Real Italian pizza, cooking secrets. Pizza Dough Secrets

Pizza is a popular dish, and therefore quite simple in composition: dough base, sauce, cheese and toppings. However, making pizza at home is often difficult. Despite the fact that pizza recipes for every taste are widespread, few people manage to cook the same tasty and aromatic dish at home as in a pizzeria.

Features of Italian pizza

Pizza is one of the world's most popular dishes that has won the hearts of millions with its delicious taste. Probably, in any corner of the world you can find a cafe that serves pizza. However, far from everywhere and not always this dish is truly tasty. Often people are offered a "rubber" pale dough, somehow smeared with tomato sauce and sprinkled with cheese.

With the filling, everything is much simpler: it just has to be prepared from suitable products. Natural tomato sauce without unnecessary additives, fragrant low-melting cheese (ideally mozzarella) and all other ingredients must be fresh and of high quality.

cooking at home

Professional pizzaioli (pizza makers) are unanimous: in order to give the dough a unique aroma and the famous soft-crispy texture, a special wood-fired oven is needed. Only such an oven allows you to achieve the high temperature required for baking pizza.

Even the most desperate pizza lovers will not be able to install a suitable oven in a city apartment. But you can bake your favorite delicacy in a conventional oven. Of course, such a pizza will be somewhat inferior in taste to the one cooked according to the original technology, but it will still be deliciously delicious. The first thing you need is a properly prepared dough.

Pizza Dough Secrets

The only correct recipe for pizza dough does not exist even in the homeland of pizza - in Naples. Each cook empirically chooses the most suitable recipe for himself. Some add a little grated raw potato to the dough, others put spices, others - melted lard . But in any case, the classic pizza dough is made from wheat flour, water, olive oil, salt, sugar and yeast. Other types of dough, including puff pastry, are not accepted for making real pizza.

In Italy, you can find special flour for pizza on sale - this is a mixture of ordinary wheat flour with durum wheat flour. In extreme cases, you can use ordinary wheat flour of the highest, first or second grade.

First you need to prepare the yeast: mix it with sugar (preferably with powdered sugar) and warm water, leave for a while so that foam appears on the surface. Sifted flour should be mixed with salt and put on a work surface in a slide. In the center of the mound, you need to make a recess where warm water pours in, in which yeast and sugar are mixed. Using a fork, the flour from the edges is carefully added to the liquid. Lastly, oil is added to the dough. When the mixture becomes dense, knead the dough with your hands.

Kneading the dough is not an easy process, it requires serious physical preparation. The dough must be kneaded very carefully so that it does not stick to your hands. As a rule, this takes at least ten to fifteen minutes. After that, the dough should be put in a bowl, covered with a towel and left for an hour at room temperature so that it fits.

After an hour, the dough should double in size. This means that you can proceed to its further processing. The dough must be thrown onto the table with force, stretched, twisted and kneaded. In this case, you can’t use a rolling pin: all manipulations are done only by hand.

When the dough becomes elastic and will not tear, it must be turned into a cake. For this, a rolling pin is also not used: you must first knead a lump of dough into a cake, and then stretch this cake along the edges. Such processing allows you to save air bubbles in the thickness of the dough, which the rolling pin would inevitably damage. The size of a classic pizza is 26 cm. At the edges, such a flatbread should be thicker than in the middle. So, the normal thickness of the central part of the pizza is 2 mm, while the thickness of the edges can reach up to 8 mm.

Filling

You can start pizza with any products, the tastes of which are in harmony with each other. But you should not get carried away with "complex" fillings: it is better to use no more than three components. First, the dough should be smeared with sauce (in most cases, tomato sauce with garlic is used). - It's easy to make your own. The sauce should not be too thin, otherwise it will soak into the dough and make it difficult to bake. This also applies to the rest of the filling: all components must be dry.

Cheese in a real pizza is placed between the dough smeared with sauce and the filling. It holds the filling together with the dough and prevents the bottom of the pizza from getting wet. In addition, this way the cheese does not burn and does not freeze with an unattractive crust. Toppings are sometimes sprinkled with grated spicy cheese, such as parmesan.

Another secret: the filling must be lightly sprinkled with olive oil. This will give the pizza an appetizing golden crust. Many people think that it would be useful to add spicy Italian herbs: basil, oregano , thyme.

Baking

If it was not possible to acquire a special oven, pizza can be baked in the oven at maximum temperature. Ovens with hot air circulation are best suited for baking pizza. Pizza should be put in a very hot oven, and you need to take it out as soon as the mozzarella melts and starts to bubble, and the dough around the edges acquires a pleasant golden hue. It is not recommended to keep pizza in the oven for too long.

Maria Bykova

At home, pizza can turn out no worse than in a pizzeria, if you know a few secrets of its preparation.

Dough

The most important thing in pizza is the dough. Not one pizzaiolo uses store-bought pizza bases for pizza. The dough mass is kneaded only by hand, using the highest quality ingredients. In order for the dough to turn out thin and crispy, it is necessary to maintain the correct ratio of water and flour during kneading. Usually it is 1 liter of water per 1.2 kg. flour, but depending on the quality of the components may vary.

