Ingredients
A real pizza is made with very specific ingredients, as specified by their ministry of agriculture (no joke).
Required Ingredients:
- White flour Tipo 00
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Yeast
- Water
Recommended Toppings:
- San Marzano Tomatoes (crushed, in a can)
- Mozzarella di bufala (wet Italian cheese)
- Garlic, oregano, fresh basil
How to find the ingredients:
I live in southern California, not Italy, so finding some of these ingredients can be tough. I found that at an organic/whole foods supermarket you can usually find a high-gluten flour which works really well. You can also usually find a can of the San Marzano tomatoes if you're lucky, but they are harder to come across. I usually buy a ball of Mozzarella di bufala in a plastic jar, which isn't exactly what would be used in Italy, but comes much closer than any other cheese I've found.
Instructions
Start by making the dough. It will take 3 hours of rising and waiting time, so prepare accordingly.
Pizza Dough
Pizza dough Ingredients (4 small pizzas):
- 4 cups flour
- 1 1/2 cups water + 2 tablespoons extra
- 2 teaspoons yeast
- 2 teaspoons salt
Mix the dry inredients together in a large bowl.
Warm the water (microwave for a minute or so). pour the water into the bowl. Mix the dough together.
Mix the dough. An electric mixer is recommended, but I only have myself and a big wooden spoon. This works fine. Pound, mush, stir until it is a nice solid ball, and then knead for a couple minutes.
Put a damp cloth over the dough and let it rise for 2 hours.
After it has risen, pound the dough down, and cut it into four pieces. Ball these pieces up, and cover them again with the damp cloth and wait an hour. If you want to save the dough for later, wrap them in plastic wrap and toss in the fridge.
Pizza
Marinara Toppings:
- 2 cups San Marzano tomatoes
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 5 cloves garlic
- Oregano, salt, flour
Heat an oven with a pizza stone inside for an hour or so, as hot as the oven gets (mine gets up to almost 500F).
Cover the counter and your hands with flour. stretch out the dough into a somewhat round shape. This can be done in the air or on the counter. I like to hang the pizza in the air and stretch it vertically.
Put 2 spoonfuls of tomato on each pizza, spreading around with the back of the spoon. Shake a little salt on top of the tomatoes.
For a marinata, liberally sprinkle oregano over the tomatoes. Thinly slice up garlic, and spread over the pizza.
Drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil over the pizza.
Slide the pizza on to a flour covered pizza peel, slip it off inside of the oven. Let the pizza cook for 3 minutes or so.
Take the pizza out, let cool for a moment, eat.
Results
The pizza that comes out of a conventional oven doesn't turn out as nicely cooked as one that comes out of a pizza oven. They don't get hot enough. In spite of this, I think my pizza turned out well.
The prepared pizza, before cooking
The pizza in the middle of baking
The finished pizza
