Pizza fatta in casa

​Probably the most popular food in the world, PIZZA ❤

Traditionally cooked in a wood fired oven at around 400 degrees and cooked for 90 seconds, it's an explosion of HAPPINESS!!
Here is a perfect, simple recipe for a homemade pizza whatever you have a normal house oven or a wood fired.

This recipe makes 10 pizzas

​What you need:

• 1L of water
• 1.7kg of strong white flour  plus extra for dusting
• 6g of fresh yeast - about 5g if using dry yeast (or 510g if using a sourdough starter) 
• 50g salt 
• 50ml olive oil (only add this to the dough if cooking in a home oven, as this will give the crust a golden colour that the wood fired oven gives already without it)  

Making the dough:

1. To make the dough, start dissolving the yeast in the water (use room temperature water if using fresh yeast or warm water to activate the dry yeast) 
2. Put the flour into a big bowl. 
3. Slowly start to add half of the water (with the yeast) into the flour and mix using one of your hands.
4. Pour the remainder of the water and the olive oil and keep mixing for 5 minutes (now with both hands), then add the salt. Don't worry if the dough is sticking to your hand - this is part of the process. Sticky dough means good hydration of the dough so do not add any flour yet and do not wash your hands during this process.
5. At this point, you need to start kneading the dough. So, add a sprinkle of strong white flour to your table and start to create that gluten mesh, stretching the dough, folding it back in and turning it over and over again. If the dough gets sticky, add flour to your hands and just a touch to the dough. 
6. The dough will be ready when it is nice and smooth and when you poke it you'll have a reaction from the gluten and it will bounce back. 
7. Next, make a nice ball shape. 
8. Once you have made the dough and shape it,  let it rest for 2 hours under a wet towel - you'll see the dough starting to prove.
9. After 2 hours, separate your dough into 10 equal balls of dough (making sure they are a perfect ball shape and nice and closed on the bottom).
10. At this point you can decide to prove all your pizza dough for an extra 8 hours outside of the fridge. Place them inside a large container or on your kitchen table with a sprinkle of flour on the bottom and try to keep the dough balls separated by a few centimetres to stop them sticking together while they prove. Always cover your dough with a wet towel). After 8 hours the dough balls will be ready to stretch and cook. However, the proving of your pizza balls depends as well on the room temperature of your kitchen. If it is too warm they will prove faster, if it is too cold they could take longer, so make sure you keep an eye on them.
11. Or, you can let it slow prove in your fridge for the following 2 days (in this case you will have to place your dough balls in a large container with a sprinkle of flour on the bottom and cover it with a bag or plastic wrap making sure the plastic wrap is not touching the dough balls so they can prove properly). You will need to take the balls of dough out of the fridge 2 hours before using them (this method will prove the dough very slowly but will improve the maturation process).
12. The maturation is fundamental in the preparation of a good pizza, as it helps to produce the aromas and colour typical of freshly baked bread. It also promotes the proving and makes the pizza more digestible. During the maturation period and the proving time, it's important that the balls of pizza dough are covered perfectly at all times. They will need enough space between them as they will double in size. 

 
The stretching process

1. Make sure your pizza dough ball is almost at room temperature before you start to stretch.
2. Dust your table with a touch of flour then carefully place one of the proved dough balls on your table and add another touch of flour on top of the dough.
3. Start  stretching your pizza from the middle of the dough ball with the top of your fingers, pushing out the natural air inside the pizza. Next, fold the dough and do exactly the same over and over again, flipping the dough constantly. Click here if you would like to see a video guide for the stretching process.
4. If you like your pizza "Alla Napoletana" (with the crust)  then you will have to keep going with this process, pushing the natural air inside the dough out creating a barrier all around and trying to never touch it (when you are doing this, put in your mind that the crust in the oven it will double in size so the crust you are going to create it will be no larger than a 1 cm).
5. If you like your pizza "Alla Romana" (without the crust and with a thin base) then it will be much easier; all you need is a rolling pin. Place the rolling pin on top of your dough (which you will already have pre-stretched a bit by hand) and roll with the rolling pin, constantly flipping the dough making sure the base of the pizza is all even and not too thin.

The cooking process in a house oven

1. Preheat your oven 1 hour before cooking on the maximum heat on fan mode. 
2. Place your stretch pizza in a clean baking tray with baking paper. 
3. If you are doing a pizza rossa (with tomato sauce) add around 3 tablespoon of the tomato sauce to the middle of the pizza (if you add more, your pizza will be soggy), add basil, fresh mozzarella and a touch of extra virgin olive oil all around.
4. Place your pizza in the oven for 7 to max 10 mins depending how crispy you like it. 
5. Once the pizza is cooked, serve on a wooden board or on a large plate, let it cool down for 1 minute and enjoy!
6. You can top your pizza with whichever toppings you prefer (keep it simple!), and there you have it!  The perfect homemade pizza. ​

Watch the cooking method

The cooking process in a wood fired oven with PICCOLO 

The oven should be around 360-400’C: Keep the flames lively for baking pizzas. Then you place the pizzas on the oven floor with the pizza peel. Turn on the turning stone. Watch through the viewing glass until the crust turns golden
brown and the edges have risen. Your pizza should be ready between 90 seconds to 2 minutes maximum. ​
Enjoy!