Pizza è grande!

I have had a love-hate relationship with dough for some time now; I love how it smells, I love how it looks rising like a magnificent mountain and most of all, I love how it tastes in all its forms, experiments, and adventures. Sweet, savoury, confused- give it to me hot and straight out the oven! But I hate making it; it never rises, it never comes out light and soft, or crispy and delicious. Until now I had attempted bread and pizza dough several times, none of which even came close to something successful. And then I met the Italian, who looked at me ever so confused when I confessed that I could not make pizza dough. "But why??" (cue lovely Italian-accented English), "Is easy!". Yes, that's what all the recipes said: "Easy!", "Simple!", "Ready in a flash!". I defied them all with making it remarkably difficult, complicated and slow. 


The simple solution to my problem? Don't over think it. Yes there are some technicalities with dough, but it's pretty much like all other cooking, you judge it on whether it tastes right and looks right. I got too caught up on following dough recipe measurements and instructions, treating it as though I was dismantling a bomb. The Italian logic is, "You do until it feels good."


So, with this is mind, please try out this recipe, whether you have never made pizza dough before, or have done it countless times- it's a real cracker and it's yet to disappoint!

Stefania's Italian Pizza Dough

1. Grab a large mixing bowl, a packet of plain flour, a sachet of dried active yeast, a mug of warm water, salt, sugar, and olive oil. Keep all of these ingredients nearby, since your hands will be getting messy!

2. Shake about 1/4 of a packet of flour into the bowl; I think it measures out to about 2-3 cups. This should make 3 medium to large size bases, depending on how thin you roll them out. Don't stress about getting the flour measurement exactly right, once you've made your first batch you'll learn how much flour you need for however many bases! Some swear by using stone ground flour; I haven't tested it yet, but plain flour is just fine.


3. Add dried active yeast; I find it best to add it straight to the flour without preparing it first. I usually 1 sachet, which is the equivalent to about 7g. Pop the yeast into the palm of your hand before tipping into the flour (you'll see why later!). Then add a sprinkle of sugar to the flour mixture; this feeds the yeast which activates it and helps it rise. About a tablespoon or two should do.

4. Now add salt; based on how the yeast filled your palm, you should fill your palm with the same amount of salt as yeast, then add a generous dash more.

5. That's all your dry ingredients done, now add a good generous drizzle of olive oil all over the surface of the flour, see the picture below. If you find your cooked bases are a bit dry or bland, then next time add more olive oil and a touch more water.

6. Make a little well in the middle and pour in about 1/3 of a mug of warm water. The warm water part is where a lot of people go wrong; warm means warm, not hot and not tepid. Stick your fingers into the water; if you can leave them there for a bit, and they come out of the water having warmed up, then your temperature is right. If you can't leave them in your water is too hot, if there is no warmth in your fingers after, then it's too cold. Never use boiling water as too much heat will kill the yeast.

7. Now you can mix away! Focus on mixing everything into a dough; you may need to use more water, I tend to use between 2/3 and a whole mug in total. If you've added too much water just add a little more flour; the texture you're looking for is a little bit sticky but knead-able. The stickiness will turn into elasticity as you knead the dough. If the dough is very dry before kneading, then your bases will come out dry. Knead the dough in the bowl (easy peasy less mess); when you think you've kneaded it enough, keep going for another 5 minutes. When the 5 minutes are up, do another minute or two. Kneading the dough is what gives it its elasticity and helps activate the gluten- any pizza base worth it's mozzarella has had a good long kneading! Good indications are that there is little or no residue left in the bowl, the dough has taken on a nice golden colour and feels springy when you touch it.

8. This is your dough baby. Wrap it up nice and snugly in a kitchen towel or a regular towel, and pop it in a warm place to rise. I like to wrap the bowl up completely and pop it on a windowsill. It needs a good 2 to 3 hours to rest, ideally make it late morning to use for dinner that evening. It should double in size, then you know it's ready!

9. When your dough is ready, flour a clean surface and roll away- whatever thickness or thinness your heart desires! These bases work well with all pizza toppings, as focaccia bases, and even dessert bases with chocolate spread baked on top. They usually only require 10 minutes in the oven for a fairly thin base; flour your baking tray, pop in the oven, and when you can lift the pizza off the tray and rap on the base to hear a hollow sound, you know they're done :) Oh, and if you can get your hands on a unglazed terracotta tile to bake your pizza on, then you've got yourself a good copy of a traditional pizza oven!


Every time we make pizza I studiously document the making-of in photos for this blog, but without fail every time they come out the oven we polish them off before I can get a picture of the finished product :( this weekend I finally managed to snap the last slice before it was attacked, and here it is, my Italian pizza!