Level: Medium
Have you attempted in making pizza at home? There must be so many different type of preferences out there to what makes the best pizza. Regardless of what toppings you are going to put on your pizza, here is a basic pizza dough to share and the rest is up to you!
This recipe cannot be anymore simple. You can make this dough a day ahead and store it in the fridge to use for the next day or up to three days or you can proof it at room temperature and bake on the same day. Roll it thick if you love an extra carb or thin for thin crust.
RECIPE
500 g Bread Flour 11-13% protein
7 g Instant Dried Yeast
6 g Caster Sugar
300 ml Water 24°C - 27°C
30 ml Olive Oil
12 g Salt
1 tsp Vinegar
Method
1. Whisk in the instant dried yeast with the 250 ml of water and then followed by the sugar. Leave aside at room temperature for 10 to 20 minutes or until the yeast starts to froth. This steps gives your yeast a kick start from feeding on the sugar under the ideal temperature for it to work.
Note that 50 g of the water in the recipe is reserved at this point.
2. Place all the other ingredients into a stand mixer bowl together with the yeast/water mixture with a dough hook attachment.
3. Mix the dough on low speed for 3 minutes until all the ingredients have come together, occasionally scraping down the bowl, then increase the speed to medium and continue to mix for approximately 5 - 8 minutes or until the dough passes the window test. ( This is where you pinch a small ball from the dough and gently stretch it between your two hands while rotating the dough. If you are able to stretch the dough thin enough to see through like a "window", you have developed enough gluten and this means you can stop mixing. If when you try to stretch the dough and they break instantly, this means that you will need to mix for a little longer. Keep mixing for 2 minutes and check again each time.)
Note: You are looking for a soft dough that you can hold and work with without it sticking onto your hands to much nor too dry. If you find that the dough is particularly hard and dry half way through mixing, proceed to adding the reserved 50 g of water gradually until you achieve the desired consistency. Make sure to add a little at a time and allow time for the dough to absorb the additional water before adding more.
4. Spray a clean bowl with oil. Roll the dough into a tight ball without dusting any additional flour then transfer the dough into the greased bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and leave to bulk proof at room temperature.
Depending on the humidity in your kitchen, a normal room temperature would take roughly around 1 hour to 1 and a half hour or simply wait until it double in size.
5. When the dough have doubled in size or when you poke the top of the tough gently with your finger, the finger dent gradually bounces back, indicating that it is ready. When the dough is ready, remove the dough on to an oiled bench and gently knock back some of the gas in the dough buy placing your palm and flattening the dough. Do not knocked out too much air at this point.
If you are going to use the pizza dough the next day, oil an airtight container, transfer the pizza dough in to it and leave in fridge overnight. If you are going to use the dough on the same day, simply shape the dough to the desired shape and place them on to an oiled baking tray. Top with your favourite sauce and topping and start baking. You do not need to proof the dough again after the first bulk fermentation.
When using chilled dough, remove the chilled dough from the fridge an hour prior to preparation. Shape the dough and place it on to a well oiled baking pan. Leave to stand at room temperature for 20 minutes then top with your favourite toppings before baking in a fan force oven at 180 °C for 45 minutes to an hour or until the pizza crust starts to colour.
For best result, place the pizza as close to the top of the oven as possible for a darker crust colour.
Storage
Chilled dough can sit in the fridge for up to 2 days. Alternatively, you can freeze the dough for up to 3 weeks. Simply thaw the frozen pizza dough in the fridge the night before.
VIDEO
Below is a quick video of the process.
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