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Making pizza is very simple, and you can bake it without even having great culinary skills. And our tips will help you make it even easier and faster.

  1. So, if you decide to make pizza, first you need 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. To prevent the dough from sticking to your hands, you need to grease your hands with oil.
  2. 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. Grease the baking sheet with vegetable oil.
  3. You don’t have 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 down a little. Before putting the dough in the oven, it must stand for at least 5-7 minutes.
  4. If the dough is very damp, place a sheet of parchment on top of it and roll it straight through the paper.
  5. If you prefer to bake pizza in a frying pan – the 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 or dust with flour – 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.
  6. Sometimes the dough is put 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, lay out the filling in layers, and bake it until tender.
  7. The average time for baking pizza is 30-40 minutes at a temperature of 250 ° C. Each pizza is special, so there are slight differences in the recipes.
  8. So, the dough can be thin or thick. Thin is baked for 20-30 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 degrees C.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. By the way, it is better to spread a small layer of filling on a thin crust, but not too raw. It is best if it is meat, cheese, fish, pressed or dry vegetables, and dried fruits.
  12. A thick layer of dough is good for fluffy, layered, and moist filling. You can also layout the main filling of vegetables and meat on it.
  13. If the pizza turns brown too quickly when baking, then cover it with clean paper dipped in water.

This dish is simply adored by all adults and children. They are ready to sit for hours in a pizzeria and gobble up crispy pieces of dough with a variety of fillings. But how do you make delicious pizza at home? What subtleties do you need to know? Read on for the secrets of making delicious pizza.

  1. Cooking any pizza begins, of course, with dough. Traditionally, it is made from water, flour, salt, sugar, spices, and yeast. You can use different yeast to make pizza: both live and dry. To make the dough for your pizza tasty and crispy, the water with which you will dilute the yeast must be heated to 38 degrees. And only then this same yeast and a little sugar are added to it. Please note: Dough salt is best mixed with flour. Experts advise combining all the products together only after 10 minutes after the yeast is saturated with oxygen. It remains to add olive oil to the mixture and, carefully adding flour, knead the dough. Before baking, the finished dough must be left in a bowl covered with cling film for at least 40 minutes.
  2. Now for the proportions. For 3 pizzas with a diameter of about 30 cm, you need to take: 300 ml of water; 2 tbsp. tablespoons of sugar; 1 teaspoon of salt; 30 ml olive oil; 5 g dry yeast or 8 g pressed; 650 g flour.
  3. Most often, meat, sausage, bacon are added to the pizza. If such a standard set seems boring to you, you can also diversify the pizza with fried minced meat, fish, As for cheese, chefs recommend using cheeses such as mozzarella or parmesan for making pizza. But you can also experiment a little and add Grana Padano, Pecorino, Provolone, Gorgonzella, Scamorza, etc., and smoked meats.
  4. Perfectly complements pizza and vegetables. You can also add asparagus, spinach, broccoli, zucchini, zucchini, eggplants to the dish (besides the usual tomatoes, mushrooms, and herbs)!
  5. You can also add raw eggs to your pizza. It is important to do this at the very end of cooking. It can be both chicken and quail eggs. So, the protein will bake well until the pizza is cooked, and the yolk will still be a little liquid. Delicious!
  6. And finally, one more secret of making delicious pizza. Bake this dish at high temperatures (minimum 220 degrees). If you have an electric oven at home, turn on the lower and upper heating, and if the convection mode is also provided, do not forget to turn it on.

Who said that delicious pizza can only be tasted in a pizzeria? If you know some secrets and strictly follow some rules, the perfect dough cake with different fillings can be made at home.
We’ve collected tips from different chefs to help make homemade pizza as good as the one you try at the establishment. And maybe even better – who knows.

  1. Mix several types of flour. In addition to wheat, from which we often cook, there are many other varieties of flour: buckwheat, for example, or corn, or rye. Each of them has its own unique taste, aroma, and color. Thus, for pizza dough, you can mix two types of flour: standard wheat flour and non-standard rye flour. However, they should be added to the dough in a small ratio – for example, in a 4 to 1 ratio.
  2. Don’t be afraid to experiment with toppings. Pizza dough is like a canvas for an artist; you can “paint” anything on it. Therefore, the filling on the test is a complete flight of imagination. Any product can be the basis. As a result, you can get meat, vegetable, fish, or even berry-sweet pizza.
  3. Knead the dough with your hands. Of course, food processors can do everything faster and more efficiently. But tactile sensations are very important in making pizza. By touch, you can understand what is the consistency of the dough and whether it is elastic enough. And these nuances greatly affect the taste of pizza.
  4. Roll out the dough with your fists. This method is both cooking and therapy. Firstly, the dough is filled with air and becomes more elastic. And, secondly, such work will perfectly help relieve accumulated stress.
  5. Preheat the oven beforehand. Pizza should only be placed in a hot oven, so it is very important to preheat the oven while working with the dough. In a professional wood-burning oven, the temperature reaches 400 degrees, while in a home oven you can heat up to a maximum of 250 degrees. Just remember that for pizza, 5-7 minutes is enough for the dough and ingredients to brown, so be careful not to burn it.
  6. Sauce for the sides. If you are one of those who do not eat pizza sides, we advise you to pour them with some sauce during cooking or wrap any filling in them – for example, sausages or Philadelphia cheese. This way, you won’t feel like you’re just eating a dry piece of dough.

