Have you ever made your own pizza at home? There is something special about making your own homemade pizza. The flavour is simply amazing, the dough so fresh and soft, the toppings just bursting with flavour. Or maybe it’s just all the effort that goes into making this pizza that you appreciate it more. 😊 Well, whatever the reason might be, we make a lot of pizza at home. Look, my husband is an Italian so he definitely has a passion for pizza and pasta for that matter, but the bonus here is that we have our own woodburn pizza oven on our patio. Hey but do check out his favourite pasta recipe. http://www.livingdelish.com/homemade-pasta/
This is one our favourite pastimes, and with the current lockdown we are experiencing due to the COVID-19, we definitely have some time on our hands. I’m sure you know what I mean if you are also or were in lockdown.
Okay let get things started… If you are using a woodburn oven your oven needs to be super hot. We stoke the fire for around 2 hours ahead of time. You can determine when the oven is hot enough by carefully sticking your hand into the oven. If you can count up to 5 while holding your hand in the oven and very important, make sure not to touch any of the sides or the floor – you will burn. Then you know the fire is ready. Also look inside the oven, the flames needs to “Lick” the ceiling of the oven. Then you are good to go.
If you are making these pizzas indoors and using your oven, preheat your oven to 180ËšC.
Also note: you can make your own pizza base sauce. For these pizzas I used store bought sauce.
Homemade pizza dough
Enough to make 4 large pizzas
1 ½ cups of lukewarm water
7g Instant yeast (Or 1 packet)
1 teaspoon of sugar
4 cups of flour
â…“ cup Olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt
Directions:
In a small bowl, mix together the lukewarm water and sugar. Now stir in the instant yeast and set it aside to rest for 10 minutes or until the yeast starts to foam.
In the bowl of your mixer add the flour and salt. Now add the olive oil and your activated yeast. Using the dough hook attachment on your mixer, mix the dough for at least 10 minutes or until the dough becomes soft and elastic.
Place your ball of dough into an oiled bowl and cover with some oiled cling wrap. This will help the dough from sticking to the clean wrap once it has risen. Place a kitchen towel over your bowl of dough and allow your dough to rise in a warm room for a minimum of two hours.
A little tip – If you are making this dough in colder weather. Switch your oven on for 5 minutes on a high temperature. Then switch it off and open the door. Let the oven cool enough for it to be a nice room temperature. Now you can allow your dough to rest in the oven while the door of the oven is closed.
After the dough has rested and your oven is the right temperature you can start to roll out your dough.
Divide the ball of dough into 4 equal parts. Use one ¼ dough and place it on a well floured surface. Using your rolling pin and roll out the dough into a flat, round (-ish) circle. This should be around ½ cm in thickness.
Instructions for Woodburn oven
Place your round pizza onto the pizza paddle. Make sure you have plenty of flour under the pizza otherwise it will stick to the paddle and you will struggle to get the pizza onto the floor of the pizza oven.
Using a fork and pokes small holes here and there on your homemade pizza base. This prevent large bubbles forming under your pizza dough. Spread a little olive oil over the base.
Now spread your choice of tomato base or pizza base sauce onto your base followed by a sprinkle of origanum and some fresh garlic to taste.
Your base is now ready for the toppings. Add your favourite topping and finish it off by sprinkling mozzarella cheese on top.
TIP: Do not overload your pizza base. A heavy base makes it difficult to get your pizza off the paddle and the chances that your pizza will tear becomes much greater.
Slowly and with gentle movements wiggle your homemade pizza of the paddle until it’s completely on the oven floor. The heat of the bricks also helps to cook the pizza from underneath.
Cook your pizza for 2 – 3 minutes or until cooked. The cheese should be bubbling and the edges should be golden brown.
Instructions for normal oven
Grease your baking sheet and place your rolled out pizza on top.
Using a fork and pokes small holes here and there on your pizza base. This prevent large bubbles forming under your pizza dough. Spread a little olive oil over the base.
Now spread your choice of tomato base or pizza base sauce onto your base followed by a sprinkle of origanum and some fresh garlic to taste.
Your base is now ready for the toppings. Add your favourite topping and finish it off by sprinkling mozzarella cheese on top.
The advantage of baking it in the oven on a baking tray, is that you do not have to worry about loading your pizza to heavy as you do not have to lift it up before baking.
Cook your pizza for 5 – 8 minutes or until cooked.
