Pizza Talk

Details: Category: Pizza Talk

pizzadough

Delia Smith's Basic Pizza Dough

Pizza dough is made in almost the same way as white bread – by hand or using a food processor, except that you add olive oil and a little sugar to the flour mixture and there isn't a second rising.

6 oz plain white soft flour

1 level tsp salt

1 level teaspoon dried yeast

1/2 level teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon olive oil

Details: Category: Pizza Talk

Pizza Troubleshooting

There are times when you might still have a soggy bottom (on your pizza!) even when using a pizza stone. Here are some possible reasons for a soggy pizza base:

· Too much sauce
· The cooking time is not long enough to extract the moisture
· Too many fresh vegetables which add to the water content, less is often more on pizzas
· Not enough cornflour
· Too much oil on the pizza - try adding this later

TANYA TIP: Some pizza chefs prebake the crust before adding the toppings.

Details: Category: Pizza Talk

The idea behind a pizza stone is to distribute the heat evenly across the pizza base and secondly to extract the moisture, so that your pizza dough is crispy. Heat is important in the cooking process of a pizza: all breads need a high temperature to cook. A little cornflour rubbed on the pizza stone before it gets heated can prevent the finished pizza dough from sticking. Because it is porous it does absorb other things such as soap and oil, which means that they should never be washed with a detergent and only ever with cool water when the stone is cool.