HOW TO MAKE A PIZZA - From Scratch to Finish

PIZZA is a dish of Italian origin, consisting of a flat round base of dough baked with a topping of tomatoes and cheese, typically with added meat, fish, or vegetables.

As any Italian will tell you, a pizza shouldn't be messed about with. I may have come across some of the most disgusting-sounding toppings in a pizzeria in the northern city of Turin ('Irish pizza' with stewed beef and potatoes, 'Russian' with caviar and vodka), but I'm pretty sure that was just for the tourists.

Below are a few steps to making the delicious pizza suitable for your indoor and outdoor events, from start to finish.

INGREDIENTS                                                                        

· 153 grams 00 flour (1 cup plus 1 tablespoon)

· 153 grams all-purpose flour (1 cup plus 1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoons)

· 8 grams fine sea salt (1 teaspoon)

· 2 grams active dry yeast (3/4 teaspoon)

· 4 grams extra-virgin olive oil (1 teaspoon)

·

PREPARATION

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine flours and salt.

2. In a small mixing bowl, stir together 200 grams (a little less than 1 cup) lukewarm tap water, the yeast and the olive oil, then pour it into flour mixture. Knead with your hands until well combined, approximately 3 minutes, then let the mixture rest for 15 minutes.

3. Knead rested dough for 3 minutes. Cut into 2 equal pieces and shape each into a ball. Place on a heavily floured surface, cover with dampened cloth, and let rest and rise for 3 to 4 hours at room temperature or for 8 to 24 hours in the refrigerator. (If you refrigerate the dough, remove it 30 to 45 minutes before you begin to shape it for pizza.)

4. To make pizza, place each dough ball on a heavily floured surface and use your fingers to stretch it, then your hands to shape it into rounds or squares. Top and bake.




Storing the Dough


Allow for a minimum of three to four hours for your dough to rise. But planning further ahead pays dividends: You can store that dough in the refrigerator until you are ready to cook, which means any weeknight can be pizza night.
 

  

We put our pizza dough in the refrigerator to rise, placing the balls of dough on a floured baking pan covered loosely with a clean, damp kitchen towel. The chill leads to a slow rise, so we generally allow it to go overnight, or for at least six to eight hours. For a faster rise, leave the dough out on a countertop, similarly covered. It should be ready — that is, roughly doubled in size — in three or four hours.

Time imparts a marvelous tanginess to pizza dough, but it extracts a price as well. What you want to avoid is a skin developing on the dough. When the dough has risen, if you are not going to use it right away, wrap it tightlyin plastic wrap, or place it in a quart-size plastic bag. Pizza dough so wrapped will last in the refrigerator for three days or so.

Another option is to freeze the dough using this incredibly easy freezer dough recipe. Make it, put it in the freezer in a freezer-safe plastic bag, and then move it to the refrigerator on the morning of the evening you want to cook.

If you end up making pizza at least once a week, consider investing in a few pizza dough pans, available in restaurant supply stores.

Shaping the Pizza

Shaping a pizza takes practice. The goal is to make a thin circle of dough, with a raised edge around circumference of the pie. Don’t worry if that doesn’t happen the first few times. Pizzas shaped like trapezoids or kites taste just as delicious.

1. Working on a floured surface, with floured hands, softly pat down the risen ball of dough into a circle, rotating it as you do.
2. Using the tips of your fingers, push down gently around the perimeter of the pie, rotating it as you do, to create the edge.
3. Pick up the dough and lightly pass it back and forth between your palms, trying to rotate it each time you do, using gravity to help the dough stretch. At approximately 12 inches in diameter, the pizza is ready to go.
4. Return the pizza to the floured surface, making sure that the side that you first pressed down upon remains facing upward, and gently slide the pie back and forth a few times to make sure that it does not stick. Add a little more flour to the surface beneath the pie if it does.
5. Gently slide a lightly floured pizza peel beneath the pie, or place it carefully on a floured cutting board or the back of a baking pan. Make sure again that the dough can slide back and forth. If it does, the pie is certified for topping.

Toppings

The act of topping a pizza is a gentle one. Use a light touch. Above all, try not to overload the pie, particularly its center, which will lead to an undercooked crust. Two to three tablespoons of sauce are all you need, and perhaps a small drizzle of olive oil, accompanied by a couple of other toppings.

• Pizza sauce does not need to be cooked ahead of time, and is so simply prepared that there is no reason to use the store-bought variety. Instead, use a food processor to combine a can of whole, drained tomatoes with a splash of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt.

Spread the sauce out on the dough using the back of a spoon, stopping approximately 1/2 inch from the dough’s edges. Do not use too much; two or three tablespoons is enough. Keep leftover sauce refrigerated.


Cooking the Pizza

We cook most of our pizzas in the oven, on top of a stone or a steel. But you can bake pizza in a sheet pan as well, or grill it outdoors. You can even cook a pizza on a stovetop. 

BAKING IN THE OVEN

To bake a pizza in an oven, you’ll need either to do it on a stone or metal surface, or in a sheet pan. Either way, you should set the oven to itshighest temperature and let it heat it for a full hour before you intend to cook.

If you are using a pizza stone, steel or a set of tiles, begin by placing it on the middle rack of the oven before you turn it on, allowing it to preheat for a hour.

When you’re ready to cook, carefully place your shaped dough on a lightly floured pizza peel or cutting board, or on the back of a baking pan. Gently shake the peel, board or pan back and forth a few times to make sure the dough can move, then add your toppings.

Pick up your pizza peel with the topped pie on top of it, and gently slide the pie onto the stone or tiles, starting at the back of the oven and working your way toward its front. Bake for about four to eight minutes, until the edges are a beautiful golden brown, and the sauce and cheese arebubbling nicely. Slide the peel back under the baked pizza to remove it from the oven, and then slide the pizza onto a cutting board, where it can be cut into slices.

If you are using a sheet pan, lightly oil the pan, then stretch the risen dough into the shape of the pan, then top and place in the oven until golden brown and bubbling. 

PAN-FRYING ON THE STOVETOP 

Cooking a pizza on top of the stove is a simple way to get started in the pizza-making game, and a single ball of dough will yield two pan pizzas.

Simply heat a 10-inch cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat, then film it with olive oil. Take one half of a ball of risen pizza dough and press it out into a circle just smaller than the pan.

When the oil shimmers, put the dough in the pan and adjust the heat so itbrowns evenly without burning. Prick the dough all over with the tines of a fork. Cook this round in the pan for a minute or so, then turn it over with the bottom is browned and cover with toppings. Either top the pan with a lid to melt the cheese or run it under a broiler to achieve the same result. 

GRILLING OUTDOORS

Grilling pizza really means grilling one side of a flatbread over fire, then turning it over and topping it. And while you can certainly use our essential pizza dough recipe to do that, a sturdier dough recipe that is less prone to ripping will yield a better result.

To cook a pizza on a grill requires some planning. You need to cook one side of the pizza before turning it over and topping it, and cooking the other side. So take time to assemble all the ingredients you’ll need to make the pizzas beforehand.

Prepare a hot fire; if your grill grate is clean, you shouldn’t need to oil it. Slide the pizza dough from the peel onto the rack. After a few minutes, use tongs to lift the dough and check whether it’s browning on the bottom. Watch closely so it doesn’t burn. When it’s nicely browned, use the tongs to flip the dough over, then brush it with olive oil and cover it with toppings. Place the lid on the grill for a few minutes more until the cheese is melted.