I think most of us would agree that pizza is top of list when it comes to comfort food (closely followed by mac n’ cheese obviously).
But, my friends, we live in a complicated time and I think a lot of us have given up on delivery, if only momentarily.
This does not in any way mean you need to give up on the cheesy goodness that is freshly baked pizza. It does, however, mean it might be time to learn how to make it yourself.
And believe me: it’s easier than you’d think.
What you’ll need:
- 1 1/2 cup warm water
- 2 packs of dry active yeast (levure boulangère) – (roughly 7/8g each, equivalent to 20g fresh yeast)
- 2 tablespoons of sugar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 4 cups flour
How to make it:
- In a large bowl, empty the active yeast packs into the warm water. Mix and let set for 10 min.
- Add sugar, olive oil and salt to the yeast mix, and whisk the mixture together.
- Add the flour. At this point you either have a robot that will do the work for you or you’ll be putting in the work: kneed the dough until it is homogeneous and slightly sticky. Transfer the dough to a slightly oiled bowl. Brush some olive oil on the dough and store in a warm space for roughly 1 hour (I always put it in a slightly warm oven to facilitate the process).
- Preheat your oven to 200°C.
- Once the dough has risen to twice its size, put it on a floured surface and kneed it a bit more.
- Divide into two pieces. One can be frozen in a Ziplock bag (or again, feel free to make to full pizzas).
- Roll the dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush it with some olive oil and top with your ingredients of choice.
- Bake for roughly 15/20 min or until pizza is golden!
How to make it:
- Pizza bianca: super simple and honestly underappreciated. Add olive oil, rosemary, fresh parmeggiano reggiano and cracked pepper before baking. Then you can enjoy it with a fresh salad of tomatoes or arugula, topped with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Delicious!
- Pizza rossa: I think you all know what your favorites are when it comes to rossa. First off, add tomato pulp, cracked pepper, fresh basil. Then, go crazy, add any cheese, protein, vegetable you’d like!
- Pizza margherita: A classic. Tomato pulp, garlic, fresh basil, fresh mozzarella.
- Roman-styled: add figs to a margherita!