For the test, flour of the highest grade is usually taken from soft varieties of wheat 00, whose composition includes glutenin and gliadin, which give the dough the necessary elasticity and elasticity. Tap water is not always suitable: too soft will not allow the dough to roll out evenly, if used too hard, the dough may tear. In this case, it is better to use bottled water.

Rolling out

Roll out the dough with your hands only. You have probably seen more than once how pizzaiolo deftly toss a tortilla, twist it in the air, but all these culinary tricks are aerobatics. We just need to roll out the dough without using a rolling pin. To do this, spread the ball of dough on a baking sheet and evenly stretch the dough with your hands over the entire surface. Pizza should not be too high, otherwise the dough may not be baked somewhere, and in some places it may become too dry. The height of the pizza should not exceed 2 cm.

Oven

No matter how hard the chefs try, neither sand, nor refractory bricks, nor other objects that they install in the oven, will magically create the heat of a wood-burning stove in it. Much more magical power has 6-10 mm. sheet of "food" steel. To bake pizza on it at home, it is enough to set the maximum temperature on the oven, ideally - 240-250 ° C, and warm up the oven itself and the sheet for an hour. After that, you can start baking pizza.

Filling

Now the self-made cake must be smeared with tomato sauce, and it should not be some ketchup from the store, but a tomato paste made by oneself. Spread the filling on top of it. Products can be chosen to your taste, the main thing is that they are combined with each other, and their total number does not exceed 2-3 items. If there are too many ingredients, the balance of taste will be lost, besides, it is possible that the pizza will not bake evenly.

Bonus

Each master has his own secrets for preparing dough and sauce, so a unique recipe is usually kept in the strictest confidence. But sometimes they make an exception and reveal the intricacies of their pizza making, as one hereditary Italian chef did when he shared his signature yeast-free pizza dough recipe.

Ingredients:

100 gr. water
1 egg
200 gr. flour
A pinch of salt
2 tbsp olive oil

In a large bowl, mix water, egg, salt. Add flour to them and knead the dough. At the very end, add and stir in the oil. Remove the dough for 20 minutes in the freezer - this will allow it to acquire a more uniform structure. Remove the dough from the freezer, leave for about 10 minutes at room temperature, then stretch the cake with your hands.

Pizza is a beloved dish that has long gained immense popularity around the world. Probably only the laziest can’t cook it, especially since there is a large selection of ready-made bases in stores, and it remains just to add the filling. However, preparing the base yourself is tastier and more honorable, so today we will reveal to you a few secrets on how to make dough at home no worse than chefs in a pizzeria.

CLASSIC ITALIAN DOUGH

First, let's recall the recipe for a classic pizza dough, which is made from simple ingredients:

• 1 glass of warm water
• 250 g flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 sachet of fresh yeast
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

WHAT IS THE SECRET?

Water must be taken filtered or mineral - this will protect our dough from stiffness. Part of the flour should be finely ground, and the other part should be ordinary (in a ratio of 1: 3). Sea salt is best to take, the yeast is fresh, not dry. And finally, extra virgin olive oil, unrefined - it will add elasticity to the dough. Add all ingredients strictly according to the recipe, because. Excess or lack of salt, flour and oil can damage the structure of the dough.

Dough kneading

First you need to prepare a dough: dissolve the yeast in warm water, add 50 g of flour, a little more water and mix everything. Leave the dough in a warm place for 20 minutes. Next, you need to pour the remaining flour on the table, mix it with the dough, make a recess and pour the dough there. Then knead the dough for a few minutes until it becomes homogeneous and elastic. The dough should not tear or stick to your hands.

WHAT IS THE SECRET?

You need to knead the dough very vigorously, like real Italian chefs. Stretch the dough with your fingers and return it to the shape of a ball. Cover the dough with a towel and put it in a warm place - it should stand there for at least an hour, then divide it into two parts (this is only on the condition that you want two pizzas on a thin dough, and not one on a fluffy one). Knead the dough again and leave for another 15 minutes.

Next, gently stretch the dough with your fingers, pressing it in the center. Real Italian chefs toss the dough and twist it with their fingers in the air - this is how it gets its shape and is saturated with oxygen. So, you already understood, the main thing is manual dexterity and no rolling pins!

THE LAST SECRET TOUCH

Before you put the filling on the dough, you need to lightly sprinkle the base with olive oil. Real Italian pizza is cooked in the oven, but if you only have an oven, it's okay. Just brush a baking sheet lightly with olive oil, sprinkle with flour and bake the pizza at a high temperature for 10-15 minutes. If the dough is thick, and the filling does not require serious heat treatment, then first the dough must be brought to half-cookedness without filling.

ANOTHER RECIPE WITH A SECRET

Finally, we will reveal to you one that is a little different from the classic one, thanks to the secret ingredient, namely ... honey! Honey accelerates the growth of yeast, so the dough preparation time is significantly reduced. So, you will need everything the same, in the same proportions as for the classic dough, as well as one teaspoon of honey.

