Allegedly I can become a bit 'stressy' when making pizza .... As if!
Just in case there may be a little element of truth in this I think I may have finally perfected a way of avoiding any pizza tears.
Firstly you need a good and easy Recipe for the dough .... This is the RIver Cafe's spin on the legendary Alice Water recipe and I think that it's really good.
nb I can't get rye flour so just use the same flour as for the rest of the recipe.
Pizza Dough
Step 1
Ingredients
4 teaspoons granular dried yeast
125ml/4fl oz warm water
150g/5oz rye flour (I use tipo 00 Italian flour from wait rose)
Method
In a large warmed bowl, mix the yeast with the warm water. When “melted”, add rye flour and stir well.
Leave in a warm place to form a 'sponge'for at least 30 minutes. It is important to cover the bowl while the yeast starts to work to make sure there aren’t any cold draughts.
This is where a warming drawer is perfect ... I put mine on the lowest setting and put the bowl on a tea towel so it didn't get too much heat from underneath.
Step 2
Ingredients
250ml warm water
2 tablespoons milk
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon Maldon salt
500g 00 italian flour or organic bread flour
Method
Add remaining ingredients and mix together (you can use a food processor with a dough hook or a hand whisk with a dough hook if you have them!).
Place on a floured board and knead with your hands, using quick, light motions. Not sure if mine are either quick or light, more like slow and heavy, but it still worked
Add more flour to the board to stop the dough sticking.
Knead for 10-15 minutes until the dough is elastic and silky.
Put in a bowl greased with olive oil, and drizzle a little over the top (this will prevent a crust forming).
Cover with a cloth and leave to rise in a warm place for two hours (or until it has risen to twice its size).
Remove from the bowl and knock the dough back, and then knead a couple more times.
Return to bowl and allow to rise for 40 minutes.
Step three
Pre heat the oven to 230 degrees
Get all of the toppings you will want ready.
In our case this means black olives torn, red onion finely sliced, anchovies drained, salami out of the fridge, basil, rocket, capers at the ready
Drain and tear the mozzarella ... You don't want it wet
Make sure your tomato sauce is nice and thick and reduced
Now here is the trick to avoid soggy bases
Roll your base nice and thin
Slide them into the oven with NO topping on to start ..... Yes NO topping.
This means two things will happen.
1. they will slide into the oven really easily
2. They will crisp up better
Once the base has crisped up a bit ... Say five minutes .... Take them out (still on the oven tray) and load them up with toppings of your choice.
Now return to the oven for a further 7 - 10 mins or until it has the colour you are looking for. This process not only makes for a nicer base but it also makes the process of getting more than one pizza at a time going much easier.
Give it a go.
Just in case there may be a little element of truth in this I think I may have finally perfected a way of avoiding any pizza tears.
Firstly you need a good and easy Recipe for the dough .... This is the RIver Cafe's spin on the legendary Alice Water recipe and I think that it's really good.
nb I can't get rye flour so just use the same flour as for the rest of the recipe.
Pizza Dough
Step 1
Ingredients
4 teaspoons granular dried yeast
125ml/4fl oz warm water
150g/5oz rye flour (I use tipo 00 Italian flour from wait rose)
Method
In a large warmed bowl, mix the yeast with the warm water. When “melted”, add rye flour and stir well.
Leave in a warm place to form a 'sponge'for at least 30 minutes. It is important to cover the bowl while the yeast starts to work to make sure there aren’t any cold draughts.
This is where a warming drawer is perfect ... I put mine on the lowest setting and put the bowl on a tea towel so it didn't get too much heat from underneath.
Step 2
Ingredients
250ml warm water
2 tablespoons milk
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon Maldon salt
500g 00 italian flour or organic bread flour
Method
Add remaining ingredients and mix together (you can use a food processor with a dough hook or a hand whisk with a dough hook if you have them!).
Place on a floured board and knead with your hands, using quick, light motions. Not sure if mine are either quick or light, more like slow and heavy, but it still worked
Add more flour to the board to stop the dough sticking.
Knead for 10-15 minutes until the dough is elastic and silky.
Put in a bowl greased with olive oil, and drizzle a little over the top (this will prevent a crust forming).
Cover with a cloth and leave to rise in a warm place for two hours (or until it has risen to twice its size).
Remove from the bowl and knock the dough back, and then knead a couple more times.
Return to bowl and allow to rise for 40 minutes.
Step three
Pre heat the oven to 230 degrees
Get all of the toppings you will want ready.
In our case this means black olives torn, red onion finely sliced, anchovies drained, salami out of the fridge, basil, rocket, capers at the ready
Drain and tear the mozzarella ... You don't want it wet
Make sure your tomato sauce is nice and thick and reduced
Now here is the trick to avoid soggy bases
Roll your base nice and thin
Slide them into the oven with NO topping on to start ..... Yes NO topping.
This means two things will happen.
1. they will slide into the oven really easily
2. They will crisp up better
Once the base has crisped up a bit ... Say five minutes .... Take them out (still on the oven tray) and load them up with toppings of your choice.
Now return to the oven for a further 7 - 10 mins or until it has the colour you are looking for. This process not only makes for a nicer base but it also makes the process of getting more than one pizza at a time going much easier.
Give it a go.
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