Home made authentic Italian pizzas

Italian food is my absolute favourite, and pizza is no exception... But I like it done right! A real wood fired pizza oven is obviously on the wanted list but until then I have invested in a pizza stone. It makes such a difference as you can get it super hot, which cooks the base from the bottom up, it also absorbs moisture, producing an authentic thin crispy crust. I have tried several different pizza dough recipes in the past, but iv settled on this one as my favourite, it's easy to work with and has a lovely flavour. 

Dough Ingredients

600 ml luke warm water 

1kg '00' flour (this is really finely ground)

7g packet fast action yeast

6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1.5 tablespoons salt

2 teaspoons sugar

(Makes 4-6 pizzas, could easily be halved)

Method

1. Mix the yeast into the luke warm water.

2. In a very large bowl (or on a worktop if you're not afraid of the mess!), pile up the flour, salt and sugar. Make a dip in the top like a volcano and add the olive oil. Then bit by bit, pour the water and yeast into the crater and stir it in, bringing in more and more of the the flour as you go, until it all comes together. 

3. Flour a work surface and your hands, bring the dough together into a ball, then knead it for 15 minutes on the work surface, until smooth and elastic.

Kneading the dough activates the gluten in the flour, which gives the dough it's elasticity. You will find that at the beginning of kneading, the dough rips very easily... 

But when it's ready it will stretch much further...

Holly's Hints... Everyone kneads differently, but it's just about stretching and massaging the dough. I tend to use the heel of my hand to push forward on the ball of dough to stretch it, I then use my fingers to fold it back on itself before starting again...

4. Form your dough into a ball, grease the mixing bowl with a little more olive oil and return the dough ball to the bowl. Cover with cling film and leave to rise in a warm place (an airing cupboard or by a radiatior is ideal) for at least an hour, but anything up to 6 hours is fine. 

5. Whilst the dough is rising prepare your toppings. Firstly you need to prepare the tomato sauce by blending a tin of tomatoes, either in a food processor or a hand blender will do. The best tomatoes for the job are grown in a town called 'San Marzano'  close to mount Vesuvius. The hot and sunny conditions and volcanic soil make delicious tomatoes with a really intense flavour. They can be quite difficult to get your hands on in the UK but Morrisons do them in their M signature range. They cost around £1.50 a tin but the flavour really is in a different league to a regular tin of tomatoes, and definately worth splashing out on! Also 1 tin will be enough for 4 large pizzas. Then you just need to decide on your toppings. The most popular and traditional toppings in Italy are 'Margherita', which is a simple tomato base, mozarella and fresh basil leaves, also 'Marinara', which is a tomato base, thinly sliced garlic, and a sprinkling of dried oregano, both finished off with a drizzle of olive oil. You could of course add anything you wish! 

When you're ready to go...

6. Put the pizza stone in your oven and preheat to it's hottest temperature (usually around 220-250C).

7. Meanwhile, remove the dough from the bowl and return to a floured work surface. Give it a few good punches and a bit more of a knead, this gets rid of any large air pockets and is called 'knocking back'. Then let it rest for 5 minutes of so to relax the gluten again and make it easy to roll out without it wanting to spring back.

8. Divide the dough into 4-6 balls which can be rolled out one by one as you are ready for them. Begin by pressing the dough into a disk with your hands then roll out further, either with a floured rolling pin, or if you're really brave get you're pizza spinning skills on the go! Spinning pizza bases is a hard one to explain without demonstrating. You basically need to stretch the disk of dough by passing it back and forth between floured hands with a sort of stroking action, then when your ready, flick your wrist to send the pizza spinning into the air before catching it again! Give it a go! Just remember to keep your fingers together so as not to create any holes.

9. Once the oven and pizza stone are hot enough, very carefully remove the stone from the oven and place it on it's stand. Sprinkle a little polenta, semolina or flour on the stone to stop any sticking, then taking great care not to touch the stone, lay your base on it, it will start cooking underneath immediately! 

10. Working quickly, spread the base with your tomato sauce and add your choice of toppings before returning to the oven. Keep an eye on your creation as it will cook very quickly, in approximately 5 minutes. 

11. Serve your pizza and repeat until you have used up all the dough and fed your hungry crowd! 

Enjoy! :D