I make pretty good pizza. I came up with this through trial and error, and now I want to share it with you. But first, lemme share a picture of one of my pizzas just to get you in the mood.
How I make the dough
I used Tipo 00 pizza flour. The brand I like is called Anna Napoletana, but I'm sure other stuff works. It's finer than all purpose flour, and it has a higher protein/glucose content. If you can't find it, you can use bread flour. That's the next best thing. It's a little more coarse, but it has about the same protein content. As a last resort, you can use all purpose flour. I like King Arthur's. Here are the proportions I use (these are called baker's percentages):
Flour - 100%
water - 65%
salt - 2%
active dry yeast - 1%
I use these proportions because it makes it easy to remember, easy to calculate in my head, and it works. I have gone as high as 70% on the water content. It makes a good dough, but it's more difficult to work with. I usually make enough dough for two pizzas at a time. Or, if I'm making pizzas for some other people, I'll make enough for four. I'm just going to tell you what the measurements are for one pizza. You can just multiply this yourself if you want to make more.
Flour - 210 grams
water - 137 grams
salt - 4 or 5 grams
active dry yeast - 2 grams
It's a really good idea to get a digital scale so you can get these proportions exact. It also allows you to experiment by varying them a little and keeping track of what you did.
EDIT (8/8/2023): What the hey, I'll just do the math for you. . .Two pizzas
Flour - 420 grams
water - 273 grams
salt - 8 or 9 grams
active dry yeast - 4 grams and maybe a smidge moreThree pizzas
Flour - 630 grams
water - 410 grams
salt - 13 grams
active dry yeast - 6 or 7 gramsFour pizzas
Flour - 840 grams
water - 546 grams
salt - 17 grams
active dry yeast - 8 or 9 grams
I mix that up in a bowl, then turn it out on the counter. I use a bowl scraper to get everything out. Then I mix it the rest of the way with my hands. As soon as it starts getting just a little sticky, I cover it with the bowl and walk away for 10 minutes. Then I come back and knead it until I get tired of kneading it. That's usually about five to ten minutes. Ideally, it will stop being sticky after a while. Do not add flour to it. If you want, you can let it rest another ten minutes and come back to kneading it. It should be less sticky that way. But kneading it ought to make it less sticky eventually.
Once it's fairly smooth and not so sticky anymore, put it in the bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and stick it in the oven with the oven light on. Leave it in there until it doubles in size. It may take an hour or two, depending on how cold it is in your place. If your yeast isn't good anymore, it may not rise much at all. I keep my yeast in the refrigerator so it stays good longer.
Once it has doubled in size, take it out, and fold it over a few times, and turn it into a ball by tucking it under itself, stretching it. Then stick it back in the bowl, cover it, and stick it back in the oven until it doubles again.
This time, make your dough balls. First, put a little olive oil in a decent sized bowl. You can use tupperware if you want, but I prefer a bowl. Cut up the dough if you made enough for more than one pizza. Tuck it under itself over and over, stretching the top. There are YouTube videos showing how to do this part. It's easier show than to explain. Put the dough smooth size down in the olive oil, spin it around a little so the olive oil gets all over that side, then flip it over and spin it a little more. Put some plastic wrap over that, but not too tight because you want it to have room to rise a little.
Leave that out a few minutes - no more than 5 or 10 - then stick it in the refrigerator. Leave it in there for two days. You can use it after one day or even three or four days, but it's best after two days.
How I make the sauce
I get one of those big cans of San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes. You can fish the tomatoes out with your hand if you want to, but I just pour the whole thing into a mixing bowl and use it all. You can use a hand blender if you want. I prefer not to because it's too easy to over do it. If you over do it, it'll be too runny. I prefer to squeeze the tomatoes with my hand and just mush them up. I want it to be slightly chunky, and doing it with my hand gets just the right consistency.
We want to add some ingredients to it for flavour. I don't usually measure my ingredients, but I guess I'll give you some measurements to get you in the ballpark. There's lots of flexibility in these proportions, though.
Olive oil - No more than a quarter of a cup. Probably a little less.
Sea salt - I'm not really sure how much. Maybe 10 grams.
Oregano - I use that dry stuff you buy in a shaker and just about cover the top of my sauce. It's a lot.
Garlic - I use two or three cloves. I don't know what you call it, but I rub them against this little grater thingy.
Red pepper - I'm not really sure how much red pepper I put in there. Just take a guess, then taste it and see if you like it.
