Making of pizza base

Pizza is a universal and nutritious food loved by young and the old. It originated in Italy. It is easy to make. You find pizzas in endless varieties. It can be made to suit individual taste.

Pizza dough base is common to many pizzas. Here I present a pizza dough which I will be using to make several variations of pizza.

Measuring spoon

Preparation time of dough

            Yeast preparation :  2 minutes

            Yeast fermentation : 15- 20 minutes

            Preparation of dough : 10 minutes

            Fermentation of dough:  45 minutes

            Cooking time in the 210°c oven:  10-12 minutes

            Cooking time with the ingredients on the dough : 8 minutes

Ingredients:

  For the yeast mixture              

                1 ½ tsp active dry yeast powder

                1 ¼ tsp sugar

               Water 166 ml (I use 100 ml+ 50 ml+ 15 +1 ml cup spoon to measure)
For the dough
   250 gr plain flour (All purpose flour)

   2 tsp olive oil

   Salt ¼ tsp

Method
making of yeast mixture

1.      Put yeast and sugar into a long jar or a wide mouth bottle. Add 166 ml of lukewarm water at 100°F   (40 c.). You will get this temperature if you heat the water in a microwave oven for 20 seconds on high.

Yeast beginning to proof

2.      Pour into the yeast and sugar mix. Stir well. Cover and leave it for about 15 to 20 minutes. As the yeast is being activated it will grow and the level will rise. When you see some bubble on top of the jar, it means that the proofing is complete.  If the yeast did not rise, it means something has gone wrong. You will have to discard the mixture and start with a new mixture all over again. Yeast has life in it. If it is active it will proof and rise. Always use a glass, ceramic or stainless steel vessel to proof the yeast. Try not to use an aluminium vessel.

Yeast mixture ready to maka pizza base

                                  

Preparation of dough

Making the dough by hand   

   1.Heap the flour in a bowl. Make a well in the centre of the heaped flour. Pour the yeast mixture into the flour and add oil and salt.

2. Mix and knead the four well using your hands or a wooden spoon to make a soft and elastic dough.  Roll the soft dough into a ball. Coat the outside of the ball with olive oil. Place the ball into a big greased bowl.

3. Cover the bowl with a wet cloth and keep aside. It will take about 2 hours for the dough to proof.

Making the dough by using the food processor

  1. I prefer to use a food processor to make the dough. Put the 250 grams of flour into the bowl of the processor add salt add oil. Turn the machine on. Do a few pulse for the salt and oil  mix with the flour.
 2. Pour the yeast mixture and run the machine at low speed.You will see the dough rounding up in 2 minutes. Do not put too much flour into the processor.  If you are going to make the dough out of 500 grams of flour, do it in two batches of 250 grams each.

Dough preparation in the food processor

Dough before proofing

3. Remove the dough using your greased hands. Knead the dough well and make it into a ball. Put the dough in a big greased  bowl after coating it with a thin layer of oil.

4.Boil a glass of water for three minutes in the microwave oven. If the glass is tall you can boil it for 5 minutes. Do not remove the glass of water from the microwave oven because we are going to use the heat from the glass of water to proof the dough.

5.  Place the bowl with the dough (uncovered) by the side of the glass and quickly close the door. Let the dough be in the oven for 45 minutes for proofing.

6. Open the door of the Microwave oven only after 45 minutes.  You would see the dough has risen and become twice its original size. Punch the dough and remove it from the bowl using a greased hand. Knead the dough for a minute.You can flip into the bowl two to three times. Roll it again into a ball shape.  Now the dough is ready.

Dough after proofing

7.  Put the dough on a floured board according to the size of your pizza pan. Or you can flatten it round by your palm and press the dough on the greased baking tray, working from the centre to the desired thickness or to cover the entire surface of the tray. Large tray will be 12” in diameter. The thickness will depend on whether you want thick or thin crust pizza.

Flattened dough on the baking tray

8.  Leave it to rise for another 10 minutes.

Dough in the oven

9.  Now preheat oven at 210°c for 10 minutes. Place the tray of dough in the oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes and remove.

After 10 minutes of baking

Pizza base is now ready. You can get on with the making of the pizza. You can store the base in the refrigerator for a couple of days or freeze it for a couple of months.

TIPS

Store the dry yeast in the refrigerator. But remove from the fridge and bring it to room temperature before making yeast solution. Always use good yeast. Otherwise it will not proof. If your yeast solution has not proofed well, your pizza base will be hard. The right temperature (40°c) is important in proofing your yeast. You can tell it by the warmth you feel when you insert your finger into the water.

You can also use your oven to proof the dough.  Just preheat the oven at 150°c and switch off the power and leave the bowl of dough in the oven for 45 minutes. The dough is ready.

 

Dough proofing in the oven

We can also wrap the proofed dough with cling foil, put in an air tight container and freeze for future use.

Ivy Fernandeshttps://plus.google.com/1093706883459317135690