It takes patience in the kitchen. This is demonstrated, among many, the recipe for the dough for homemade pizza. Simple in its ingredients and techniques, it has only one limit: it's not for people who are in a hurry.
Of course, unless you want to bite a pizza that knows only yeast, indigestible that swells the stomach, hard as stone.
Defects due to poorly made leavening. Which means, above all, with the wrong times.
It is no secret that the more you let the pasta rest, the less yeast you can use. So little you do not perceive the smell in the finished product and avoid annoying "fermentations" in the stomach.
On the other hand, the "growth" is slow and the processing skillful, plus the dough incorporates air which translates into a soft and well-blended pizza. The right cooking will be enough (see point 6) to close the circle, obtaining that the pizza is also crispy outside. But let's proceed one step at a time.
- INGREDIENTS
There will be those who tell you that the secret of pizza is the flour of a variety of wheat cultivated since the time of the Sumerians, ground to stone of lunar preference, bought by the miller (of seventh generation) in an odd day of a short week ...
Seriously, if it is true that on the flours you can do great research and selection, I am here to tell you that for an honest home-made pizza you can use what you have in the pantry.
And so, for every pizza, my recipe includes 9 oz of flour 0 less for processing, 6 oz of water at room temperature, 1 tsp of dry brewer's yeast, 1 tbsp of oil plus that for bowl and pan, 2 tsp of salt.
- FIRST IMPACT
If you do not have / want to use planetary and similar, put it in a bowl: your work will be much cleaner (literally). First, start kneading flour, yeast and water with a spatula or by hand.
When the ingredients start to be amalgamated, add oil and salt and work until they are together. Then, transfer yourself on the floured surface and knead vigorously a few minutes, until the mixture sticks more.
The flour for processing must be dosed very sparingly, in order not to distort the doses and to dry the dough too much.
- FIRST LEAVENING
Collect what you got in a ball and place it in an oiled bowl. Cover with film and let it rise for an hour in the "famous" warm place mentioned in all the recipes.
I, who have a kitchen a bit 'cold, before starting to warm the oven at 122°F, then I turn it off: the residual heat I find is perfect for this first phase, and that's where I fix the bowl.
The only thing I can tell you is to never put the dough directly on a heat source, as it could be a radiator: rather, next to it.
- SECOND MIX
Indeed, the second dough. After the time of the first leavening, in fact, subjecting the pasta to a series of successive manipulations, you will obtain the result of incorporating air. Here's how to proceed.
Sprinkle the pastry board with very little flour, knead the dough for a few moments, give it a more or less rectangular shape and bring the short sides towards the center, overlapping a little, roughly as you do when you turn the dough into puff pastry.
You do not have to press, otherwise the air comes out.
Instead, roll over the dough, with the folds down, round it and place it again in the bowl, covered, in the heat. Repeat the gestures 3,4 times, with a quarter-hour rest between one and the other.
- SECOND LIEVITATION
After the last round, the dough is ready to be left to rise from a minimum of 15 to a maximum of 24 hours, always covered with the film, but this time in the refrigerator. Grease the film with a veil of oil because the dough will swell and fatally will stick: if the film is greasy, remove it will be simple.
Of course, you'll eat the pizza tomorrow. In the picture, my dough after 15 hours: from point 3 to hour, is more than doubled in volume.
Disclaimer: the depression you see in the middle is due to the fact that, swelling, that part has attached itself to the film (in fact) forming a large bubble that, breaking it, has broken out the air.
Now, after so much care and time, you do not want to ruin everything by mistreating your pasta. Therefore, the draft must be as quick and as energetic as possible.
Flour the pastry board, this time generously, transfer the pasta (first left out of the fridge a quarter of an hour, because it loses the cold) and spread it at the tip of fingers giving it the shape of round or rectangular pizza, the thickness you prefer, that high or thin is really a matter of taste.
Fold it up on one arm and transfer it to a well greased baking pan. You just have to stuff it with tomato and other oil (the mozzarella, of course, will be added only in the last minutes of cooking).
The oven temperature must be as high as possible. In our household ovens, it is more or less 482 °F, so unfortunately, unless you have different solutions (ultrapotent ovens, modified, refractory stones), the beloved and important thermal shock you forget.
If possible, for the first 12-15 minutes make sure that the heat comes only from the bottom to give more thrust and softness inside the dough. If your oven does not give you this option, cover the pizza with an upside down pan and discover it only in the last minutes when you take it out to add the mozzarella.
The oven temperature must be as high as possible. In our household ovens, it is more or less 250 °, so unfortunately, unless you have different solutions (ultrapotent ovens, modified, refractory stones), the beloved and important thermal shock you forget.
Fortunately, the pizza is not a souffle so if you have doubts, you can open the oven and lift it slightly to check that underneath is cooked and golden.
Now that you have the technique, you do not have to put it into practice.
Enjoy!!!!