Many people like pizza not only because it is very nutritious, but also because it is relatively easy to prepare. For example, to bake the simplest pizza, you don’t need to invent any exotic filling. It is enough just to open the refrigerator, get literally everything that is in it, and organize the filling from this mixture. So you have prepared a very tasty pizza and wondered how to serve it beautifully on the table? We’ve prepared some cool tips for you!

  1. Pizza is taken by the hand and bites off small pieces, so napkins must be present on the table.
  2. Traditional pizza is always served hot, straight from the oven.
  3. Dry wine is usually served with pizza. When choosing it, it is important to observe certain rules of etiquette. So, white will ideally complement pizza with fish, ham, chicken, and vegetables. Red is best served with a dish with meat, beans, and mushrooms.
  4. To diversify the taste of the ready-made pizza, sauce or seasonings are served separately. For example, sour cream or mayonnaise sauce will perfectly complement the taste of pizza with sausage, fish, and vegetables. And soy is usually served with a dish with rice or mushrooms.

Today we will reveal to you all the secrets of making the perfect Italian pizza, we will talk about the correct dough, the peculiarities of using the sauce.

  1. The basis of any pizza is dough, and the final result will depend on how you prepare it. The most popular option is a simple yeast dough, which requires just four ingredients: yeast, water, flour, and a little salt. However, there are a number of rules, the observance of which will allow you to prepare an excellent basis for further experiments with fillings.
  2. For a medium-sized pizza, you will need no more than three tablespoons of sauce.
  3. Do not be afraid to experiment and use not only traditional tomato paste as a sauce but also delicate cream cheese, hummus, squash caviar, or pesto sauce.
  4. Pay attention to the consistency of the sauce: it should not be runny.
  5. Be concise and don’t use more than four ingredients in one pizza.
  6. There should be only one layer of filling and no more than 1 centimeter.
  7. Do not fill the entire surface of the dough with ingredients, because on top you will still have grated cheese.
  8. Place ingredients such as herbs and lettuce on top of the pizza before serving.

We have prepared 7 tips for you to help you cook delicious pizza in a pan.

  1. If you don’t have an oven, you can cook pizza on the stovetop in a skillet. There are pans with thermal glass lids; they are most convenient for baking pizza.
  2. Roll out the dough in a small layer, spread it on a preheated pan, greased with a large amount of vegetable oil, and immediately put the filling on it. Cover with a lid and reduce the heat to a minimum so that the dough is baked evenly.
  3. In a frying pan, pizza is cooked much faster than in an oven: the baking time is 15 minutes. The plain dough can be kept on the fire for 10 minutes, as it roasts faster than yeast dough. We remind you: its thickness should not be too large.
  4. Its readiness is checked with a match, piercing it in the thickest place. If the match is dry, the pizza is ready. In an open pan, the dough is baked in 2 steps, so the baking time is slightly increased (the pancake should be allowed to cool slightly before putting the filling). Thus, pizza preparation takes 20-25 minutes.
  5. Since the dough is baked pretty quickly, the raw filling simply won’t keep up with it. All of it must be prepared in advance – fried, stewed, or boiled.
  6. Its thickness must also be monitored so that it does not spread, as the juice or syrup will be absorbed into the dough and it will remain damp and tasteless. In addition, the liquid can seep through the layer of dough and burn the pizza. The best filling option, in this case, is when the bottom layer is meat or fish, dry boiled vegetables, and on top – slightly softer or raw foods. Then they will saturate the lower layers, but nothing will leak to the bottom of the pan.
  7. When baking pizza in a frying pan, do not top with mayonnaise or the like (to prevent the main layers from burning).

The correct creation of any dish includes not only the exact adherence to the recipe and the impeccable implementation of culinary technologies. Various nuances are essential, some of which cannot be found even in professional textbooks. This is understandable because some details of the processes are real secrets that specialists do not want to disclose.
We will not be able to reveal all the secrets, but we will try to give a few illustrative examples that will be useful in practice and will help you better understand how you can make great pizza.