I told you I was going to give you some measurements, but I didn't really do that, did I? Sorry. It's subjective, but it's unlikely you'll create a disaster.
Anywho, put that in some tupperware and put it in the refrigerator.
I've complained about the fact that this makes so much sauce it commits me to having to eat nothing but pizza for two weeks. It's enough sauce for about ten pizzas. It has been suggested to me that I freeze it in little zip lock snack bags so I can take them out one at a time to use it. I've tried that, and it always ruins the sauce. It makes it runny, and it's just never as good. You can try it, though.
How I put my pizza together
On the day I make the pizza, I take the dough out of the refrigerator about two hours before it's time to make it. I sprinkle a little flour on top of it, and some flour on the counter or cutting board. I scoop it out with my bowl scraper, and gently put it smooth side down on the flour I sprinkled on the counter. I don't put any flour on the rough side which should be facing up. I cover it with a big bowl and let it sit for two hours, or thereabouts.
At least an hour before I'm ready to make the pizza, I turn my oven on to the highest temperature it will go. Where I used to live, that was 500ºF. I've made pizza at other people's houses, though, and theirs only got up to 450ºF, which was a bummer. Anyway, the point here is to heat up your pizza stone. You need to have a pizza stone.
Now that the oven is hot, and the dough has come to room temperature and risen a little, it's time to put the pizza together.
You're going to need a pizza peel. I put a dusting of flour on the pizza peel so the pizza doesn't stick. A lot of people like to use semonila, and that's probably better. You can use corn meal if you want, but I'm not crazy about that. The idea is just to make sure the pizza doesn't stick to the peel.
Now we need to stretch the dough. Again, this is easier to show than to explain, so watch some YouTube videos. Basically, I use my finger tips to push down the middle of the dough and out toward the edge. I leave the edges fluffy. Do not use a rolling pin like some idiots do because you'll destroy your crust. Once the middle is pushed down, and the puffy perimeter is pretty even, I pick it up and begin to stretch it. I lay it over one hand, pull a little with the other, then rotate it, and pull again. As it grows, I'll put my knuckles under it and stretch it out a little more. If I'm feeling it, I'll toss it in the air and spin it.
Once you're done playing with the dough, put it on the pizza peel. Now stetch it by pushing it, pulling it, or whatever you have to do to get it nice and round. If you dusted your peel like you should have, this step should be easy.
Now take a big plastic spoon, scoop some pizza sauce, and pour it in the middle. Use the back of the spoon to spread it. Start in the middle, and make circles, getting bigger and bigger each time you go all the way around until you've spread the sauce pretty evenly over the pizza. A lot of people use too much sauce when they're just learning to make pizza. Again, I can't really explain how much to use. It's easier to show.
Considering how much I say that, maybe I just need to make a YouTube video.
Anyway, pick up the pizza peel and shake it back and forth a little bit to make sure the pizza slides without sticking. If it doesn't, lift it close to where it's not sliding and throw some flour under there, and try again. Once you get it sliding well, slide it onto that pizza stone. You can really mess up here. Don't freak out if you mess up the first time. After you do it a few times, it gets easy. You can make it perfectly round.
Keep that oven light on and watch it. When the edges just barely start to change colour, take it out using the pizza peel.
At this point, you can put whatever you want on it. I almost always put some parmesan on it first. Sometimes, I just put fresh mozzarella on it and nothing more. If you get shredded mozzarella from the grocery store, it's not going to be that great. Fresh mozerella is awesome possum. Other times, I'll cut up some ham and put it on there, and I might put some pineapple on it. That's how I roll. I've also been known to put mushrooms on it. Anchovies and pineapple go well together. The contrast of the saltiness with the sweetness is good. I might even put some sauteed onions on it. You just never know. One thing I don't do is pile on a whole bunch of different toppings. I use two at the most. If I make it for other people, I'll put sausage or pepperoni on it, but I'm not crazy about that. Get some fresh mozzerella if you can find it. It is possible to make it, though, and there are YouTube videos about it. Just tear it up with your hand and put it on the pizza.
Stick that back on the pizza stone, and cook it until all the cheese is melted and the crust is a nice golden brown. I can't give you a time because I don't know how the laws of physics operate in your particular oven. But just watch it. You know what a pizza is supposed to look like when it's done.
Once it's done, take it out, put it on a rack, let it cool a couple of minutes. At this point, I'll sometimes put some fresh basil on it. It goes great with a plain cheese pizza. Finally, transfer it to a cutting board, cut it up, and eat it.
You're welcome.