In this article we will take you through the `simple steps to making the best pizza dough ever.... well, according to us, and everyone that eats our pizzas.
Our inspiration for this amazing dough is derived from watching and studying the ancient art of Napolitano pizzaiolo maestros.
Making pizza dough like this requires a passion for making pizza and a desire to impress your friends and loved ones with something special. Be warned, you will never go back to normal pizza dough again, this is the new benchmark, this is standard now here at Piazza Pizza Ovens.
This recipe requires you to start the dough making process 3 days prior to your pizza party or service. The secret to this wonderful recipe is in this (no longer secret) ingredient. We call it biga. Sshhhh don't tell anyone.
Biga is basically pre-fermented dough. In this particular recipe, your finished pizza balls will consist of 50% pre fermented dough and 50% fresh ingredients to form an amazingly soft and yet very strong dough that performs well when stretching and cooking your pizzas.
If you are anything like I was, you would have wondered how those pizzaiolos at the local Italian pizzeria could simply throw their dough in the air and it would nicely stretch into a perfect pizza?
How did that dough stretch so well?
How did it not rip?
Why is that dough not sticky if its so high in moisture content?
I had these questions and so i went on a personal quest to discover the secret...
“A great pizza should be amazing simply as a Margarita, you can't go past a great base and sauce”
Speaking of pizza sauce, be sure to check out our very own Pizza sauce recipe here
Ingredients:
(Makes 12 Pizzas @ 250g per base)
Biga:
500ml cold water
1Kg 00 Italian Flour
10g Dry Yeast
Dough:
1Kg 00 Italian Flour
1Tbsp Olive OIl
1 Tbsp Honey
40g Sea Salt
500ml Cold Water
Method:
The Biga:
Note: 3 days prior to your dough-balling morning.
In a large high-walled tray place your flour, spread it out then mix the dry yeast evenly through. Now pour the water over the top and mix the water through the flour and yeast using your hands. Be careful not to create a dough ball, you want to end up with evenly sized pieces of semi moist dough. This process will take roughly 4-5 mins.
Once the pieces feel moist throughout, cover the biga in an air-tight bowl and leave in the fridge for a minimum of 3 days, or up to a max of 6 days. This will ferment and start rising in the bowl so leave some space. The longer you leave it, the harder the pieces may become so watch this. Do not open the seal until you are ready.
The Dough:
For the Dough, you will need a spiral mixer or dough hook mixer. You can divide the above ingredients in half depending on the size of your mixer. You can also double the mix, just keep to the ratios. Once you have your head around this recipe, you can even experiment with different ratios.
This recipe uses 50% hydration. You can get amazing pizza results with 70% hydration, however, i would get used working at this ratio first. When you begin to experiment yourself, you will soon learn the art of dough making.
Now, back to the recipe...
Place the dough portion of water into the mixer, then take the biga ingredients and place into the water as the mixer turns slowly. Allow about 5 mins of mixing in the cold water to soften the biga and let the water turn milky and frothy. There should be a sweet yeasty smell in the room.
This is real bread making stuff.
Once the biga is soft, add your honey and olive oil, this will feed the yeast and give it a real boost for the next part of the process.
Now place half of the flour into the mixer and let is mix until its all wet through. While its mixing, take your salt portion and mix it through the remaining flour. The reason for this is, salt kills yeast and so we soften the blow by mixing it in last and well dispersed into the flour.
Now let the the mixer finish the work for about 15 mins. Stay and watch the magic happen, you may need to add a little more water or flour depending on the day and the room temperature. Be very careful with this though, you really do not want to change to much. I suggest leaving it until you are well familiar with this recipe.
Once mixed, take out the dough and make a large rough dough ball on your table, cot with olive oil to prevent drying. Now place a large cover over it or use glad wrap. Let the dough sit for 30 mins to an hour. It should double in size.
Now unwrap your giant dough ball and make dough balls at 250 grams per ball. This is a standard large pizza base weight.
Place your dough balls in a bread proving box leaving room for expansion. For those who have not such equipment, just use a container with a lid with enough room for expansion.
Making Pizza Dough Balls:
Make your pizza balls using the following technique:
Cut a continuous strip from the edge of your large dough ball and lift it into your hands, then pull the dough into itself keeping the top of the dough ball at the top. That top surface should always remain on top until it is covers with sauce after you flatten the pizza out.
Keep the dough in the ball shape and place in the tray.
I usually make my pizza balls the morning of my pizza party. This gives the balls enough time to rise at room temp in the proving box. You want them filled with air, tight round balls. See below, these are well proven dough balls. The dough will be relaxed and yet full of air.
This skill will take some practice, trust me, i had lots of fun learning this art and also lots of fun watching others learn it.
If you still need more information, you can also watch many videos of YouTube to get a better visual experience. Here's a link to my favorite channel.
Have fun, and don't give up, when you crack this code, you will be making professional pizzas that everyone will always enjoy.
It is an art, so get creative. Your pizzas will look like this Napoli style pizza below.
