Recipes
Pizza Base Recipe
Servings |
MetricUS Imperial
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- 4 1/2 Cups All purpose flour chilled, 20 1/4 ounces/607.5 g
- 1 3/4 Tsp Salt
- 1 Tsp Instant yeast
- 1/4 Cup Olive oil or vegetable oil 2 ounces/60g
- 1 3/4 Cups Water ice cold (40° F/4.5° C), 14 ounces/420g or 420ml
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- Semolina/durum flour or cornmeal for dusting
Ingredients
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- Mix together the flour, salt and instant yeast in a big bowl.
- Add the oil, sugar and cold water and mix well in order to form a sticky ball of dough.
- On a clean surface, knead for about 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth. If it is too wet, add a little flour (not too much, though) and if it is too dry add 1 or 2 teaspoons extra water. (Refer notes if making pizza dough ahead)
- Oil a bowl and place dough in it, cover with a wet cloth and place in a warm place for an hour.
- Sprinkle some flour over the dough, transfer it to a floured work surface. Knead gently for a minute. Gently divide into 6 pieces and then each piece into a ball.
- If baking now, take 1 piece of dough and roll into the size required using a rolling pin.
- Lightly top it with sweet or savory toppings of your choice.
- Bake according to the recipe for the pizza.
You can store the dough balls in zippered freezer bags if you want to save some of the dough for any future baking. In that case, pour some oil (a few tablespoons only) in a medium bowl and dip each dough ball into the oil, so that it is completely covered in oil. Then put each ball into a separate bag. Store the bags in the freezer for no longer than 3 months. The day before you plan to make pizza, remember to transfer the dough balls from the freezer to the refrigerator.
On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator. Dust the counter with flour and spray lightly with oil. Place the dough balls on a floured surface and sprinkle them with flour. Dust your hands with flour and delicately press the dough into disks about 1/2 inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Sprinkle with flour and mist with oil. Loosely cover the dough rounds with plastic wrap and then allow to rest for 2 hours.
For options with your awesome new pizza dough, check out our Seafood Pizza.