For several centuries, the technology of making pizza has hardly undergone any changes – except that home ovens have become gas and electric (in real professional pizzerias, ovens are still fired with wood, and not anyhow, but with a special choice). And everything else, including the obligatory manual dough preparation, remained traditional. Real Italian pizza does not tolerate hack-work and, despite all the speed of its preparation, does not like fuss: all processes should proceed clearly and measuredly.
- Making pizza is very simple, and you can bake it without even having great culinary skills. At home, it is made in several ways: baked in the oven or in the microwave, stewed or fried – here the flight of your imagination is unlimited.
- If you decide to bake your pizza in the oven, it is best to knead the yeast dough. Let it stand for 30-60 minutes before baking. The dough must be precipitated 2 times and only then can it be laid out in the mold.
- You can bake pizza in the oven in 2 ways – on a baking sheet or in a frying pan, and its thickness should be at least 2 mm. (Thin baking pans are not suitable!) Grease the baking sheet with vegetable oil. When baking sweet pizza, you can also use cooking fat, which is then sprinkled with flour to prevent the dish from burning.
- You do not need to roll out the pizza crust – the dough is laid out on a baking sheet and evenly stretched with your fingers over the entire surface so that its edges hang slightly over the edges. Before putting the dough in the oven, it needs to stand for 5-7 minutes.
- If you prefer to bake pizza in a frying pan – a classic round shape, generously grease the bottom and edges with vegetable oil, as the dough will rise a lot, and then sprinkle a little with semolina so that the finished pizza can be freely removed from the mold. Put the dough in a skillet and place for 10-15 minutes in a warm place, and then in the oven.
- Usually, the dough is placed in the oven without filling and baked until half cooked – when it is still raw inside, and a thin crust has formed on top. At this moment, they take it out of the oven, layout the filling in layers, and bake until tender.
- The average baking time is 30-40 minutes at a temperature of 250 ° C. Each pizza is special, so there are slight differences in the recipes.
- So, the dough can be thin or thick. Thin is baked in 30 minutes. A thicker layer can be left in the oven for almost 1 hour, but at the same time reduce the heat slightly by lowering the temperature to 220 ° C.
- The baking time also depends on the filling. If its layer is thin or loose, it is necessary to reduce the time; denser and bulkier require longer baking times.
- The filling can also be divided into liquid and thick (dry). Liquid or sweet ones require preliminary evaporation (10 minutes can be allocated for this), that is, the baking time also increases, and the temperature decreases slightly so that the dough does not burn during this time. The dry filling is done as standard.
- If you use different types of filling, then put the raw one on top (for faster cooking). In this case, it is advisable to sprinkle it with cheese or a layer of some other product so that it is not open, but languishes, as if under a lid.
- By the way, it is better to spread a small layer of filling on a thin cake, but not too raw. It is best if it is meat, cheese, fish, pressed or dry vegetables, and dried fruits.
