Topic: Pizza Recipe (by chriswg)

[Cory Ander]

Posted by chriswg and moved to here by CA:

My dough usually consists of:

7g yeast dissolved in about 50ml warm water and about 2.5g caster sugar. I leave this to ferment for about 15 mins in the warming oven. I then add it to 500g 'OO' flour, about 280ml warm water, a tsp salt and 2 tbsps olive oil. I knead by machine for about 10 minutes followed by 5 minutes of 'french flop'. I then leave it covered with a wet towel for about 5 or 6 hours at room temperature to prove.

My sauce is from the internet:

Ingredients
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can tomato puree
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/8 teaspoon basil
1/8 teaspoon thyme
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

I stick it all in a saucepan and simmer for 20 minutes.

The results are a bit sweet but not dissimilar to Dominos.

[Malc.]

Chris, the key to a good pizza base is semolina. I use a Jamie Oliver recipe similar to this one: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pizza-recipes/pizza-dough

It produces great results. I normally make a batch of dough balls, wrap the unused ones up in cling film and freeze them. When you thaw them out, unwrap the cling film and by the the time its thawed, it will also be proven.

I also use a JO Tomato Base recipe which i'll post up when I get home tonight. Again this can be frozen.

Best Toppings:

Roasted Sweet Pointed Red Pepper
Caramelised Red Onion
Chorizo
Mozzarella

Drizzle with basil or garlic oil and a grind of pepper.

[chriswg]

I forgot to mention my secret ingredient of using cornmeal instead of flour to roll out the bases. It gives a really crispy result and fairly authentic flavour. It is definitely what Dominos use.

[JerryM]

chriswg,

love pizza too.

not tried cornmeal - i add 1 tbsp of oil to the tin if i want a crispier base.

the biggest step improvement i've seen is in kneading the dough by following rosemary shrager's method - u stretch it out away from yourself using the hard bit of the palm at the wrist joint, then roll it back in like a swiss roll, turn through 90 and repeat. much easier on the arms too.

[chriswg]

Interesting method, I've not come across it before. I cant see how that puts in plenty of layers but I'd have thought you would squeeze out all of the air. I guess for a thin and crispy base it would work better, I usually aim for deep pan so need plenty of air in the base.

The 2 biggest improvements for me were making my own tomato sauce (the Napoli 'Pizza Topping' is pretty gross), and buying a pizza tray (metal with holes in the bottom). I find they work much better than the pizza stone I used to use.

[JerryM]

chriswg,

get a tray/tin without the holes. i have both and never use the holes version.

[Malc.]

I know Pizza Express use trays (no holes), with sides. Being contracted to them I was able to chat with many chefs along the way. One in particular made a fantastic base, it surprising how just the formation of the base can make so much difference.

After doing the the whole spinning the dough thing, he formed the base but I remember he said the key was to push the dough into the corners (so to speak) thus creating a wall of dough around the sides of the tin. The pizza was then made up as per requirement and cooked in a pizza oven.

What you end up with is thin base with soft puffy edges. Best of both worlds in my  opinion.

At home though, I have pizza trays with holes, only as much as I got them cheap in ASDA many moons ago. I've not had any problems with them though.

[jimmy2x]

hello axe, welcome to the forum.

i stuck a recipe with pics in a pizza topic here

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=3836.10


works for me, made this a dozen times now

[Malc.]

Jimmy, thanks for the welcome, your pizza is looking good.

[JerryM]

After doing the the whole spinning the dough thing

i aim to do this too as i feel it's essential to get thinner dough at the ctr and thicker towards the edge - when the toppings go on it produces a sort of equal thickness across the section of the pan.

ps u can do it quite slowly using both hands clenched into a fist - passing the edge of the part rolled out dough over them and round in a circle so that the full length of the perimeter passes over them.