Most people love pizza but when is about home made pizza I was not so enthusiast but after many trials we found the perfect home made recipe.

This is the recipe for home made pizza, tested in our home, loved by all.

Don’t miss the tips & tricks at the end of the recipe! 

You will find how to make your pizza crunchy as I love it, how you prepare the dry or fresh yeast, how the flour can influence the pizza bread and what to do if the dough is not having the proper consistency.

Let’s say pizzaaaaaa!

1 hour 20 min duration

200 C – oven preheat set to fan

15-20 minutes baking time

For 5 normal pizzas or 2 pizzas in the size of oven pan

Ingredients

500 gr all-purpose flour

(an alternative and very nice combination regarding flour is also the following: 300 gr all purpose flour, 100 gr semolina, and 100 gr maize flour)

8 gr dry yeast or 25 gr fresh yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

250 gr lukewarm water

3-4 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon salt (added at the end of dough beat)

Preparation process

For the yeast

1. We add in a mixer’s bowl: yeast, sugar, and all lukewarm water.
2. Whisk vigorously using a stirrer or a fork until yeast dissolves. In case we use fresh yeast we rub it with our hands in order to be dissolved easier.
3. At the end we add the flour – to cover the liquid mixture. We cover the bowl with a towel and we let the yeast to be activated for 10 – 15 minutes. It will be ready when foam will appear above the flour.

For the dough

1. We add the olive oil and we beat with the mixer / kitchen machine using the hook attachment, in mid speed, for 5-6 minutes. Salt is added at the end of kneading and continue to beat for 1-2 minutes more. Dough is ready when all ingredients have been combined and a ball has been created that is going out easily from the bowl walls. We dust some flour on the workbench. We put the dough on the workbench, and we knead it for 1-2 minutes. In the absence of mixer / kitchen machine it will be needed to knead by hand for at least 10-12 minutes – adding the salt at the end and continue to knead for 1-2 minutes more. The dough is ready when it is soft, and it does not stick to the hands.
2. We create with the dough a ball nice and smooth on the above part of it. Add some olive oil into a bowl and put in the dough. Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and let the dough to rise for about 1 hour – it has to become double. Time needed depends on room temperature.
3. After dough becoming double, we dust with flour our workbench, we put the dough on it, and we knead it for a while – to take out the air.
4. Divide the dough in 5 or 2 equal pieces and create the respective number of balls.
5. Dust them with a bit of flour as long they are on the workbench and transfer them to a baking pan lined with parchment paper.
6. Open them either by hand or using α rolling pin.
7. Preheat the oven to 200 C set to fan (392 F).
8. Cover the baking pans with a clean cotton towel and let the dough to rise for about 30 minutes – or till it will become double size.
9. Ready to prepare our pizzas with any ingredient we would like to put on top!!!
10. Bake for about 15 – 20 min – depending on the oven..

Tips & Tricks

• Dry yeast to fresh yeast equation is 1 / 3.
• Dry yeast can be added directly to the flour and the kneading process to start immediately.
• Fresh yeast has to be always dissolved first in the lukewarm water of the recipe.
• It is not mandatory to apply the activation process for the yeast. However, in case we do so it is needed not to disturb the bowl for these 10-15 minutes – how much it lasts this activation process.
• In order to ensure the water is not very hot and kill our yeast either we use water in room temperature or we warm it and we check it with our hand – if our hand can resist in the water for 1 minute with no issue then water is also suitable for the yeast.
• In case we do not follow the activation process for the yeast we will need some more time for our dough to rise after kneading.
• Yeast activation process is also useful in order to ensure, from the initial phase, that our yeast is in good condition and strong. If our yeast gives us the proper results during activation process after 10-15 minutes this means that our dough will rise properly during the next phases of the process as well. Otherwise our yeast is not good and we have to start the process from the beginning using new yeast.
• In all cases time needed for yeast to be activated and for the dough to rise properly are strictly related with the room temperature. If temperature is relatively low then time needed for the yeast to be activated and for the dough to rise is longer.
• We NEVER let the dough on top of an active warming device (radiator for example) or inside a warm oven because yeast will be killed.
• We may use any kind of flour or combination of different types of flour based on our preferences or availability in our kitchen. However the flour used is going to be reflected in the end result – the bread. Hard flour or wholemeal flour is going to give us more consistent and hard bread than the one we will have by using only all-purpose flour.
• Because there are a lot of different types of flours, in case we realize that during the kneading process our dough is a bit hard to work with we may add 1 or maximum 2 table spoons of water. Then we continue kneading for 1-2 minutes and if we see that still our dough is difficult to work with we may add another table spoon of water. In case our dough is sticky even after kneading for 15 minutes we may add half of tablespoon of flour.
• In case we prefer crusty bread we have to create steam in the oven. This can be achieved either by putting a heat resistant pot inside our oven with water on the moment we open it in order to pre-heat it or by adding water in the special receptacle if our oven support it. The water has to be enough in order to last till the end of the whole baking process.
• For keeping bread crusty we have to cool the baked loaves in the oven. This can be achieved after we have completed the baking process and we have closed our oven taking out also the pot we have used to create the steam – in case we have used one – by opening the oven a little bit and keep it open by putting a towel between the door to be kept like this and let the bread inside till it will get cool.

Photo by Pexels

Recipe provided by Periklis Giavasoglou  #homemadebyPeriGiavas

Also recommended:

Menu, Shopping List and Ideas for Cooking During Coronavirus

This magic coffee, will change your life!