"Cucina povera" -Pizza dough:

[MikeD]

I have read a few threads on the art of pizza dough, and would like to add a recipe that my late Italian mother used all her life from arriving in the UK post war, at that time of course there was no chance of buying Italian flour, and so ordinary plain flour was used, the yeast was obtained from the corner shop bakery, but other than those two initial problems it did not deter my mum from making pizza and thus the recipe below is exactly how it was made all through her life, but please remember to adhere strictly to the recipe ingredients, quantities and method for perfect results every time.
INGREDIENTS:
180 gm. warm water.
340 gm. plain flour.
1 Tsp. dried yeast.
1 Tbs. white sugar.
1 Tsp. salt.
1 Tbs. olive oil.
METHOD:
[1] In a deep mixing bowl add the yeast, sugar and water and about a quarter of the flour, whisk to a creamy texture, cover and set aside for about 30 minutes or until the mixture begins to froth.
[2] Add the remaining flour, the salt and olive oil and knead until the dough becomes smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
[3] Form the dough into a ball and rub with olive oil, cover and place in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size.
[4] Once the dough has doubled in size, tip it out of the bowl and lightly knock it down, then divide into two equal portions.
[5] Rub olive oil lightly on two ten inch pizza trays.
[6] Roll out the dough to fit the tray, place the dough into each tray and shape the pizza's and then allow them to rest for an hour, or until a visible slight rise can be seen.
[7] Then top dress the pizza with the toppings of your choice, beginning with a tomato salsa.
NOTE:
If you are using peppers, onions or mushrooms, it is better to lightly fry these first, as this process will remove much of the liquid that would soak into the base and spoil the texture of the pizza dough.

If you prefer to use a stand mixer that has a dough hook, then steps one and two can utilise the stand mixer bowl, but once the dough forms a ball, only run the mixer in the kneading process for 5 minutes.

As long as you adhere to the exact weight measurements given above you will always make the perfect pizza dough, the plain flour I use is either Aldi or Lidl, very cheap, but none the less it makes just as good a pizza as any branded plain flour.

I intend to post a recipe for pizza topping salsa, if anyone may be interested, again from my late mother's recipe notes.

And also to save anyone the time, trouble and expense of building a pizza oven, I will also post how to make the perfect pizza oven from a 3 burner gas BBQ, some Heinz beans tins and an unglazed ceramic tile!!
Watch this space, regards all

Michael