Pizza - from dough ball to freshly baked pizza

About this recipe

Pizza – from dough ball to freshly baked pizza

by @baking - Feel free to contact me via Instagram or Facebook if you have any questions or comments.

Ingredients

• 1 dough ball (see recipe) pizza dough)
• 2 tablespoons tomato sauce (or other base)
• 1 handful of grated or fresh mozzarella (or alternative)
• toppings of your choice

Preparation

1. Take a ball of dough and gently roll it in flour, semolina (fine wheat semolina), or a mixture of both.
   Semolina, like flour, helps prevent your dough from sticking to the pizza peel, but it burns less quickly. It also gives your pizza crust extra crispiness. Once your dough ball is nicely coated with flour or semolina, you can place it on your work surface.
   Make sure you haven't turned the ball over, and that the top is still the same.
2. To prevent the dough from sticking to your work surface, you can also use a thin layer of flour or semolina. Bring both hands together and start pressing the dough ball flat from the center of the ball. Use the top half of your fingers and work carefully from the inside to about a centimeter from the edge—this way, you won't squeeze the air out of the dough and you'll get the nice rounded crust of a Neapolitan pizza. Turn the dough around and do this in all directions to form a circle. Don't hesitate to turn the dough over and do the same thing, but always put it back on the original side.
3. Your dough now has the shape of a circle—or something close to it (this isn't easy, but with a little practice you'll get there quickly). Now we just need to make the circle a little bigger. There are several ways to do this, and the only right way is the one that suits you best. With each method, work carefully so that the dough doesn't tear, and avoid the edge so that it remains intact.
4. Here are a few options:
   • Enlarge the base with both palms by gently stretching from the inside out and moving the base in a circular motion.
   • Remove the dough from the work surface and rest it just behind the edge on the knuckles of your fists. Reposition your fists each time so that a new piece of dough rests on them, and is stretched by gravity.
   • Remove the dough from the work surface and move it vertically back and forth between your left and right hands. With each movement, rotate the circle slightly.
5. If you find it difficult to imagine how this works, you can find plenty of videos on YouTube that illustrate these methods.
6. If you are satisfied with your pizza base (e.g., diameter 30 cm), place it back on your work surface or directly onto a lightly floured pizza peel.
7. Top the pizza base as desired. A few tips:
   • Keep the edges free, because any weight will prevent the dough from rising.
   • Keep it simple: choose your base (tomato sauce or 'bianca' - cream, cheese, etc.), 1 or 2 cheeses such as mozzarella and parmesan, and 1 or 2 toppings such as grilled vegetables or fine meats. Be creative with your combinations and dare to experiment.
   • Do you want to place the base directly onto the shovel so that you don't have to move it again afterwards? Before you start, make sure to check that the base can still move freely and does not stick to the shovel. If this is the case, you can carefully apply some flour to the damp spot and blow lightly between the base and the shovel to loosen it.
8. Once you start adding sauce and other toppings to the pizza, there is a greater chance that the moisture will cause the dough to stick to the pizza peel. So, you need to work quickly!
9. If you topped the pizza on your work surface, now slide it onto your pizza peel.
   • Make sure your scoop is completely dry and lightly flour it.
   • Carefully lift one edge of the topped pizza.
   • Carefully slide the pizza onto the pizza peel in one quick motion.
10. Didn't it go quite smoothly and did it turn into a calzone after all? Be sure to try again next time!
11. Clean the oven, and if necessary, place an extra log on the fire so that the flame burns nicely across the ceiling to the chimney, baking the top of the pizza evenly.
12. Depending on the type of pizza you prefer, preheat the oven to hot or very hot and bake the pizza for 60-90 seconds to about 4 minutes. The hotter and shorter the baking time, the more the dough will rise, but also the less crispy the pizza will be. To determine the temperature of the baking surface, it can be useful to check it with an infrared thermometer. Of course, you can always rely on the built-in air thermometer.
13. A rough guideline:
    • Pizza Napolitana: 450 degrees – 90 seconds (turn when the bottom is firm enough, or after about 20-30 seconds)
    • Pizza Romana: 350 degrees – 120 seconds (turn halfway through or when you notice that the crust is baking too quickly near the flame)
    • Pizza Classica: 250 degrees – 4-5 minutes (turn every 1.5 minutes)
14. Time to bake the pizza! Check whether the pizza still moves freely on the pizza peel by gently shaking it back and forth (if you notice that it is sticking again, loosen that spot with some flour).
15. To slide the pizza onto the baking surface easily, place the end of the pizza peel on the stones at a 20° angle between the peel and the floor. Slide the peel gently back and forth until the pizza slides off smoothly. If you are baking one pizza at a time, you can place it in the right-hand corner of the oven, for example. The oven is nice and hot there, and the pizza is not too close to the direct flame, which can burn the crust.
16. Once the pizza begins to touch the baking surface, quickly remove the peel from the oven.
17. Now is not a good time to chat, because at these temperatures things happen very quickly. Keep a close eye on your pizza, and don't hesitate to turn it a quarter turn or even 180° after 20-30 seconds. Depending on the temperature, your pizza could be ready in as little as 90 seconds!
18. Enjoy your meal!