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Pizza base recipe

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Pizza base recipe

Postby smitch » Mon Jul 27, 2020 10:16 am

I'm not a confident yeast baker at all but bought a large packet of Fermipan at the start of lockdown in case we had difficulty buying bread.

We want to make some home made pizzas to use up some bits and pieces from the fridge, including some nice stringy mozzarella.

I have some 00, white and wholemeal strong flours plus the usual plain and SR. Any T&T recipes? I looked online and there are so many recipes out there I wasn't sure what to go with.

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Re: Pizza base recipe

Postby Suffs » Mon Jul 27, 2020 10:43 am

I use my sourdough starter nowadays, but back when I used Doves quick yeast I used
250gms strong white flour
3 gms approx quick yeast
I teaspoon salt
I dessertspoon light olive oil
150 mls approx tepid water

Starting sometime in the morning I’d mix and knead (I use dough hook and Kenwood Chef) for ten mins.

Put in oiled bowl, place in plastic bag and leave to prove for an hour.

Then knock back, divide into 3 equal portions and place in oiled dishes in plastic bags in the fridge until I’m ready to make the pizzas. In our case usually about 5pm.

While the dough was having its first prove I’d make a tomato goo thus

Chop a smallish onion and a clove of garlic and soften in a little light olive oil in a wide bottomed pan. Add a tin of chopped tomatoes, a squirt of Tom purée, a teaspoon of sugar if you wish, chopped herbs (I usually use thyme and basil) and a splash of balsamic ... reduce over a low heat stirring frequently until just before it’s going to burn and there’s no liquid left. Cool then zap/pulverise using weapon of your own choosing. I use the Kenwood liquidiser. Cover and place to one side.

When ready to assemble, I turn the oven up to around 220C and get three greased baking sheets near at hand and sprinkle polenta or flour over thinly.

I roll out and then stretch the three bases really thinly and put them on the baking sheets, spread a third of the tomato goo over each leaving a narrow crust and add toppings.

Then drizzle with a smidgeon of EVOO and whack in the oven for around 13 - 15 mins (keep an eye on them ... we like ours crispy around the edges) and Voilá or whatever the Italian equivalent is.

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Re: Pizza base recipe

Postby smitch » Mon Jul 27, 2020 10:49 am

Fab, thanks. I've been meaning to get a sourdough starter on the go but life and work got in the way.

This sounds nice and straightforward though, will give it a whirl tomorrow I think.

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Re: Pizza base recipe

Postby Suffs » Mon Jul 27, 2020 10:58 am

Having had a few practises with Gill (see here viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4454) I bought a starter online from Kombuchaorganic in the Lake District and haven’t looked back. She is called Suzy Starter and lives in a corner of the kitchen, gets fed most days and is used about five times a week for bread, flatbreads and pizzas. So glad I took the plunge.

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Re: Pizza base recipe

Postby Gillthepainter » Mon Jul 27, 2020 11:36 am

That was a goodly experiment we had together, Suffs. I've only ever done it with apple.
Still got 6 nuggets in the freezer.

Re pizza base, I use 220g of 00 flour for one 30cm pizza. We always have pepperoni pizza with extra pepperoni.
I find yeast dough harder to roll out than sourdough. It's so darned springy.

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Re: Pizza base recipe

Postby scullion » Mon Jul 27, 2020 12:09 pm

according to one of the chaps on 'the kitchen cabinet' (radio 4), this or last week, you should leave the yeast dough to over-prove, when it's then easier to stretch without the spring-back.
smitch wrote: I've been meaning to get a sourdough starter on the go but life and work got in the way.

if you would like me to send you some of my dried starter pm me your address.

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Re: Pizza base recipe

Postby smitch » Mon Jul 27, 2020 12:09 pm

I've shuffled the weekly meal plan around a bit and just made the dough using suffs' method. My OH is excited about it so :crossed it works for us!

Think I might tackle some bread rolls later in the week, am getting a bit fed up of oven bottom muffins.

Scullion, that would be great, thanks. I'll PM you.

