask in a symphony of glorious flavours
The Finer Points of Making Pizza at Home
Pizza Sauce
One of the biggest mistakes I see in pizza making circles is over-complicating the sauce. Throughout the globe, I’ve see people boiling down concoctions containing fresh tomatoes, onions, garlic, basil, and the like. But, this over-engineering of the sauce is entirely unnecessary and does nothing to improve the flavour of the famous dish.
It’s easy to forget that tomatoes are the star of the show here, and should be given the chance to shine. Bearing this in mind, pizza makers should find a good quality tin of Italian plum tomatoes, blitz it in the blender, and use that for the pizza sauce in all its unadulterated glory. After all, should the avid pizza-maker require any additional flavours, they can add those to the topping.
Mozzarella Cheese
To clarify, I’m not going for authentic Italian pizza here, just the best you can make with common variety kitchen equipment. Therefore, I usually go for general grade mozzarella that doesn’t turn into a mess when it hits the cheese grater. Should you wish to tart things up however, then feel free to use the fanciest pizza cheese you can get your hands on.
Pineapple on Pizza?
To be fair, this is your pizza, so put whatever you want on it, and it’s not like I haven’t seen far worse in Asia anyway. For example, many misguided folks think that putting a fruit cocktail along with condensed milk and ketchup is acceptable. While others will put durian on theirs as if it isn’t a crime in Italy punishable with 1000 years hard labour.
Ovens and other Home Pizza Making Paraphernalia
The biggest determining factor in the quality of your pizza comes from the oven that you use. For the absolute best pizzas, you’re looking at something that will hit the 400°C – 500°C (750°F – 930°F) mark. This is something I fully acknowledge to be out of range for the normal home kitchen, and have factored for in this recipe. If you want to take pizza production to the next level, however, you could consider one of these babies that you can operate from the safety of your garden.
Thankfully, everything else in the pizza making armory is a little more accessible. I like to cook my pizzas on one of these aluminium trays until it becomes solid enough to hold its own shape. This also has the advantage of helping to add a thin layer of oil to the base, which in turn adds to the overall crispiness.
As noted in the recipe, I also maintain a fond dislike for pizza rollers and usually use a meat cleaver like this one to cut my pizzas instead. In addition, you’ll also need a good quality cheese grater and a nice long metal spatula to make your pizza making life a little easier.
So, without further ado, it’s time for you to make pizza for yourself. Good luck!
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