The best pizza dough

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 500 g wheat flour type 405
• 300 ml water
• 2 tsp salt
• 5 g fresh yeast
• 1 can of pizza tomatoes
• salt and pepper
• some sugar
• basil
• oregano

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Rest time approx. 8 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 4 minutes; Total time approx. 8 hours 34 minutes

Guaranteed to be like an Italian!

After countless field tests, plenty of Google research, and restaurant spying, I’ve finally developed a recipe that tastes absolutely authentic and delicious—just like in Bella Italia! First, sift the flour with the salt and pour it into a dough mixer or a bread maker with a dough function. Now dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water and then add it to the flour-salt mixture (Note from the Chefkoch.de recipe editor team: The specified amount of yeast is correct and it is fresh yeast). Then knead the ingredients for 20 (!) minutes until you have an elastic, homogeneous dough. Note: An electric mixer is almost a must here; in a pinch, a hand mixer with a dough hook will do. Please don’t knead desperately by hand; the dough simply won’t reach the desired softness and consistency. After kneading, cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it rest for two hours. Then divide it into four 200g pieces, shape them into balls, and let it rise, covered again, for another six hours. So what’s so special about this dough recipe? The secret doesn’t lie in exquisite ingredients like expensive pizza flour or high-quality olive oil, nor in superfluous ingredients like beer, sugar, or eggs. Rather, the smooth texture is achieved through prolonged mechanical kneading! The extremely small amount of yeast, combined with the long fermentation, ensures an extremely aromatic dough. Finally, a few tips for further processing: Roll out or stretch the dough as thinly as possible! Anything under 4 mm is ideal. For the tomato sauce, simply blend a can of peeled tomatoes with (a lot of) garlic, salt, pepper, a little sugar, basil, and oregano until cold; do not boil. Then spread it in the center of the pizza and spread it over the entire pizza in circular motions with a ladle. Don’t overdo it! A good pizza shouldn’t be drowned in tomato sauce. If certain areas of the dough don’t get any sauce, that’s okay. It’s better to use a little less than a little more. Preheat the oven to high! Mine reached just under 260°C, and the result was fantastic. Place the dough on the hot baking sheet (it’s easier with parchment paper), and after just 3-4 minutes, the pizza is ready to enjoy.