  1. Dough for the base. For its preparation, it is better to use flour with a sufficiently high gluten content in it. The domestic first grade is not good enough: not all producers strictly follow the standards; excess protein makes the cake too porous and fluffy. If you use suitable Italian flour, then it should be noted that in classical technologies it is recommended to exclude olive oil from the ingredients of the dough. Some of the newer treatments offer specific supplements, such as semolina.
  2. When creating a base, the kneading process should be interrupted as soon as you feel the excessive elasticity of the dough. Professionals recommend performing this operation in the evening and then leaving the workpiece overnight to settle. If you can’t stretch it manually to form a crust, you can use a rolling pin. The thickness of such a base should not exceed 5-8 mm.
  3. Filling. It should not, in any case, be placed in the center of the future dish, “slide”. Uniform distribution over the entire area in terms of height and composition of components is required. The only exceptions are special types of pizza, “Four cheeses”, “Assorted”, which use sectors with different fillings. To prevent delicate greens and other “delicate” ingredients from burning during cooking, they should be covered with foods that are less sensitive to high temperatures. To do this, you can use cheese that melts at a relatively low temperature.
  4. Since the pizza is created in a well-preheated oven, check the readiness as often as possible. Make sure that the sight glass is perfectly clean because the cabinet door must not be opened until the end of the process.

Introduction: The Perception of Italian Cuisine

Italian cuisine is known worldwide for its rich flavors and exquisite dishes. When people think of Italian food, they often associate it with pasta and pizza. While these foods are indeed an integral part of Italian cuisine, there is so much more to it than just these two dishes. In this article, we will explore the history, diversity, and complexity of Italian cuisine beyond the stereotypes.

A Brief History of Italian Cuisine

Italian cuisine has a long and rich history that dates back to ancient Rome. The Romans were known for their elaborate meals, which consisted of multiple courses, including meat, fish, vegetables, and fruits. Over time, Italian cuisine has evolved and adapted to various influences, including Arab, Greek, and Spanish.

In the Middle Ages, the concept of regional cuisine emerged, and Italy’s various regions became known for their unique dishes and cooking styles. Today, Italian cuisine is a mix of traditional and modern recipes, with each region having its own specialties and ingredients.

Beyond Pasta and Pizza: Regional Dishes

While pasta and pizza are undoubtedly some of the most popular Italian dishes, there is much more to discover. Each region of Italy has its own culinary traditions and specialties, from the rich sauces of Emilia-Romagna to the seafood of the Amalfi Coast. In the north, dishes like risotto, polenta, and hearty stews are prevalent. In the south, fresh seafood, pasta dishes, and simple tomato sauces dominate.

Some lesser-known regional dishes include Cacio e Pepe from Rome, a simple but delicious pasta dish made with Pecorino Romano cheese and black pepper. In Sicily, Arancini, fried rice balls stuffed with meat, cheese, and tomato sauce, are a popular street food.

The Importance of Fresh Ingredients in Italian Cuisine

One of the essential aspects of Italian cuisine is the use of fresh, high-quality ingredients. From sun-ripe tomatoes to freshly caught seafood, the quality of ingredients directly impacts the taste of the final dish. Italian cuisine is also known for its simplicity, with many traditional recipes consisting of just a few ingredients.

This emphasis on fresh and simple ingredients is also why Italian cuisine is so healthy. The Mediterranean diet, which includes a lot of plant-based foods, fish, and olive oil, has been linked to numerous health benefits, including a reduced risk of heart disease and stroke.

Italian Cuisine Abroad: Adaptation and Stereotyping

As Italian cuisine has become popular worldwide, it has also been adapted to local tastes. In the United States, for example, pizza and pasta dishes often have more cheese and heavier sauces than their Italian counterparts. In Japan, there is a popular dish called spaghetti Napolitan, which is spaghetti cooked with ketchup, and in Australia, an Italian-inspired dish called chicken parmigiana is a pub favorite.

Unfortunately, Italian cuisine has also been stereotyped and reduced to just pizza and pasta. While these dishes are undoubtedly delicious, they do not represent the full spectrum of Italian cuisine.

Conclusion: The Diversity of Italian Cuisine

Italian cuisine is much more than just pizza and pasta. With its rich history, regional specialties, and emphasis on fresh ingredients, Italian cuisine is diverse, complex, and constantly evolving. From the hearty stews of the north to the seafood of the south, there is something for everyone to discover and savor. So, the next time you think of Italian cuisine, remember that there is so much more to it than just pizza and pasta.