What’s better than to learn to make your own pizza? Learning from an Italian! That’s right, as much as I like to pretend I am English, I was born and raised in Rome, if you didn’t know. And in my cooking, it comes quite handy to tell people I’m Italian — they tend to trust me a lot more…
There is not one way to make pizza. Depending on where you go in Italy, everyone thinks their pizza is the best. I, for one, like my pizza to be thin and crusty, like they do it in Rome. It’s really easy to make and it can be healthy as well, it all depends on what you’re putting on top!
Ideally, you want the dough to rest at least a few hours before cooking it to let it rise. The best would be to do it 3 days before actually serving it. During my live cooking, I’ve used fresh yeast as I found out it’s easier to buy than I thought, just check your local organic shop! But dry yeast would work just the same.
Ingredients
-500g of flour
-Pinch of salt
-150 - 200ml of warm water
-150 - 200ml of cold water
-Fresh or dry yeast
-Extra virgin olive oil
-Your favourite toppings
Method
Place your flour in a bowl and add a pinch of salt to it, then mix it.
Pour both your waters in another bowl and a tbsp of yeast and let it dissolve.
Add a little bit of extra virgin olive oil in the yeast water.
Once the yeast is completely dissolved, add the water to the flour mix (it should look quite bubbly)
Make sure to have some extra flour at the ready, just in case you need to add it in. Work the water into the flour with your hands until you get a dough-like consistency.
Dust your working surface with some more flour and take the dough out of the bowl. Now, you need to knead the dough. Knead it for 5 minutes, then let it rest for 10 minutes. Do this 3 times in total.
Wrap the kneaded dough in a cloth and place it in a warm place (under sunlight is perfect)
After letting it rise for at least a few hours, cut the dough in as many pizzas as you want (there should be about 4) and work each piece of dough onto the surface to shape it like a pizza. You can do this with a rolling pin if you like, but your hands will do just fine.
Now it’s time to add the toppings! Don’t forget to add some extra oil and salt! Finally, cook your pizza in the oven at 180C for about 10 minutes, or when it gets as crispy as you like!
Looking forward to see what you are going to make! Tune in on Mondays to cook live with me!
Love,
Vxx