From the moment pizza gained worldwide popularity, recipes from restaurants quickly migrated to the home cooking of housewives from around the world. But ideally delicious pizza, the same as in a restaurant, does not always work out. Traditional or classic pizza, which is prepared in a pizzeria, differs mainly in dough. In a cafe or restaurant we get pizza, which has thin and crispy dough, with a golden crust and a soft core. At home, we take out from the oven a magnificent, ruddy base, which is very tasty, but differs from the ideal and resembles an oven cake.
In order to cook the most delicious classic pizza at home, you need to figure out what it is, how to cook the dough, and what recipes are.
What is Italian pizza?
Italian pizza is a national dish that spans several centuries of its existence. The dish has the appearance of an open baked flat cake from unleavened dough, on top of which the filling is laid. Today, pizza is a world famous dish and has more than a thousand recipes. But the standard is a classic pizza recipe.
Classic dough recipe
The most important thing in making the right pizza is the right recipe, and a special technology that will prepare the perfect pizza dough. The classic recipe can be used as the basis for the preparation of various types of dishes. For the test you will need:
- boiled water at a temperature of 40 ° C - 0.3 l;
- dry or live yeast - 10 g or 0.5 packs;
- granulated sugar - 20 g;
- salt - 1 teaspoon;
- hard flour - 1 cup;
- soft flour - 1 cup;
- vegetable oil - 30 ml.
First of all, the dough is prepared. Pour warm water into a deep bowl, add sugar, yeast and add one tablespoon of flour of both varieties. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and leave in a warm place.
After a quarter of an hour, the yeast will dissolve in the bowl and foam will form on the surface. In another bowl, flour, salt, oil and a suitable dough are mixed. Knead the dough. One of the important factors affecting its quality is the correct consistency. The result should be a soft and at the same time flexible pizza dough. The classic Italian recipe implies a thin base that is easier to roll out from malleable dough.
How to prepare the workpiece?
Typically, the above recipe for classic pizza at home involves the preparation of five or six bases. Such a volume cannot always be prepared and eaten at one time, therefore it is recommended to make blanks that can be stored in the freezer for up to 6 months.
So, the first step is the formation of a ball of dough. The lump should be about fifteen centimeters in diameter. Roll the ball in flour, then lay it on a dry surface, for example, on a cutting board and bury it with your fingers, at a distance of one centimeter from the edge. With your other hand, gently press and pull the dough to the side, turning it.
Step Two - Stretching. As soon as the ball becomes a disk shape, it is necessary to continue to stretch it in different directions, until its diameter increases to a size of twenty-five centimeters. In this case, the main thing is not to try to align the base sheet, it will be in special tubercles, otherwise the dough will lose air, and the pizza will turn out to be pretty and without peculiar spots on the cake.
Step Three - Formation. Having placed the test disk on the knuckles, at a distance of a couple of centimeters from the edges, you need to start twisting the base, fingering it under your hands at a high pace. In the process of such manipulations, it will become thinner and expand. Once the dough is thirty centimeters in size, put it on a cutting board in flour.
Now the basis is almost ready, like the pizza itself , the Italian classic recipe of which can be changed depending on the availability of products in the refrigerator.
Classic pizza
In order for Italian pizza to come out, you can turn on the music and, enjoying the pleasant atmosphere, start cooking.
How to make the foundation is already very clear, but the rest must be dealt with. To start, the sauce is prepared:
- tomatoes - 2 pieces;
- vegetable oil - 2 tablespoons;
- garlic - 2 cloves;
- hot ground pepper - a pinch;
- oregano, basil or other Italian spices to taste;
- salt and sugar - 1 teaspoon each.
The filling, as a rule, can be anything, starting from cheese and olives, ending with sausages, meat or seafood. But the classic Italian pizza contains Mozzarella cheese (one hundred and fifty grams) and one tomato.
To prepare the sauce, the skin is removed from the tomato and the seeds are taken out (this is not necessary, but this is the classic recipe). Then the tomatoes are cut into small cubes and sent to the pan for roasting, pre-greased with olive oil. Tomatoes give juice. As the sauce is boiled, stir it, and after fifteen minutes, as soon as it thickens, add salt, sugar, spices and garlic to it. The proportions in the recipe are not indicated, as the sauce is made to taste.
The filling of tomato and "Mozzarella" should be thinly cut into slices and put on a prepared base, pre-greased with sauce.
Ready, but raw pizza, send to a preheated oven and bake at a temperature of 220 to 230 degrees Celsius for ten minutes.
Thin pizza
How to cook a classic Italian pizza dough is already known, and the preparation of the sauce is usually standard. Now about the filling. In the thin pizza recipe , several types of filling are used, from which it acquires a unique taste.
You will need:
- tomato sauce - 100 g;
- ham - 70 g;
- cheese - 30 g;
- tomatoes - 2 pieces;
- olives - 30 g;
- olives 30 g;
- mushrooms (champignons) - 50 g;
- vegetable oil (for greasing a baking sheet) - 1 tablespoon.
On the prepared workpiece, greased with sauce or tomato paste, the entire filling is laid out in random order. Before laying ham and vegetables are diced. At the end, cheese is rubbed on top. Bake in the oven at a temperature of about 220 degrees Celsius for eight minutes.
4 cheese pizza
Especially popular with us is the classic pizza called "4 cheeses." It has a delicate taste and aroma of four different cheeses.
For cooking you will need:
- cheeses "Mozzarella", "Parmesan", "Dor Blue", "Emmental" - 100 g each;
- Italian herbs (spices) - to taste;
- tomato - 1 piece;
- vegetable oil.
The classic Italian pizza recipe contains four recommended types of cheese, but some of them may not be at hand, and this is not a problem. Cheeses can be replaced with analogues.
So, each grade of cheese is grated, and the soft one can be crushed by hand. Cheeses are laid out on a prepared basis in layers, spices are sprinkled, and a tomato cut into slices is laid out on top. Bake for up to fifteen minutes in an oven at a temperature of 200 degrees.
The secrets of delicious pizza
- To prepare thin and crispy pizza, two baking trays are placed in a heated oven, up with pizza, and below empty.
- The process of kneading the dough requires a good mood, you can turn on the music, but not loudly, but in the background.
- The flour must be sifted, so the dough is homogeneous.
- Fresh yeast is always better, dry. But in the absence of these, it is possible to replace.
- When mixing the dough, first make only half the flour, and mix the remainder gradually.
- It is advisable to replace vegetable sunflower oil with olive. It has a lower aroma and will be invisible when baking.
- The process of kneading the dough must be continued until it no longer sticks to the hands. It must be remembered that pizza at the stage of kneading and forming the base should not be torn. The dough needs soft and elastic.
Total
To summarize, we can say that classic pizza can be cooked at home. It is only necessary to adhere to some rules, and an excellent Italian dinner will be obtained from a persistent and attentive hostess. To experiment with fillings is not only possible, but also necessary. After all, the classic loves perfection.