What do you think a real one should be like?pizza and how to cook it correctly? The fact that it is tasty, aromatic, with harmoniously selected ingredients for the filling is clear by default. But not everyone knows that real Italian pizza is pizza on a thin base, crispy and not too overloaded with filling. In general, in Italy, plump flatbreads with a lot of filling and, accordingly, too high-calorie pizza are not recognized. Today we will try to tell you in as much detail as possible how to cook a real thin pizza. The classic of the genre, as you know, is Neapolitan pizza, which consists of a thin flatbread, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. However, not every pizza, even with the above parameters, has the right to be called Neapolitan. It is not so easy to cook. It turns out that for real Italian pizza you need a special variety of tomatoes that grow only on the slopes of Vesuvius, and real mozzarella. And real mozzarella (in the opinion of Neapolitans) is a cheese made from the milk of buffaloes, which also graze in certain places and eat certain grass. Impressive? That's not all. Only a special type of flour and only fresh yeast (brewer's yeast is fine) are suitable for the base. The dough should be kneaded by hand; using any rolling devices is considered a violation. The flatbread is stretched by hand until it becomes very thin - somewhere around 3 millimeters. Such pizza is baked only on oak wood, and the baking time is no more than a minute and a half. In Neapolitan pizzerias, you can also try pizza Marinara (tomatoes, garlic, oregano, olive oil) and the world-famous pizza Margherita, consisting of the same tomatoes, basil, mozzarella and olive oil. By the way, according to a law passed in Italy several years ago, the names Marinara and Margherita can only be used for pizza made in Naples. However, this law is still being successfully violated in most countries. Do they make so-called “thick” pizzas in Italy? In Roman pizzerias, you can try plumper pizzas (the thickness of the flatbread is within 5-7 millimeters) with a variety of fillings. They are also baked on wood. How to make a real thin pizza at home and is it possible in principle? It is clear that it is simply unrealistic to exactly repeat all the requirements for Neapolitan pizza. With tomatoes growing on the slopes of Vesuvius, tension is inevitable, the presence of buffalo mozzarella is also in great question. And with wood-burning ovens, I think, most readers of our magazine also have problems. But you can buy good flour. The main requirement is that it should be made from durum wheat. Live yeast is also not in short supply. So, the first recipe for thin base dough and baking techniques adapted to a regular oven.
Thin pizza a la Neapolitano with olive oil
Ingredients for the dough:
- 500 grams of flour
- 15 grams of fresh yeast
- 250 ml of warm water
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- a tablespoon of sugar
- salt to taste
Recipe for making dough:To make thin dough, sift the flour through a sieve, crumble the yeast into small pieces, mix with the flour and rub this mixture, turning it into small crumbs. After that, collect the flour in a mound, make a depression and gradually pour in warm water and mix it with the flour. When all the water is used, start kneading the dough, stretching it. From time to time, fold it into an envelope and stretch it again. Knead in this way until the dough begins to come away from your hands. Then you can add butter and knead some more. Put the bowl with the dough, covered with a damp napkin, in a warm place so that it rises. Ingredients for the filling:
- 100 grams of hot tomato sauce
- 150 grams of mozzarella cheese
- 2 tomatoes
- a tablespoon of olive oil
- salt, pepper to taste
Recipe for making thin pizza toppingsNeapolitano: As already noted, there should not be much filling for such a pizza. Stretch the flatbread with your hands to the desired size (we remind you that the dough is very thin, no more than 3 millimeters) and grease with hot sauce. Spread a thin layer of peeled and chopped tomatoes and cheese. Sprinkle with olive oil. Baking recipe: Turn on the oven to the maximum temperature. For a successful result, you need to warm up the baking sheet (form or frying pan) well, on which our thin pizza will be baked. Before putting all this beauty in the oven, spray with water from a spray bottle so that steam appears there. Baking time under such conditions is no more than 10-15 minutes. There is another option for baking thin pizza in a home oven, which allows you to prepare pizza, the taste of which is as close as possible to the original taste of Neapolitan pizza, baked in a real wood-fired oven. This type of pizza is sold in London today and is extremely popular, and is prepared by the Elliot brothers, who travelled around Italy and learned from the best piezzollos before starting their business.
Thin pizza a la Neapolitano
Ingredients for the dough:
- 450 grams of flour
- 10 grams of fresh yeast
- 250 ml of cold water
- a pinch of salt
Recipe for making dough:Sift flour into a large bowl, make a well. Mix yeast with water, add to flour and knead the dough, add salt. Knead until the dough becomes elastic. Leave the dough for about 20 minutes, then knead again thoroughly and roll 3 balls (each will make one pizza). Cover with cling film and leave for several hours (or a day). Ingredients for the filling:
- a small can of canned Italian tomatoes (without peel)
- 50 grams of Parmesan
- 150-200 grams of mozzarella
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- a few sprigs of basil
Baking recipe:Turn on the oven at full power, and when it is warm, switch to the grill. Stretch the dough with your hands to the desired thickness and place it on a sheet or in a suitable form. Place in the oven and bake for a minute and a half. The flatbread should become golden and the edges should rise. Prepare all the ingredients. Place a thin layer of sliced tomatoes on the flatbread, sprinkle with parmesan, put in sliced or crumbled mozzarella, a few basil leaves. Lightly salt everything and drizzle with olive oil. In order for the filling to bake, place the sheet directly under the grill for about a minute. Cooking pizza according to the recipes given above requires a certain investment of time and effort, certain culinary skills and gourmet inclinations. That is why we want to offer another recipe. Every housewife can cook this pizza.
Thin pizza with salami sausage
Ingredients for the dough:
- 200-250 grams of flour
- 125 grams of warm water
- a tablespoon of olive oil
- 20 grams of fresh yeast
- a teaspoon of sugar
- a pinch of salt
Recipe for making dough:Prepare all ingredients. Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Sift flour into a bowl, add salt, butter and dissolved yeast. Knead the dough. Knead until it starts to come off your hands. Place the dough in a bowl, cover with a slightly damp napkin and leave in a warm place to rise well. Knead and divide into two parts (you will get two thin pizzas). Ingredients for the filling:
- 150 grams of salami
- 2 tomatoes
- 150 grams of mozzarella
- clove of garlic
- 150 grams of hot tomato sauce
- italian herbs
- a tablespoon of olive oil
Baking recipe:Spread the flatbread on a sheet (it should be very thin), grease with hot sauce. Arrange slices of salami, pieces of peeled tomatoes, sprinkle with crumbled mozzarella. Sprinkle with herbs and drizzle with olive oil. Bake in the oven, preheated to 250 degrees, for 10-15 minutes. As soon as the pizza is in the oven, reduce the temperature to 200 degrees. Making this pizza, or rather the thin base, is much easier than the previous recipes. However, do not deny yourself the pleasure of making a real Neapolitan thin pizza. If you succeed, you can consider that you have reached a certain level in culinary skills. And in general, cooking something new is always interesting. Enjoy your meal! We recommend reading:
