Secrets of pizza preparation

Today we will talk about pizza. I want to warn you in advance that this recipe may not correspond to the classic (authentic Italian) recipes for making pizza in some of its components. As my experience has shown, on every resource and forum, everyone presents their variation of the recipe as the original, and it’s hard to understand who is closer to the truth and who is not. So I ask you to set aside the question of how closely the recipe below matches the real Italian recipe for making pizza, and let’s just look at the practical conclusions from my experiments; after all, everything turns out to be quite delicious.

p.s. I would be happy to receive ideas, suggestions, and comments – in general, let’s exchange our experiences.

Dough.

I prepare the dough without using yeast (which I associate more with rolls); instead, I use baking soda, as it has been a tradition – the dough turns out great.

Ingredients:

— Flour 2 cups
— Water 0.5 cups
— Egg 1 pcs.
— Olive oil 1 tbsp.
— Salt 1 – 1.5 tsp.
— Soda ? tsp.
— Vinegar for extinguishing the soda

— Pour 1.5 cups of flour into a deep container in a mound.
— Make a well in the center and crack the egg into it. Add olive oil, salt, vinegar extinguished soda, and water.
— Mix until homogeneous, until it’s still relatively sticky.
— Sprinkle the table with flour, place the dough on it, and roll it out, adding the remaining flour (in the end, the dough should not stick to your hands), to a thickness of ~ 3 mm..
— Prick the surface of the dough with a fork so that it does not puff up.
— Place it in the oven for 2 – 3 minutes to let the dough set a little. This is done so that the dough retains its taste and does not mix, becoming soggy with the sauce and toppings.
— Take the dough out of the oven – the crust is ready.

Pizza sauce.

An important part is the pizza sauce; I do not claim originality, but definitely avoid using mayonnaise and ketchup.

Ingredients:

Tomato puree 250 gr.
Garlic 2 cloves
Dried basil 1 tbsp.
Oregano 1 tsp.
Thyme 1 tsp.
Sea salt 1 tsp.

Crush the garlic and then mix all the ingredients thoroughly in one container. If dried herbs were used, it’s better to let the sauce sit for a while.
p.s. Instead of the herbs listed in the ingredients, you can use mixtures of Provencal or Italian herbs, which can be easily found in stores.

Preparing the base.

Ingredients:

Pizza sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Hard cheese to taste

— Evenly spread the pizza sauce over the crust, starting from the center and spreading it to the edges, leaving 1 cm untouched so that a firm crust forms around the edges after baking.
— Distribute small thin pieces of mozzarella over the entire crust (you can grate it). An alternative option is to place mozzarella on the crust in circles.
— If desired, grate hard cheese on top.
— Drizzle with olive oil.
— The base is ready, now you can start on the toppings.

Toppings.

One of the important rules for toppings, besides the compatibility of ingredients, is the rule of layering ingredients by cooking time. Cooked ingredients are placed first (for example, tomatoes or bell peppers, etc.), while ingredients that require cooking (mushrooms, raw bacon, etc.) are placed last.

The second rule (not as important and not always applicable) is, in most cases, to use a limited number of ingredients, for example, 3 (there are exceptions, but I am giving the most commonly encountered case), so as not to turn the pizza into a mush of all leftover products in the fridge. :)

Some examples of pizza toppings.

— Vegetarian: eggplant, sweet pepper.
— Hawaiian: pineapple, red onion, ham, and sprinkle a little grated cheese on top. You can also add spicy chili pepper, such as jalapeños and sweet corn.
— With mushrooms: tomatoes, mushrooms, cheese. You can add olives.
— Pepperoni: Pepperoni sausage. Alternatively, you can use boiled-smoked sausage.

p.s. in fact, the base described in this recipe is already partly a finished pizza – Margarita. So you can consume it without adding toppings :)

In conclusion, I want to say that sometimes it’s worth stepping away from classic recipes, experimenting, gaining new experiences, and opening new horizons for creativity :)