"How do I make pizza at home?"
Ok, here is a compilation of tips and recipes on pizza.
Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp instant yeast
1/4 cup veg. oil
1 3/4 cup ice cold water
Method:
(store flour in fridge overnight beforehand)
-stir together flour, salt and instant yeast
-stir in oil and water until all flour is absorbed
-use
dough hook on medium low speed for 5- 7 minutes (OR knead with your
hands) or as long as it takes to create a smooth, sticky dough. Dough
should clear the side of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl.
-If
the dough is too wet and does not come off the sides of the bowl,
sprinkle in more flour until the sides clear. If it clears the bottom
of the bowl, dribble in a small amount of cold water.
-The finished dough will be springy, elastic and sticky (not just tacky)
-Form into pizza size balls, place in oiled plastic container, oil top of balls, close container and refrigerate overnight.
This is an adaptation of a recipe from "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" by: Peter Reinhart
When making your pizza let the dough stand anywhere from 1 hr to 2 hrs before shaping the dough.
Use flour or olive oil to keep the dough from stickin to your fingers and don't use a rolling pin to roll it out, use your hands.
Put the fingers of both hands on the botom and in the middle of the dough pointing upwards (kinda like the prayer gesture) and then slowly stretch the dough with the tips of your fingers moving them away from one another. Then lay the dough down, and with your fingertips push outward making sure to leave a slightly thicker border at the edges with the rest being thin.
Use semolina flour to keep the crust from sticking to the pizza stone and peel(paddle used to place pizza in oven).
Put a squirt of olive oil onto the dough and spread it evenly before putting on the toppings.
Purchase a pizza stone and pizza peel from your local kitchen store and put the stone in the oven before you shape your dough and crank the oven up as high as it will go.
Using a pizza screen will allow air circulation between the crust and the stone. This allows the toppings to cook without burning the bottom first. When the top looks the way you want it remove the screen so the bottom of the crust gets a bit more crispy.
Close up of pizza screen
Heston Blumenthal suggests that all of Italy's best pizzas cook in around 2 minutes in a high heat environment. To duplicate this he suggests taking a cast iron skillet and getting it as hot as possible on the stove top or under a broiler, then he says to flip the pan upside down and cook the pizza on the top and under a broiler. This will take no more than 2 minutes so watch out.
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=heston+blumenthal+pizza&hl=en&sitesearch=
Check the link out it's a pretty intense look at Heston Blumenthal's mind with relation to pizza.
