Home Made Pizza Recipe
Homemade pizza has become a lockdown favourite!
Just like most great Italian food, pizza is quite simple – a few good ingredients, a bit of love and care and before you know it you are making pizza in your own kitchen, just like a pizzaiolo!
If you don’t have your own pizza base recipe, try this one from Caputo. Caputo flour is used in 80% of pizzerias in Naples because it is a quality ‘Tipo 00’ flour. They select the best wheat & treat it with care, so it makes fantastic dough!
Ingredients:
- 500g of Caputo Tipo 00 Flour
- 350 ml of water
- 8g of sea salt
- 1.5 g of Caputo active dry yeast
- 25g of extra virgin olive oil
- A pinch of sugar
Instructions:
- Combine the ingredients together in a mixing bowl to from a soft dough. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes, then knead for 7 to 8 minutes until smooth.
- Once you’ve kneaded the dough, coat the top with oil, cover with cling film and a damp tea towel. Allow to rise for 2 hours or until the dough doubles in size.
- When the dough is ready, punch it to remove the air & divide it into 3 equal sized balls.
- Coat the top of the dough balls with oil, cover with cling film, place on a lightly floured baking tray (leaving room to expand). Leave to rise for a further 6 hours.
- When you’re ready to cook, preheat the oven to the highest temperature & if using a pizza stone put it in the oven to heat for at least 45 minutes before cooking your pizza.
- When the dough balls have rested, unwrap & sprinkle lightly with flour.
- Gently push a spatula under the dough ball & lift off the tray. Place the dough ball on a well-floured worktop. Lightly flour the ball & pressing from the centre and working outwards, stretch the dough. Slap it down and keep pressing /rotating until you get a thin disc.
Topping Your Pizza
When it comes to pizza toppings, most Italians prefer to keep it simple. It’s hard to beat a simple Margherita – tomatoes, mozzarella and some fresh basil leaves – but really it’s down to what you fancy!
One of my favourites are griddled vegetables – courgette and aubergine work brilliantly.
Cheese or no cheese? It’s up to you, but if you do like cheese, make sure your mozzarella isn’t too wet when you add it to the topping, otherwise it can make everything a bit soggy.
Whatever you want on top, it is best to use good quality tomatoes. San Marzano tomatoes are considered to be the best variety for pizza. They are one of only two varieties of tomato that can be used for ‘Vera Pizza Napoletana’ (True Neapolitan Pizza).
If you don’t have San Marzano tomatoes (you can always buy some online from Buon Appetito Deli!) try to use the best quality tinned tomatoes or passata you can find.
Cook and Serve
Cook your pizza in the preheated oven for 7-10 minutes or until the crust is done how you like it.
All you need to do now is use your pizza cutter or scissors to slice and you are ready to serve….
Buon Appetito!
Michael