Perfect pizza bases with the pizza stone

Pizza will never be a been-there-done-that choice for entertaining. Topping choices are virtually limitless and, once you’ve mastered a winning pizza dough, it’s easy and fun to make and enjoy. The key to pizza success, however, is the base and the good news is that with a pizza stone, thin and crispy bases are within your reach.

Pizza stones are made from raw ceramic, which heats up in the oven and provides a hot, absorbent base for the pizza to cook on. This helps to absorb any moisture from the dough, ensuring the perfect, crispy base. Handy, if you don’t have a pizza igloo in your garden.

Here’s a pizza dough recipe to get you well on your way to Napolitano delight.

Ingredients for dough (makes enough for 1 pizza):

250g plain flour (or doppio zero, if you can get hold of any)
10g fresh yeast
2 tbsp oil
125ml water
Pinch of salt

Toppings:

Tomato sauce
Mozzarella
Figs (either fresh or preserved)
Parma ham (or other cured ham)
Rocket

Method:

1. Dissolve the yeast in a little water, to allow it to bloom. If yeast is old, it won’t fizz and you’ll need to start again.
2. You can make the dough by hand or in seconds in a food processor.

By hand

Place the flour, dissolved yeast, salt and oil into a bowl, mix together, then add the water and mix again. Transfer to a lightly floured surface. Knead for 10 minutes or until an elastic, non-sticky dough has formed. See this post for some more tips if you find this tricky.

Food processor

Put the flour, dissolved yeast, salt and oil into the bowl of the food processor or stand mixer . Make sure you use the correct attachment for dough. Mix for 30 seconds, then add the water via the feed tube and continue mixing until a smooth, elastic dough has formed.

3. When your dough is ready,  remove and place into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a warm, damp tea towel and allow to rise in a warm place for 45 minutes to an hour.

Now would be a good time to put the pizza stone into the oven and turn the oven on to preheat. Pizza needs high temperatures to bake quickly, so heat your oven to the highest temperature it can take, usually around 250ºC. Bear in mind that pizza stones should be placed into a cool oven and allowed to heat up as the oven heats up, so don’t only add it once the oven is at its hottest.

4. When your dough has been given enough time to rise, or when it is more or less double in size, remove the dough from the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Punch down (gently deflate the dough with your fist) and flatten the dough out a bit. Flour a rolling pin and roll out to about 5mm thick (or as thick as you like).

5. Cover with your desired toppings (we used tomato passata, mozzarella, chopped figs, parma ham and rocket). Fresh ingredients like rocket or avocado are best added just before serving. Cured meats, unless you specifically want them crispy, are also great added once your pizza has cooked.

6.  Carefully remove the hot pizza stone from the oven and place onto a heat resistant surface. Transfer your base onto the pizza stone and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the edges are crispy and the cheese has melted.

11. Remove from the oven, add your fresh ingredients like parma ham and rocket and enjoy with friends.

This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled to create more pizzas.

Tips and tricks

If the dough is resistant to keeping shape and bounces back to a smaller shape, cover it with a damp towel and leave it for 10-20 minutes. This allows the gluten to relax, making it easier to stretch.

Pizza ovens can easily reach 300-400°C , so heat your oven to the highest temperature and leave it there for a few minutes. Ideally, pizza should bake in just a few minutes.

Topping tips

When it comes to toppings, less is more (and by that we mean less variety, not scarce pickings)
A good tomato paste goes a long way and, if possible, make your own.
Roasted garlic does wonders with a drizzle of olive oil.

And have you ever heard the story of how pizza came to be?

Queen Margherita, of Italy, upon an inspection of the Kingdom one day, came across peasants enjoying a meal of flat bread with toppings. She summoned Raffaele Esposito, the owner of a little pizzeria, to the palace to make her this ‘pizza’. Raffaele created one with tomato, mozzarella cheese and basil, in the colours of the Italian flag, to honor her and it was forever known as the Pizza Margherita. Tada.

Happy entertaining folks.