The dough kneading technology remains the same, the only difference is that the dough is prepared with warm water not only with yeast, but also with honey. Leaving the dough in a warm place will be enough for 20 minutes.

Pizza is incredibly popular, almost becoming a fast food. You can taste several varieties in almost any restaurant. There are also specialized establishments where they cook only pizza in a real wood-fired oven.

How to choose the right pizza from the variety of offers? What is the best option for cooking at home? That's what we'll talk about today.

Everyone knows that the birthplace of pizza is Italy, or rather, Naples. It was there that, driven by a patriotic impulse, the inhabitants came up with the classic Margherita pizza in the colors of the national flag and named it after the queen.

In essence, pizza is an easy-to-make dish made from the leftovers of everything that is at home. Pizza dough is made in haste from flour, olive oil and a pinch of salt, finely chopped fresh vegetables, mushrooms and ham. Tomato sauce. Yes, and definitely cheese. The cheese melts in the oven, binds all the components, gives the filling juiciness and a unique viscous structure.

So, what to look for if you want to please your guests with delicious homemade pizza.

How to cook the right pizza

1. Thin pizza dough

It is very important. And it concerns not only the dough itself, but also the filling layer. Don't forget that pizza cooks quickly. The cheese melts and you're done. A thick layer of dough will not bake. If you put too much stuffing in, the same thing will happen. You will never get a delicious crispy crust if you don't keep the right proportions.

1. Wood burning oven or a good pizza oven

Ideally, pizza should be baked on an iron sheet in a dome-shaped wood-fired oven. The heat is well distributed there. The dough does not burn, bakes quickly and evenly. But not even all restaurants can boast of such equipment. Therefore, we advise you to cook pizza in the oven with convection mode at a temperature of 220 -250 degrees. Cooking time is approximately 10-15 minutes. The oven must be preheated.

1. Proper pizza sauce

There are two basic sauces for pizza - red tomato and white for variations with seafood. You can experiment a lot, but the easiest way is to take a ready-made Italian sauce with herbs or high-quality tomato paste. You can add your own spices and garlic to it to taste. Cream-based white sauce is suitable for stuffing with mushrooms, chicken, fish.

1. Pizza topping secrets

For God's sake, don't put pickles and mayonnaise on your pizza. It is these variations that are often called "Moscow" and "Home" in the menu of establishments of dubious quality. Of course, you can put bacon, but it will no longer be pizza in its classic version.

Fresh vegetables and mushrooms, finely chopped meat or chicken, thin slices of ham go well. And all this is crowned with a viscous melted cheese, which gives the filling a juiciness. It is better to cut the ingredients into strips or slices, rather than cubes. So it is much more convenient to divide the finished pizza into pieces and eat it.

1. Choosing pizza cheese

The perfect pizza is made with fresh mozzarella. Delicate curd cheese has a neutral taste, absorbs aromas well, melts slightly. For a more savory taste, you can take a hard cheese like "Edam" or get Pecorino Romano. According to the rules of good manners, you can not add cheese to the "fish" pizza, with salmon and seafood. It is better to add more herbs and spices. Dill is also an exclusively Russian invention. Italians have been fine with parsley and oregano for centuries.

We hope our tips will help you cook really delicious pizza in the best traditions of Italy!

Italians, as everyone knows, are considered true connoisseurs of a round yeast cake with filling. But any gourmet is not averse to pampering himself with such a delicacy, no matter how much his eating habits differ from the standard ones.

Pizza will conquer with its versatility, because there are hundreds of thousands of recipes for vegetable, fruit, meat and cheese open pies.

But becoming a real pizzaiola is not so easy, you need to have valuable knowledge about your favorite snack - Italian pizza.

The final taste of the dish depends on the test. Therefore, the base is prepared from several varieties of wheat (regular and coarse) and spread on a hot baking sheet.

simple recipe

"The secret of delicious pizza is in its simplicity." All 4 ingredients are needed to make the dough:

• Warm water (500 ml)
• Salt (25 g)
• Flour (1 kg)
• Dry yeast (5 g)

"No eggs, cooking oil, other frills"

For filling:

• Tomatoes in their own juice
• Mozzarella
• grated parmesan
• fresh basil
• Olive oil

1. Dissolve yeast in water, add sugar and salt.
   

   Attention! “It is necessary to observe the correct proportion of flour and salt, otherwise its excess will suppress the action of yeast and the dough will not rise, and its deficiency will adversely affect the elasticity property. In Italy, sea salt is often used.”

2. Sift the flour, form a hill in the center of which we pour the liquid mixture. Knead, gradually adding water over 20 minutes, leave for half an hour.
3. We thin the dough, forming an impromptu plate with sides. Lay out the filling.
4. Bake at 250 degrees for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with herbs and cheese.

Conclusion

Previously, food for the poor, now an adored delicacy, is a guest of honor in every home. Pizza will brighten up a winter evening well, feed a dozen guests and become the main dish at an incendiary party. And to cook it, you need quite a bit - confidence and good mood, and, of course, ours. Cook with love and you'll be fine.