The perfect pizza: airy, fluffy and light – basic pizza dough recipe, just like in Italy

For a perfect pizza dough, you really only need a few things. Namely: flour, water, yeast and salt. In some Italian regions, a little less water is used for the pizza dough, but then some good white wine is added.

You should prepare the dough for your pizza the day before and let it rise in the fridge for about 10 hours, then it will become particularly fine-pored.

By the way: If you don’t have your own outdoor pizza oven, you can use an pizza stone for baking, like I do. A great thing, the perfect pizza succeeds like with real Italians, everything is nice and crispy and a practical pizza shovel was also included.

Table of contents:

• The perfect pizza – basic pizza dough recipe
• Make your own pizza dough
• Make your own pizza dough with the food processor
• Pizza Rolf – my personal version of the Pizza Capricciosa
• Recipe: Pizza Capricciosa
• My favorite Pizza
• Make pizza yourself – pizza variations
• Best pizza in the world
• Best pizza in Naples
• Freeze fresh yeast
• The pizza and its history
• The perfect pizza in German

The perfect pizza – basic pizza dough recipe

I always use flour type 00. This type of flour is slightly finer than 405 flour and gives the dough a soft consistency. Type 00 – Flour can be found in Italian delicatessens or in a well-stocked supermarket. As an alternative, you can also use wheat flour type 405 or 550.

Make your own pizza dough

The following ingredients are required for 4 pizzas:

500 g flour type 00 (alternatively type 405)
approx. 325 ml water at room temperature
2 g fresh yeast (or 1 g dry yeast), yes – that “little”!
15 g fine sea salt

Topping for my favorite pizza:

2 x 125 g buffalo mozzarella (if you don’t like it, you can also use “normal” mozzarella)
tomatoes (cherry tomatoes)
Anchovy fillets (anchovies)
green or black olives
red peperoncini
garlic, fresh
Thyme, fresh
best olive oil

Here we go: Put 300 ml of water in a large bowl and dissolve the yeast in it. Now gradually mix in the flour until well combined. Cover and let the pizza dough rest in the bowl for a good 10 minutes. Then dissolve the salt in the remaining 25 ml of water. Now gradually stir into the batter.

Now place the pizza dough on a lightly floured surface and knead, knead, knead – at least 10 minutes until it is nice and smooth. If the dough becomes too stiff, simply add a little water or olive oil. If it’s too sticky, add a little more flour.

Cover the pizza dough with a damp cloth and let it rest for about 30 minutes. Then divide the pizza dough into 4 parts, form into round flatbreads and place in the fridge for 8 to 10 hours – in 4 plastic bowls or in a large, flat and floured pizza ball box. The next day, sprinkle a wooden board or baking tray with flour and/or durum wheat semolina and place the pieces of dough on it, cover with a slightly damp cloth and leave to rest for about 4 hours.

Sprinkle a work surface with some durum wheat semolina. Now place a ball of pizza dough on the surface and carefully press in the middle with your fist. Turn over and shape into a disc. Please make sure that the dough is slightly higher at the edge. Please do NOT use a rolling pin! Now you can top the pizza to your heart’s content.

In short – after about 5 minutes of baking time, at about 270 degrees, you have conjured up a delicious pizza on the table.

Make your own pizza dough with the food processor

Place 300 ml of water in the bowl of the stand mixer. Now dissolve the yeast in it. Attach the dough hook to the food processor. Now put the flour in the bowl and knead on speed 2 for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, dissolve the sea salt in the remaining 25ml water.

After 5 minutes of kneading, gradually add the remaining “salt water”. Now knead the dough again for about 5 to 8 minutes at speed 2. The dough should be pretty smooth. Then, as described above, divide the pizza dough into 4 parts, shape into round flat cakes and put in the fridge for 8 to 10 hours.

With the two parts of 500 g flour and 325 ml water you have a 65% hydrated pizza dough. That will be a little sticky, meaning it’s a little harder to work with. You can also rub some olive oil in your palms to process it, so it doesn’t stick to your hands. Practice makes perfect.

Pizza Rolf – my personal version of the Pizza Capricciosa

Preparations for Pizza Rolfe – artichokes, apple capers, yellow peppers and fresh oregano.

My personal variant of the “Capricciosa” is the Pizza Rolf with San Marzano tomatoes, salami, artichokes, apple capers, yellow peppers, mozzarella and oregano.

Recipe: Pizza Capricciosa

For a pizza capricciosa you should have the following at home: tomato passata, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, anchovies, mozzarella, olives, good olive oil and some basil. Anyone who likes pizza capricciosa shows character. Because the name comes from the Italian “capriccioso”, which means something like “extravagant”.

