This Recipe will help you to make the best Homemade Italian Pizza. You will learn all the simple but important details you always wanted to know. With just a few ingredients and a quick approach, you will be able, to consistently make tasty Italian Pizza.
Because of a long fermentation of the Pizza dough, plan to start the dough more or less one day before you are going to bake the Pizzas.
The quantities for the Pizza Dough in this recipe are relative to the baker's percentages explained above. With baker's percentages, all ingredients in a recipe are stated as percentages of the total flour weight. The total amount of flour is always 100%. (Flour 100%, Water 60%-65%, Salt 2%, Fresh Yeast 0,15% or Dry Yeast 0,05%). For 500g of flour 0,25g (0,05%) of dry yeast is needed. This is more or less a quarter of a teaspoon. You can see the quantity in the photo on the side.When the ambient temperature is beneath 20ºC (68ºF), double the amount of yeast.
As explained in the article above, the percentage of hydration depends on the flour you are using. The more protein your flour contains, the more water you can add.If the flour you are using has less than 11g of protein, use a 55% hydration. From 11g-12g of protein in your flour, use a 60% hydration. From 12g-14g of protein in your flour, use 62% to 64% hydration. If the flour you are using has more than 14g of protein content, use 65% hydration.
In a big bowl or pot, mix together all the ingredients are incorporated. Let the dough sit for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes of resting, knead the dough on the bench by folding it over itself for about 5 minutes.
After that, shape the dough by turning it 45 degrees and pushing it towards you until it forms a nice firm ball.
Put some olive oil in the bowl so the dough doesn't stick. Place the dough ball back into the bowl, spread a little bit of olive oil on top of the dough, and cover with a lid or plastic film. Let the dough ferment and rise at ambient temperature until it doubles in size. This can take about 8 to 12 hours depending, on the ambient temperature. You can leave the dough during the night if you want.
Make 1-2 Folds during this first fermentation period. The easiest and best way is to perform coil folds. For this, wet your hands a little bit, which prevents the dough from sticking to you. Next, scrape your fingers around the edge of the dough to gently separate it from the container. Put your hands from both sides under the middle of your dough and lift it up, so the dough forms a bridge. Now fold one side from the bridge under the dough, then the other, and rest the dough on top of the folds again. Turn the dough for 90º and repeat the same.
When the dough has doubled its size, perform one more coil fold, cover the dough again, and put it into the fridge. This will slow down the fermentation and bring more flavor to the dough. Leave the dough in the fridge for at least 4 hours, or until 2 hours before you want to bake your pizza.
For the mozzarella cheese
If you are using fresh mozzarella, it is essential to drain the liquid. The day before or at least one hour before you are going to make the pizza, cut mozzarella cheese into cubes (0,5cm x 0,5cm). Place the cubes in a sieve, and let the cheese drain over a bowl.
For the Tomato Sauce
Place a fine sieve over a bowl and pour the tomatoes from the can inside. With the help of a spoon, press everything through the sieve to remove the seeds and the skins. Season the remaining tomato sauce with a dash of olive oil, salt, and fresh ground black pepper to your liking.
To Shape the Pizza Dough Balls
Take out the dough approximately 2 hours before you are planning to bake the pizza. With the help of a dough scraper, and a kitchen scale divide, the dough in parts of 180g-250g.
Now slightly pre-shape the dough chunks without degassing the dough. There is no flour on the surface needed at this point. Place your shallow hand over each chunk of dough, and gently drag over the bench surface. While you gently drag the dough rotate it until forming a loose ball. Leave to rest for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, you can make the final shaping of the dough balls one by one. For this process, place a dough ball upside down. Now take an edge of the ball and pull from the outside to the middle. Press down that edge in the middle, rotate the ball, and repeat. Continue to do that until you come to the beginning again and have formed a nice and tight package. Flip the package, so the folds are on the bottom, and with a shallow hand drag the ball again like in the pre-shaping process.
Dust the shaped balls lightly with flour, and cover them with a damp kitchen towel or plastic film (if you want, you can also place a small bowl over each dough ball to cover). Now let them rest at ambient temperature again until they double in size (30min - 1 hour).
To make the Pizza
Turn on your oven to the maximum temperature at least half an hour before baking the pizzas. Leave the baking sheet inside and place it upside down.
To form the Pizza Pies, put some flour on the bench, and place one of the dough balls on top. Also, flour the top of the dough ball, and start to press down the middle with your fingers. Work your fingers from the middle in every direction, pushing the air to the sides, until forming a small ring. If your fingers start sticking, sprinkle some more flour.
When you have a small ring, more or less the size of your hand, you can carefully lift up the pizza on the side, securing it with your fingers just under the rim. Carefully and quickly turn the pizza, letting gravity do the work until the middle part gets thinner and thinner.
You can also carefully lift the pizza and place it on your knuckles, stretching the dough. The whole process requires a little bit of practice, but after the first few pizzas, it will get easier. If you accidentally tear a hole inside, just stitch the dough together again. Continue stretching the pizza until the pizza is big enough for you. The middle part should be very thin, until you nearly can see through the dough.
Put a little bit of flour on the pizza paddle and place the pizza on top. It is easier to move the pizza without topping. When you apply the tomato sauce and the other toppings, the pizza should go into the oven as quickly as possible. Otherwise, it will make the dough soggy, and it will be more difficult to load the pizza into the oven.
Spread some spoons of tomato sauce on top and spread with a rotating movement and the back of your spoon. Add some basil leaves on top of the tomato sauce. Sprinkle the cut mozzarella on top, and if you like, season with some ground black pepper and olive oil.
Now carefully load the pizza inside the oven with your pizza paddle. Close the door of the oven, and bake until the crust is nicely brown and has fully risen. This should take about 5 minutes. Take the pizza out of the oven and decorate with some fresh basil.