What's better than dough, sauce, and cheese? Pizza is the Italian dish we all love. You can find it in the most prestigious restaurants, and of course in popular pizzerias, but you can also make pizza at home - from the dough stage to choosing the sauces and toppings.
To this end, 5 rules are presented that, if you follow them, will guarantee you a delicious and incredibly tasty pizza.
Let's get to work.
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1. Patience
Patience is key. Dough is a "living" product that needs to be properly processed in order to achieve ideal results.
Mix 620 ml of water with 3 grams of fresh yeast, until you reach the consistency of batter. Let the batter rest for a few minutes. Then add 1 kg of pizza flour and 30 grams of salt and mix well in a mixer, until the dough has a uniform texture.
Let rise for about an hour in a warm place. After rising, divide the dough into portions according to the number of pizzas you want to make.
A kilo of flour yields about 7-8 pizza balls weighing 250 grams. You can also purchase ready-made pizza dough balls made from a blend of Italian flours combined with dry sourdough (available on the Pasta Rico website).
2. Bloating
Room temperature varies from house to house, as well as in each region of the country and between seasons. Each rising area has its own conditions. My recommendation is to leave it on the counter for 4-5 hours in the winter to rise, and in the summer when it's hot (without air conditioning) for about an hour to two hours. The longer the dough has been thawed in the refrigerator (when it comes to Rico's frozen dough balls), the shorter the rising time outside will be. Note that the dough can reach up to 4 times its original size.
3. Unfolding the dough
I recommend rolling out the dough by hand, as the Italians do, and not using a rolling pin or other means. It is recommended to roll out the dough on durum wheat flour, a flour rich in protein that gives the dough elasticity and softness and makes it easy to work with (Rimachinta flour from Pasta Rico is suitable for this).
When opening the dough by hand, leave a margin. Even if the opening of the dough doesn't come out symmetrically - don't worry, your pizza will still be delicious.
4. Building the pizza
I believe in seasoning the pizza dough. After we've opened the pizza dough, we should spread pulp on it - quality peeled and crushed tomatoes - a little quality olive oil or garlic oil (a mixture of olive oil with a chopped garlic clove).
Leave a half-centimeter gap from the edges. Sprinkle a bunch of basil leaves, about 30 grams of grated Parmesan cheese, and about 60 grams of grated mozzarella (can be replaced with about half a ball of fresh mozzarella), sprinkle with a little salt, and the pizza is ready to bake.
5. Baking
Baking should be done in an oven or on a griddle at maximum heat. If using a home oven, heat to maximum heat on the turbo program, upper and lower heating elements. It is advisable to use a pizza stone or a dedicated baking surface. Bake for several minutes, until the bottom of the pizza is completely baked.
Since every oven is different, you should check when baking.
When using a hob, heat to a maximum temperature of 400-450 degrees Celsius. Baking time in the hob is one to one and a half minutes, and the pizza should be turned after about 40 seconds.
Ran Michaeli is a chef and professional manager at Pasta Rico, a company that specializes in producing fresh pasta using the traditional Italian method and developing pizza doughs from Italian flours for restaurants and hotel chains. Kosher Under the supervision of the Badatz Beit Yosef and the Beit Dagan Rabbinate.
