pizza dough
For the flour you can use 400g of tipo '00' flour and 100g of polenta, or all '00', or all strong bread flour, or 50% strong bread flour and 50% plain flour. Mary Contini (of Valvona & Crolla fame) suggests a water temperature of 30C in the summer and 40C in the winter. If you haven't got a thermometer then two parts tap water to one part boiling water gets you there or thereabouts.
I generally make the amount below, use one portion that day and freeze the other portions. When defrosted, the dough tends to be a little more resistant to being rolled out, but otherwise works fine.
makes enough for four pizzas
500g flour (see above)
1 heaped tsp fine sea salt
1 x 7g sachet dried yeast
1 heaped tsp caster sugar
2 tbsps olive oil
325ml warm water (see above)
Mix the yeast, sugar, olive oil and water together and leave for a minute or two. Pour the flour and salt into a large bowl. Gradually pour in the yeast/water mixture into the the bowl and mix until all the yeast/water mixture is used up. Turn the dough onto a worktop. Knead by pushing it down and away from you with the palm of your hand, followed by a quarter turn of the dough, for about ten minutes - until you have a smooth and pliant dough. Don't worry about its being too sticky - but a metal scraper helps to gather it up from the work surface. Form the dough into a ball.
Clean out the bowl and put the dough back into it. Cover and leave until the dough has doubled in size. Dough needs a warm, draught-free room in order to rise - in cold weather I leave the bowl on a chair near to a radiator for about an hour and a half.
Clean your worktop. Turn out the dough onto the worktop and divide into four pieces. Use straight away, or dust each portion with flour, wrap in cling film and keep in the fridge or the freezer for later.
When you're ready to make your pizzas: clean the worktop, dust with flour, press an individual portion of dough into a flat disc, dust the top with flour and roll out as thin as you'd like.
Click here for tomato sauce
Click here for potato pizza
Click here for salame piccante, mozzarella + spinach pizza
Click here for some other ideas for pizza toppings
I generally make the amount below, use one portion that day and freeze the other portions. When defrosted, the dough tends to be a little more resistant to being rolled out, but otherwise works fine.
makes enough for four pizzas
500g flour (see above)
1 heaped tsp fine sea salt
1 x 7g sachet dried yeast
1 heaped tsp caster sugar
2 tbsps olive oil
325ml warm water (see above)
Mix the yeast, sugar, olive oil and water together and leave for a minute or two. Pour the flour and salt into a large bowl. Gradually pour in the yeast/water mixture into the the bowl and mix until all the yeast/water mixture is used up. Turn the dough onto a worktop. Knead by pushing it down and away from you with the palm of your hand, followed by a quarter turn of the dough, for about ten minutes - until you have a smooth and pliant dough. Don't worry about its being too sticky - but a metal scraper helps to gather it up from the work surface. Form the dough into a ball.
Clean out the bowl and put the dough back into it. Cover and leave until the dough has doubled in size. Dough needs a warm, draught-free room in order to rise - in cold weather I leave the bowl on a chair near to a radiator for about an hour and a half.
Clean your worktop. Turn out the dough onto the worktop and divide into four pieces. Use straight away, or dust each portion with flour, wrap in cling film and keep in the fridge or the freezer for later.
When you're ready to make your pizzas: clean the worktop, dust with flour, press an individual portion of dough into a flat disc, dust the top with flour and roll out as thin as you'd like.
Click here for tomato sauce
Click here for potato pizza
Click here for salame piccante, mozzarella + spinach pizza
Click here for some other ideas for pizza toppings
