This past week, I went back to the basic pizza, which for me is a the classic Margarita. I'd fooled around with a lot of different dough and sauce recipes and just want to get back to the basics.
For me, the pizza starts and ends with the dough. Lately, 2 things have really helped me improve my dough. A digital scale and an online pizza dough calculator. Tom Lehmann put together this calculator that just makes it so easy to calculate recipes; you gotta try it!
So, here's my basic dough recipe. I used an unbleached organic flour. No high gluten or anything else.
Flour (100%): 394.2 g | 13.9 oz | 0.87 lbs
Water (63%): 248.35 g | 8.76 oz | 0.55 lbs
IDY (.3%): 1.18 g | 0.04 oz | 0 lbs | 0.39 tsp | 0.13 tbsp
Salt (1.%): 3.94 g | 0.14 oz | 0.01 lbs | 0.82 tsp | 0.27 tbsp
Total (164.3%): 647.67 g | 22.85 oz | 1.43 lbs | TF = 0.101
Single Ball: 323.84 g | 11.42 oz | 0.71 lbs
The one thing I did do, is briefly mixed all of the ingredients together so that the flour was wet and just let it sit for about 20 mins. I had read a tip about letting the flour hydrate before working it.
After the 20 mins, I worked it in my bread machine. It is set on a 1 hour program that kneads, rests, kneads and let's the dough rise.
While the machine was doing it's thing, I got started on the toppings. My take on the Margarita pizza is fresh tomatoes, cheese, herbs and olive oil. So, I cut grape tomatoes in half, tossed them in olive oil and oven roasted @ 325 for 25 mins. I chose the grape variety as they were pretty sweet and I wanted that sweetness to compliment the cheeses which can be on the salty side. Roasting brings out the maximum sweetness in the tomatoes.
I didn't give the dough a cold ferment overnight or even 6 hours at room temp. When the bread machine cycle was complete; I took the dough out, cut it in 2 (this recipe was enough for 2 pizzas) and shaped the first skin.
Once the skin was shaped, I topped it with half of the roasted tomatoes, olive oil and sprinkled with a little dried oregano, basil and rosemary.
Then onto a screen and into the oven @ 500 for about 10 mins. Here again, I had read about splitting the bake time which helps the dough.
After 10 mins, the pizza comes out and is ready for the cheeses and fresh basil. I used a good quality mozzarella and provolone. The provolone was firmer, so I grated it and just thinly sliced the mozzarella. On top of the cheese, I placed a few fresh basil leaves.
In for about another 10 mins until the crust had a nice golden color and the cheese was well melted.
The crust was very tasty.
Taking a minimalist approach by using just a few quality ingredients produced a great pizza.
For me, the pizza starts and ends with the dough. Lately, 2 things have really helped me improve my dough. A digital scale and an online pizza dough calculator. Tom Lehmann put together this calculator that just makes it so easy to calculate recipes; you gotta try it!
So, here's my basic dough recipe. I used an unbleached organic flour. No high gluten or anything else.
Flour (100%): 394.2 g | 13.9 oz | 0.87 lbs
Water (63%): 248.35 g | 8.76 oz | 0.55 lbs
IDY (.3%): 1.18 g | 0.04 oz | 0 lbs | 0.39 tsp | 0.13 tbsp
Salt (1.%): 3.94 g | 0.14 oz | 0.01 lbs | 0.82 tsp | 0.27 tbsp
Total (164.3%): 647.67 g | 22.85 oz | 1.43 lbs | TF = 0.101
Single Ball: 323.84 g | 11.42 oz | 0.71 lbs
The one thing I did do, is briefly mixed all of the ingredients together so that the flour was wet and just let it sit for about 20 mins. I had read a tip about letting the flour hydrate before working it.
After the 20 mins, I worked it in my bread machine. It is set on a 1 hour program that kneads, rests, kneads and let's the dough rise.
While the machine was doing it's thing, I got started on the toppings. My take on the Margarita pizza is fresh tomatoes, cheese, herbs and olive oil. So, I cut grape tomatoes in half, tossed them in olive oil and oven roasted @ 325 for 25 mins. I chose the grape variety as they were pretty sweet and I wanted that sweetness to compliment the cheeses which can be on the salty side. Roasting brings out the maximum sweetness in the tomatoes.
I didn't give the dough a cold ferment overnight or even 6 hours at room temp. When the bread machine cycle was complete; I took the dough out, cut it in 2 (this recipe was enough for 2 pizzas) and shaped the first skin.
Once the skin was shaped, I topped it with half of the roasted tomatoes, olive oil and sprinkled with a little dried oregano, basil and rosemary.
Then onto a screen and into the oven @ 500 for about 10 mins. Here again, I had read about splitting the bake time which helps the dough.
After 10 mins, the pizza comes out and is ready for the cheeses and fresh basil. I used a good quality mozzarella and provolone. The provolone was firmer, so I grated it and just thinly sliced the mozzarella. On top of the cheese, I placed a few fresh basil leaves.
In for about another 10 mins until the crust had a nice golden color and the cheese was well melted.
The crust was very tasty.
Taking a minimalist approach by using just a few quality ingredients produced a great pizza.
