How to make an amazing pizza at home!
It is the symbol of made in Italy, the queen of the Italian tables, flag of our country all over the world and the amazing symbol of the Neapolitan cuisine. Today we talk about it: pizza!
It is such a common dish in Italy, well appreciated and easily to prepare that talk about it is like enter a temple, above all if we talk about how to cook it perfectly.
But a good home made pizza, a really good one, like in the best pizzeria is not so easy and there are small details and secrets to take into consideration. You are wrong if you think that pizza is only flour, water, mozzarella and tomato: the right choice of the ingredients, in fact, requires particular attention if you want to win the medal for the perfect pizza!
1. Let’s start with the basics: flour
Flour is one of the basic ingredients and it plays an important role to make a good pizza: a 00 flour, if it is too soft the leavening could not begin, on the contrary a tough flour can be to gummy. Our advice is to choose a flour with a medium toughness characterised by a quantity of gluten proteins between 10 and 12 gr.
2. The right water
Water isn’t less important than flour! The toughness of water affects the consistency of the dough, because it is responsible of the assimilation of the flour. A good water has to have a medium toughness, thus with a good quantity of calcium and magnesia. If the water of your house is too soft and with low nutrients it is better to use water in the bottle.
3. All good things come in three’s: yeast
Some hints on yeast: you can use brewer’s yeast or mother yeast. In the first case, pay attention to not mix the yeast with salt because the its effects can be inhibited but melt it separately in warm water before blending with flour, first the yeast then salt. Instead, if you use mother yeast make it rest for many hours, even six or eight, as it becomes easy to digest.
4. How to knead
No delicacy! The dry ingredients (flour and yeast) and the humid ones (water and oil) has to be kneaded vigorously. This is the only way to blend them together perfectly. A hint? Once kneaded, work the dough with strength and certainty for a couple of minutes to avoid lump and beating it two or three times on the table. This will make the gluten net softer and will help the yeast activation.
5. Cooking at high temperatures
A wood oven can reach 400°C, and for sure our oven at home doesn’t reach these temperatures, but the best is to raise the temperature as high as possible. Preheat the oven at the maximum temperature and bake pizza only once it reaches the right temperature. Do not use a fan oven that dry the dough, prefer the traditional oven. Moreover, it is better to use the traditional backing pans, that heat slowly, rather than aluminium or even better the refractory stone, that you should heat few minutes before.
6. Tomato
It is important to choose the right tomatoes! The best is a good san marzano tomato sauce home made during summer, when the tomatoes were well ripened. If you don’t have your own sauce, use a sauce not too liquid and not too sweet (enhanced once cooked). You should spread the sauce placing two spoons on the dough and spreading it as a circle with the back of the spoon.
7. Mozzarella
The perfect mozzarella for a delicious pizza? Fior di Latte, that it is better to cut a couple of hours in advance in order to drain the exceeding water. If you prefer buffalo mozzarella increase the draining time up to four hours to avoid liquids on your pizza that make the dough too humid.
And now bake and… enjoy!
