I made some excellent pizzas over the weekend. After last year’s pizza sessions with Scott at RealProjects, I’ve fine-tuned my dough and believe I’ve found a reliably great recipe. Below is the latest version.
This batch yields about four 10-inch thin-crust pizzas.
Ingredients for the perfect pizza dough:
1 sachet fast-action dried yeast
400 g tipo “00” flour (or strong bread flour if unavailable)
100 g semolina flour
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons honey
300 ml water
Method:
Combine the tipo “00” flour, semolina and salt on your work surface. Make a well in the centre. Mix half the water with the yeast and honey, then pour that mixture into the flour well. Gradually work the flour into the liquid, adding the remaining water a little at a time until a dough forms.
Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until it is smooth and elastic. If the dough is too sticky, sprinkle in a little extra flour; if it’s too dry and cracking, add a teaspoon or two of water. Shape the dough into a ball, dust lightly with flour and place somewhere warm to proof for about an hour.
While the dough rises, prepare your tomato sauce for the base.
After roughly an hour the dough should have doubled in size. Give it a quick two-minute knead to knock it back, then divide into four equal pieces. Roll each piece out thinly to about 10 inches in diameter for an authentic Italian-style base.
Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce over each base, add chunks of fresh mozzarella and finish with toppings of your choice.
Tips to turn good pizzas into great ones:
1) Use a pizza stone if you can. A preheated stone holds high, even heat and helps create a crisp base. If you don’t have a stone, a thick slab of food-grade granite or an oven-safe steel from a local supplier can work well. Preheat it thoroughly in the oven so it’s as hot as possible when the pizza goes on.
2) Set your oven to its highest temperature. Domestic ovens are cooler than wood-fired ovens, so crank up the heat to give the crust the best chance to blister and crisp quickly.
3) After rolling out the bases, place them on sheets of baking parchment before adding sauce and toppings. The parchment makes it much easier to transfer pizzas onto the hot stone or baking tray and speeds the process of getting them in and out of the oven—minimising the time the door is open and helping maintain oven heat.
4) Use fresh, good-quality ingredients. A simple tomato sauce, ripe tomatoes or canned San Marzano-style tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and a drizzle of olive oil will always outperform overcomplicated toppings. Less is often more with thin-crust pizzas.
5) Work quickly once the oven is hot. Assemble one pizza at a time and slide it onto the preheated surface straight away. This keeps the oven temperature stable and gives each pizza the best chance to cook evenly.
6) Finish with a few fresh leaves or a light sprinkle of grated hard cheese after baking, not before. Fresh basil, a little rocket or a final drizzle of good olive oil refreshes the flavours just before serving.
With a bit of practice and the right heat, thin bases like these will come out crisp, slightly charred at the edges and perfectly balanced with your favourite toppings. Enjoy experimenting and adjusting toppings and bake times to suit your oven and taste.