Ingredients

Makes 4 pizzas

For the pizza dough

560 g (4⅔ cups) All-purpose flour

400 g (1¾ cups) Warm water

7g (1 packet) Dried yeast
OR 15 g Fresh yeast

2 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp Salt

For the quick pizza tomato sauce

500 g (18 oz) Passata or crushed tomatoes

2 Cloves of garlic

1½ tbsp Olive oil

Salt to your liking

Basil

For pizza bianca

Olive oil

Rosemary

Salt

For pizza margherita

Tomato sauce (see recipe above)

Dry mozzarella

Fresh basil

Method

Of course, in an ideal world, Italian pizza should be made in a wood-fired oven. However, most Italians don’t have wood-fired ovens at home. I’m going to show you how to make authentic Italian pizza, the way Italians make pizza at home. No special equipment required.

For the pizza dough (the day before you want pizza)

This dough should ideally be made the day before you want pizza so it can ferment slowly in the fridge for 24 hours. This will allow the dough to develop great flavour and texture. If you can’t wait 24 hours, it will still work, but it really is worth it if you can.

Mix the warm water and yeast together, and add the olive olive oil.

In a mixing bowl add the liquid, flour and salt. Stir to combine. If you’re kneading by hand, put the dough onto your work surface and knead the dough until it’s smooth. This might take ten minutes or even a little longer. If you’re using a stand mixer, mix for a few minutes until the dough is smooth. The dough will be sticky - so don’t worry that it seems hard to handle at this stage.

Transfer the dough to a greased bowl. Cover, and let the dough rise for a few hours or until tripled in size. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface, divide into four equal portions, and shape into balls.

Place the dough balls onto baking sheets, and cover. Put in the fridge for 24 hours to rise slowly (this is called retarding the dough).

Shaping the pizza bases

Take the dough balls out of the fridge, and form the pizza bases. Do not use a rolling pin for this - you’ve waited 24 hours to create an aerated texture in the dough. Using a rolling pin will knock all the air out of the dough. Follow the technique shown in the video to shape your pizza bases by hand.

For the quick pizza tomato sauce

Slice the garlic and cook in the extra virgin olive oil for 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes, salt and basil and cook for 15 more minutes.

To make pizza bianca

Pizza bianca is popular in Rome. It’s delicious and couldn’t be easier to make. Simple top the pizza with olive oil, rosemary and salt. See the video for details of how it should look, and for how to pre-cook the underside of the base a little.

Bake the pizza in a pre-heated oven at 250 °C (480 °F) for about 10 to 15 minutes. Check the pizza after 10 minutes to see if it’s done.

To make pizza margherita

Top the pizza with tomato sauce (see the recipe above), and mozzarella. See the video for details of how it should look, and for how to pre-cook the underside of the base a little.

Bake the pizza in a pre-heated oven at 250 °C (480 °F) for about 10 to 15 minutes. Check the pizza after 10 minutes to see if it’s done. When it comes out of the oven, add a few fresh basil leaves.

Categories: Pizza, Pizza dough