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Re: Pizza base recipe

Postby Stokey Sue » Mon Jul 27, 2020 12:13 pm

I made pizza dough last week, didn't have any type 00 so used half strong white bread flour, half plain flour 300g in total, 200 g water approx (it took a bit less I think) and 3g of instant dried yeast to make 4 individualistic pizza bases

But they discussed pizza on The Kitchen Cabinet on 18 July (still on BBC Sounds) and Tim Heywood said that the trick with pizza dough was to over prove, in fact he said to "knacker" it and the l :idea: hit me, I'd been looking at recipes that said to prove for 4, 6 or 8 hours knocking back occasionally or to prove in the fridge overnight and that's why. Over proved dough stretches better and gives a good thin and crispy crust :thumbsup

As I was making a 1 portion pizza I rolled out my little ball of dough on an 8 inch greaseprooof circle for lining a cake tin, to give me a rough shape and size, using a bit of fine semolina to stop it sticking. I slid off the paper into a heated black iron frying pan and let it continue heating while I added the laid out toppings and for a minute after, then out the pan into the hottest possible oven for a few minutes until the edge was puffed up and slightly coloured and the toppings cooked,

I should have heated the pan a bit more, but was pretty good

I have two balls of dough in the freezer for another day

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Re: Pizza base recipe

Postby Suffs » Mon Jul 27, 2020 12:25 pm

Gill ... as Sue says, let it really over-prove ... you'll see from my recipe mine spends around 6+ hours in the fridge and is then rolled and stretched from cold ... it rolls out so thinly you can almost read through it ;) and cooks beautifully crispy ... I really don't like thick doughy piizza bases.

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Re: Pizza base recipe

Postby karadekoolaid » Mon Jul 27, 2020 2:26 pm

That recipe looks great, Suffs. I suppose it´s more or less what I do, but I don´t use a mixer - all by hand. It´s probably the faff of taking out the KitchenAid and then having to wash it :shock:
I knead the dough for about 10 minutes, or until it´s smooth and silky. I then let it prove for about 1 1/2 hours and then make the pizza.
I´m not in the "thin crust" camp; I like a pizza with a decent thick-ish crust, so 1 1/2 hrs ( and bouncy dough) works fine for me.

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Re: Pizza base recipe

Postby Suffs » Mon Jul 27, 2020 3:27 pm

I love hand kneading KK, and have always done it for all our bread and yeast cookery ... until I developed what have been diagnosed as 'shoulder impingements' ... a sort of bony overgrowth which pinches a tendon and nerve in my shoulder ... first my right and then, when that was sorted, then in my left ... I now let Mr Kenwood do the kneading ... it only takes a few moments to wash up a bowl and dough hook and it's almost pain free 8-)

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Re: Pizza base recipe

Postby smitch » Mon Jul 27, 2020 3:46 pm

I have a Kenwood Chef but I've not used it for a while. The bowl was full of cobwebs, dust and a dead spider so I decided to knead by hand this time :oops: :lol:

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Re: Pizza base recipe

Postby smitch » Mon Jul 27, 2020 6:47 pm

They turned out really well. I think I made them slightly too thick but can fix that next time. My husband was really impressed too!

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Re: Pizza base recipe

Postby Stokey Sue » Mon Jul 27, 2020 7:57 pm

Excellent smitch!

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Re: Pizza base recipe

Postby Suffs » Mon Jul 27, 2020 8:00 pm

smitch wrote:They turned out really well. I think I made them slightly too thick but can fix that next time. My husband was really impressed too!


Hurrah! An impressed husband is a prize indeed :woohoo:

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Re: Pizza base recipe

Postby karadekoolaid » Mon Jul 27, 2020 9:52 pm

Well done, Smitch!
I suppose it takes a bit of time to gauge how thick/thin you want your pizza crust. Just when you think "I´ve nailed it" the damn thing rises too much in the oven!

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Re: Pizza base recipe

Postby smitch » Mon Jul 27, 2020 10:03 pm

They seemed nice and thin when they went into the oven, definitely rose more than anticipated. The trial and error to get it right will be such a chore :lol:

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Re: Pizza base recipe

Postby Suffs » Mon Jul 27, 2020 10:20 pm

I would either reduce the yeast or increase the length of the second proving ... even make it the day before then put in fridge for 24+ hours. ... or both.

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Re: Pizza base recipe

Postby smitch » Mon Jul 27, 2020 10:47 pm

Thanks suffs.

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Re: Pizza base recipe

Postby Badger's Mate » Tue Jul 28, 2020 9:17 am

In this house it's based on the recipe that came with the breadmaker - 300g flour, 210 g water, ½tsp yeast, ½tbsp sugar, salt & oil. There's a pizza dough setting which is 45 minutes, but I then let it prove for a few more hours before knocking back and stretching out. Making a smaller batch causes the machine to wobble a bit and I fear for the bearings, if I want less I make the same amount of dough but use the excess as a starter for my next loaf. Over proved dough makes good flatbreads too. I usually drizzle with garlicky oil or butter, and/or herbs or za'atar and a sprinkle of salt. :yum

Not so fussy as to flour, usually Redbournbury white(ish). The lovely Cheese Lady sells special Italian flour for pizza dough which I am yet to try.

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