Make a pizza dough as already mentioned at the beginning. Quarter the artichoke hearts and the mushrooms, chop the anchovies. Heat the oven to at least 275 degrees. Place the dough on the baking sheet. Spread the whole thing with about 2 tablespoons of good olive oil and tomato passata (not too much, otherwise the pizza will be too “moist”), top with ham, anchovies, mushrooms, artichokes, mozzarella and olives. Of course, if you have your own pizza stone, you prefer to use it instead of the baking tray. Bake the Pizza Capricciosa on the pizza stone for about 4-5 minutes, depending on how dark you want the pizza.

Pizza Capricciosa with San Marzano tomatoes, ham, artichokes, Kalamata olives, mushrooms and mozzarella.

My favorite Pizza

Pizza with buffalo mozzarella, tomatoes, olives, peperoncini, garlic, thyme, anchovy fillets and olive oil.

Tear pieces out of the buffalo mozzarella with your fingers and spread them on the pizza dough, calculate with approx. 60 g per pizza. Now distribute some halved cherry tomatoes, peperoncini, garlic, olives and thyme. Now some good olive oil and off to the pizza stone, which is already waiting in the 275 degree hot oven. It will only take about 4-5 minutes, then the perfect pizza is almost ready.

Take the pizza out of the oven and distribute 6 to 8 anchovy fillets (anchovies) and a little more olive oil over it – bang, the perfect pizza is ready.

Make pizza yourself – pizza variations

Best pizza in the world

Here you will find restaurant tips to enjoy the best pizza in the world.

Italy

Chef: Franco Pepe
Website: pepeingrani.it
Address: Vico S.Giovanni Battista. 3, 81013 Caiazzo

Poland

Website: facebook.com/brusco.wroclaw
Address: Plac Teatralny 1, 50-051 Wrocław

USA

Chef: Chris Bianco
Website: pizzeriabianco.com
Address: 623 E Adams St, Phoenix, AZ 85004

Japan

Chef: Yoshihiro Imai
Website: restaurant-monk.com
Address: 147 Jodoji Shimominamidacho, Sakyo Ward, Kyoto, 606-8404

Best pizza in Naples

If you happen to be in Naples, the Pizzeria “Di Matteo” has them probably the best pizza. But bring time and nerves with you! Lots of people cavort in the already narrow Via dei Tribunali. A tussle and jostling, but that could also be the precursor to a small fight, which is going on in front of this pizzeria at noon. But the wait is worth it!

Freeze fresh yeast

A pack of fresh yeast, a cube, contains 42 grams. But since you only need 2 grams according to my recipe, you could bake a good 21 pizzas with it. So just freeze the leftover yeast. It is best to pack them in advance in 2 gram portions, put them in a small freezer box and then put them in the freezer. So you always have a supply at hand for bake your own bread.

The yeast can easily be stored for half a year in the freezer. To defrost, take the yeast out of the portioned packaging and place it in a small, deep plate in the overnight fridge. It may be that the yeast becomes slightly liquid. However, this has no influence on the quality.

On the subject of dry yeast: Basically, a pack of dry yeast with 7 grams corresponds to the raising power of half a cube of fresh yeast, i.e. 21 grams. For my recipe you would only need about 0.75 grams of dry yeast.

The pizza and its history

A pizza drizzled only with olive oil, topped with sliced tomatoes and basil or oregano, has been documented since the mid-18th century, when tomatoes became popular in southern Italy. Since pizza should be baked at a high temperature (between 275 and 300 degrees), which was only possible in a few households, the pizza was prepared and taken unbaked to the local baker until a separate branch of the pizza maker, the pizzaiolo, emerged, who then made the pizza dough self-made and of course also covered.

A pizza is said to have been made for the first time on June 11, 1889 in Naples by Raffaele Esposito of Pizzeria Brandi, who is said to have been commissioned to serve a pizza to King Umberto I and his wife Margherita. He is said to have patriotically decorated them with ingredients in the Italian national colors: basil, mozzarella and tomatoes. However, this story has been refuted by historians.

Queen Margherita had pizza brought to the palace by other pizzaiolos beforehand. In 1880 a newspaper article about this also appeared in the Washington Post; From a list of 35 different pizza toppings, she chose eight varieties, which were then baked especially for her. But this pizza baker was not Raffaele Esposito. He was merely the only one who kept the court’s receipt.

The perfect pizza in German

You can find this article in German at www.rolfkocht.de as “Die perfekte Pizza: Luftig, locker und leicht – Pizzateig Grundrezept, wie beim Italiener”