Ingredients
For the dough
- 255 g all purpose flour
- 5 g fine salt
- 4 g instant yeast or 12g fresh yeast or 6g dry yeast*
- 175 g lukewarm water
- 10 g olive oil
- 5 g sugar
- semolina or polenta for the base
Toppings
- 200 g ricotta cheese
- 100 g mozzarella I used mozzarella di buffala
- 50 g freshly grated Parmesan cheese I used Grana Padano
- 2 garlic confit cloves
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Drizzle olive oil
Instructions
For the dough
- Mix the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a bowl.
- Make a hole in the centre and add the water and olive oil.
- Mix with a spoon or spatula from the centre and slowly adding the flour from the sides.
- When the spoon isn't helping you mix anymore, switch to your hands. In the end you'll see you will have to take the mix off the bowl and knead it a bit on the table to mix it properly.
- If it's sticking to your hands add a bit of flour at a time until it isn't. Don't over-do it though because if it goes too dry then it won't be able to rise as nicely.
- Knead by hand 30min or on an electric mixer for 15min on full speed with the hook attachment. At this point you could freeze the dough for up to a month.
- Now we need to let it proof. If you're making one medium pizza then make a ball from the dough and put it on a clean surface or tray with semolina so it doesn't stick. On top we put a damp cloth so it doesn't dry out. If you're making 2 20cm pizzas like mine then divide the dough and shape it before proofing. If your dough was frozen it needs to come to room temperature before you start timing the proofing process. In total it needs to proof at least 2 hours and a maximum of 4.
- On the last 30min of proofing turn on your oven to its maximum temperature, broiler included. If you're scared it would be to high or don't know what the maximum temperature is, set it at 250°C/480°F. Inside the oven must be your skillet / pizza stone / oven tray preheating as well. Place it really close to the top of the oven.
To assemble
- Once proofed, stretch the dough using your fingers on a surface with semolina or polenta so it doesn't stick. Press down with your fingers leaving a nice edge around where it won't have any toppings. Then you rotate it and continue. For further reference watch the video above.
- Once the dough is nicely stretched and thin, sprinkle on the ricotta previously mixed with the confit garlic cloves. On top of that sprinkle the parmesan and mozarella cheeses.
- If you have a pizza peel or even a cake lifter you can add a bit of semolina on top of it and lift the pizza. Then place it on top of your really hot skillet/baking tray/pizza stone. If you don't have one of those you can slide it off the table if someone helps you hold your cooking surface for you. Do it fast though so it doesn't break! Place the pizza in the oven, again pretty close to the top. If it's a home oven it will probably need at least 4min and maximum 15min so be really careful not to burn it by staying close!
- When it comes out of the oven we add the fresh basil leaves, sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Serve immediately because there's nothing like freshly baked pizza.
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