Thin crust light pizza (pizza sottile e leggera)
Posted on Apr 12, 2009 08:16:07 AM
There we go with another thin crust pizza. Before you start, if you haven’t taken the test “are you Italian when you go to a pizzeria? in the thin crust pizza do it now.
Why light? Because it contains a part of rice flour, which has hardly any gluten (=less elastic after kneading) but a lighter taste.
Why thin? Because it’s a lighter way to enjoy pizza: lighter means less dough. The ingredients here are for 500g of flour. If you have a normal oven this means two batches, so if you feel one is enough, stick half of the dough in the freezer and use it the following Friday (which is the best day to make pizza at home).
- 350g (2 ½ cups) strong flour
- 150g (1 cup) rice flour
- 15g (1 tbsp) fresh yeast or 7g (½ tbsp) dry yeast
- about 300ml (10 fl oz) lukewarm water + 60 ml (2 fl oz) to spare
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons salt
For the topping, basic stuff:
- 1×400g tin (about 1 pound) of chopped tomatoes
- salt and pepper
- oregano
- 2 balls of fresh mozzarella cheese
- 125g (4 ½ oz) diced bacon
Put the 300ml water in the microwave for 30 seconds, then add the yeast and the olive oil. Stir until it bubbles.
Sift and mix the flours in a bowl and add the salt. Make a hole in the middle and add half of the liquid mix. Using a fork, start mixing drawing circles from the centre outward. Then add half of the remaining water and keep using the fork, or one hand if it’s too hard.
Now it’s time to balance flour and water to obtain a kneadable dough. Make sure you’re picking up all the flour at the bottom of the bowl, and add some more flour if it’s too sticky, or some extra water if it’s too dry.
When the dough is solid enough to be kneaded, transfer it to the working surface. The basic kneading technique is to use the part where the hand meets the wrist to stretch the dough and roll it back on itself. Then turn it 90° and repeat. Now, I’m not a kneading master, but I’ve added an extra step which I think is useful. After stretching the dough, before rolling it back, turn it upside down: the even side which was touching the working surface will be now on the top, and the rugged side will be at the bottom. Now roll it back.
After 10 minutes of hand kneading, the dough should be elastic enough. Put it back in the bowl, cover with clingfilm and let it raise for about 45-60 minutes. The basic rule for bread is to let it raise until it’s doubled in size,which takes more than one hour, but I tend to be a little impatient with pizza.
Preheat the oven to 250°/500°F/gas 9.Make sure the baking tray is inside.
In a separate bowl mix all the ingredients for the topping apart form mozzarella, which you’ll tear in pieces and put aside.
Roll half of the dough with a rolling pin until it ½ cm thick, place it on a piece of oven paper and spread half of the tomato mix on it. Put it on the baking tray and bake for about 5-7 minutes, until the edges are a bit golden.
Take out the half-baked pizza and add the mozzarella pieces and the bacon. Put it back in the oven and bake until the cheese is melted and the edges are darker.
Needless to say, enjoy it with a beer, not wine.
Here are more pizza recipes, and check also this nice website where some people really live for pizza.
Thin Pizza Crust (pasta per pizza sottile)
Posted on Feb 14, 2009 09:45:16 AM
This pizza crust definitely is my best so far. For this thin crust pizza dough I used Linda Collister’s recipe for pitta bread in Bread: From Sourdough to Rye: From Ciabatta to Rye
For a pizza crust recipe for 3-4 people you’ll need:
- 500g (4 ½ cups) strong white flour preferably sifted
- about 300 ml (10 fl 0z) of lukewarm water, preferably filtered
- 15g ( 1 tbsp) of fresh yeast or a 7g (½ tbsp) sachet of dry instant yeast
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons salt
For the topping, typically the minimum requirements are:
- one tin of chopped tomatoes
- one ball of fresh mozzarella cheese and/or any kind of cheese that melts (like the Camembert in the picture)
In a bowl pour 2/3 of the water and the yeast. Stir until it starts bubbling, then add the olive oil and keep stirring.
Add a handful of flour, and start mixing it with your hand, when it’s smooth add another one, and so on. After the second or third handful you can add the salt.
Work the dough with your hand in the bowl until you have collected all the flour, start using both hands when it gets too hard to work it with just one.
Transfer the dough to the working surface and knead it for 5-10 minutes. The final result should be an elastic, slightly moist dough, that sticks for a second to the working surface, but comes off easily. If you think it’s too dry add some water, just few drops at the time.
Dust the bottom of the bowl with flour and put the dough in it. Cover it with cling film and let it rise until it has doubled in size (it should take about two hours).
When it’s ready, start preheating the oven at 220° leaving the baking tray in.
Push the dough gently with your knuckles to let the air come out, dust the working surface with flour.
Roll out the dough with a rolling pin until it’s very thin (about ½ cm).
Tear off a piece of oven paper that fits the baking tray and lay the dough gently on it.
Cover the pizza dough with the tomato sauce, add a sprinkle of salt.
When the oven is ready, take out the baking tray (remember: it’s hot!) and transfer the thin crust pizza dough, using the four corners of the oven paper (you will probably need an extra pair of hands here), then put it in the oven.
After 15 minutes you can add the mozzarella cheese and the ham, then let it bake for about 20 more minutes, until the mozzarella is melted, and slightly brown. If you are used to a thicker homemade pizza crust, remember that a thin crust pizza needs less cooking.
One note on water. The bread and pizzas recipes usually give a fixed quantity of water and then say that you should add more if the dough is too dry, or add flour if it’s too wet. I don’t think that the latter makes much sense. Adding flour changes the balance with the other dry ingredients (yeast and salt in this case), so I think it’s wiser to use just part of the water and then add the necessary to make the dough moist enough.
If you likes this classic of Italian food, try the rest of pizza recipes.