Homemade pizza recipe

It’s Pizza time! Pizza is an Italian word for what is one of the most popular and most appreciated Italian dishes in the whole world! The pizza is, perhaps, the most incredible culinary invention of all times!

Though it is now a popular product all over the world, the pizza has its origin in Italian cuisine, precisely in the city of Naples, beautiful town in southern Italy. The most well-known types of Pizza are the so-called pizza Napoletana and the pizza Margherita.

The pizza comes in countless variations, changing its characteristics according to the different local traditions. Any region of Italy you go, you’ll find a different type of pizza.

And there are also countless different ways to make its pastry. Here I’ll show you the recipe I always use to make pizza at home, using a common oven, but if you are fortunate to have a wood-fired oven, your pizza would be super yummy!

Ingredients to make Pizza at home

– 1kg of white flour type 0
– 700 ml of water (slightly warm, never cold)
– 14 gr of dry yeast
– 8 spoons of extra virgin olive oil
– 1 spoon of salt
– 1 spoon of sugar

The pastry is very similar, if not identical, to the one for making homemade bread!

How to make homemade Pizza by hand

First take the yeast and melt it with some warm water and the sugar. Now put the flour on a pastry board or in a large bowl and make a hole at its center.

Once the yeast is well dissolved in the water, fill the center of the flour with it.

Aside, melt the salt in a glass of warm water, add the oil, and insert them into the flour.

Keep close to you some flour and the remaining warm water, to be added gradually to the dough, until it reaches the desired consistency; it should come out soft and supple. Continue to work it well, form a ball and finally put it in a large bowl (remember that the pastry will double its volume), properly dusted with flour on the bottom, cover it with a cloth and store it in a warm place away from drafts. Don’t be afraid if the dough seems to have too water in it, that’s the secret to have a better pizza!

Wait until the dough has doubled in size, it will take about 1 hour and a half and then proceed to draw up the dough for the pizza.

Instead of tomato sauce, I prefer to use little fresh ripe tomatoes, pomodorini, to make my pizza, they are less acid and more sweet. Once you have your round pastry ready on the pan, decorate it with the tomatoes cut in pieces, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and oregano.

Put it in the oven at the maximum temperature until it comes of a golden color, take away and pour on it sliced mozzarella cheese, put again in the oven, wait some minutes, and voilà, your yummy pizza is ready! 

Let me know how it comes