Best pizza dough

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 320 g Flour type 00
• 190 g water, cold
• 11 g salt
• 1.3 g fresh yeast
• Flour for the work surface
• 260 g tomatoes, chopped
• 1 shot of extra virgin olive oil
• oregano
• basil
• salt and pepper
• Garlic, optional
• 150 g mozzarella, sliced
• 2 tomatoes, sliced
• n. B. capers

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Rest time approx. 11 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 5 minutes; Total time approx. 12 hours 5 minutes

in the Margherita version

For the pizza dough, pour the water and salt into a large bowl. I always use the mixing bowl from the dough mixer and place it directly on a kitchen scale to weigh it. Sift about 10% of the flour into the water-salt solution and mix by hand or with a fork until it forms a creamy liquid. Use a fork to break up the flour globules. Add the yeast and dissolve it by stirring. The extremely small amount of yeast is just right: just under 1 g per portion. Now add the remaining sifted flour. Regarding the exact amount of flour: The dough should still be slightly moist after kneading, but not too sticky. You may need 5% more flour – you’ll have to experiment, as it depends on the flour used, water, temperature, etc. Now let the pizza dough knead for 20 minutes on the first or second speed of the dough mixer. 20 minutes is a must for the yeast to work properly. If the dough is stubbornly curling, scrape it off the dough hook every now and then. Remove the dough, knead it briefly by hand until smooth, and let it rest for 30-45 minutes, ideally under an upturned mixing bowl. Now portion the dough into approximately 260g pieces. I form a log with a diameter of approximately 7cm and portion it out with a dough scraper. Let the dough rise for 10-12 hours in the basement or in a proving box at cool room temperature. I use a specially purchased plastic proving box for this, the bottom of which I lightly flour. Do not refrigerate it, as this would slow the proving process too much due to the small amount of yeast. By the end of the time, the dough will have formed bubbles, which is fine. Before you start making the pizza, preheat the oven, including the pizza stone, to maximum temperature using top/bottom heat. My normal oven reaches about 280°C, a good pizza oven reaches 350-400°C. I use the pizza stone directly on the floor of the oven, not on a baking sheet. For the pizza, use a spatula to remove the dough from the proving box and press it onto a floured work surface. Using your fingers, flatten it out into a 20 cm diameter ball. Dust the surface of the dough, turn it over, and use a rolling pin to roll it out thinly from the center outwards in all directions. I roll it out to about 4 mm, but that’s a matter of taste. Repeat the flouring and turning process several times if necessary. In the end, the dough shouldn’t stick to the work surface, otherwise you won’t be able to get it onto the pizza peel. Now stretch the dough into a round shape to fit the oven and pizza peel. In my case, this is about 30-35 cm. For the tomato sauce, you need about 1/3 of a 400g can of diced tomatoes per pizza. I use a smoothie blender to blend the tomato sauce, but any other technique will work. Place cold canned tomatoes, a pinch of salt (to taste), oregano, basil, pepper, a dash of olive oil, and a little garlic, if desired, into the blender and blend briefly. The sauce shouldn’t be too fine. Do not heat the sauce. Using a ladle or large spoon, spread the sauce from the center of the dough outwards in spiral motions, leaving about 1.5-2cm of the dough free. Don’t use too much tomato sauce, as this would drown the pizza. The pizza topping is up to each individual. My current favorite pizza is the Margherita. For this, spread about 1/2 to 3/4 of a portion of regular or buffalo mozzarella in small slices on top of the tomato sauce per pizza, with fresh tomatoes about 3mm thick in between. Caution: Tomatoes usually have a lot of water, which is another reason to use less tomato sauce base. If you like, you can add a few capers – they add a nice flavor. With a few skillful flicks, transfer the pizza to the center of the pizza peel and then to the pizza stone preheated to maximum in the oven. In my oven at around 280°C, 4.5–5 minutes of baking time are sufficient. Longer baking time results in the pizza being too dry, while shorter baking time results in the base not being crispy. The baking time in a professional pizza oven is about 90 seconds. You’ll notice it on the underside after removing it from the oven; if it’s already lightly browned, the pizza is done. After baking, place the pizza on a large board with the pizza peel and cut it into eighths with a pizza cutter. And now, enjoy! Since these discoveries, I can’t stand frozen pizza anymore and I can only really appreciate a few pizzerias. The Margherita pizza presented here has approximately 735 kcal. 260 g of dough prepared as described has approximately 530 kcal (100 g of flour already has 330 kcal). 90 g of tomatoes add another 25 kcal, and approximately 75 g of mozzarella adds another 180 kcal.