How to make traditional pizza

Yes, today you will discover how to make a traditional pizza base ! With this recipe, we focus on those traditional pizzas, with the thick-textured dough and delicious bread crumbs .

To season it, we suggest the most traditional filling, just tomato sauce and mozzarella. You will see that if you use quality ingredients, you will not need anything else to enjoy the pizza.

Although with the base recipe for this pizza, you can add any seasoning you want: with today's dough, any combination you put on it will be twice as delicious.

One important thing to keep in mind is that you should let the dough rest overnight. This is the only way to get an unbeatable pizza base. Keep this in mind when thinking about making pizza: preparing the dough is quick and easy, but once it's made it will need a few hours of rest, that's all.

I hope you enjoy this traditional pizza : a base with the flavour of old-fashioned bread , with tomato and mozzarella. You won't ask for more.

Emile Henry Smooth Ceramic Pizza Tray

Ingredients

For traditional pizza dough:

• 400 g of strong flour + 100 g of common wheat flour
• 350 g of water
• 3 g fresh yeast
• 15 g extra virgin olive oil
• 13 g of salt

To season the pizza:

• 200 g tomato sauce
• 300 g Fior di Latte mozzarella (or burrata, or mozzarella di Bufala)
• A splash of olive oil or La Tourongelle pizza oil if you prefer a spicy touch
• Oregano
• A few leaves of fresh basil

Elaboration

1. In a bowl, pour the water at room temperature and dissolve the yeast, crumbling it with your fingertips and stirring with a spoon. Let it rest for a couple of minutes.
2. Then, add the flour little by little and without stopping mixing, until you obtain a homogeneous paste.
3. Add salt and oil and mix again.
4. Transfer the dough to a work surface (or into the KitchenAid mixer with the hook attachment if you are going to knead it with a mixer), and knead it until you have a fairly soft and elastic dough (you will need to knead it well, with a few rests in between).
5. When the dough looks elastic and smooth, cover it with a cotton cloth and let it rise for 2 hours in a warm, draft-free place.
6. Once ready, divide the dough into 3 parts of about 250 g and form balls if you are going to make individual pizzas, or keep it in a ball if you want to make a single XL pizza. Whether individual or just one, cover with cling film and leave to rest for about 18 hours in the fridge.
7. The next day, take the dough out of the refrigerator about 2 or 3 hours before the allotted time is up, so that the dough loses its coldness and relaxes.
8. Once it's at room temperature, flour your work surface and shape your pizza (or pizzas): press the dough with your knuckles to start flattening it; then place one hand in the middle to keep it stable and firm, and with the other hand on the edge, stretch the dough into a circular shape, making a quarter of an arc. Start over again, until you have a nice pizza, being careful not to crush the edges.
9. Preheat the Emile Henry pizza pan in the oven at 250°C for 10 minutes, placing it on the lowest rack.
10. Meanwhile, take the opportunity to season the pizza: spread the tomato sauce over the surface of the dough, without reaching the sides. Then sprinkle the oregano and add the sliced ​​mozzarella, spread over the entire base.
11. Using a pizza peel , transfer the pizza onto the hot pizza pan in the oven. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 250°C.
12. Remove from the oven, place the basil leaves and pour a drizzle of olive oil (if you like it a little spicy, add La Tourongelle pizza oil )
13. Serve immediately and enjoy it until you lick your fingers. Smile (because yes, it was a ten).

Grades

• Remember to prepare the dough the day before you shape and bake it: a risen and rested dough is unmatched.
• To shape and season the pizza, I do it directly on the Bérard pizza peel, so I don't have to handle the pizza twice: I flour the peel, shape the pizza and season it, and then I transfer it directly to the ceramic baking base.
• If you use the KitchenAid mixer, use the dough hook: once all the ingredients are added, knead for 5 to 10 minutes at low speed.
• Today we have seasoned it with nothing but tomato and mozzarella. Just like that it is already delicious, but you can season it to your liking: with chicken strips, vegetables, tuna, sausages, olives, fruit... The options when it comes to making pizza are endless.