Pizza

2021-03-18

Pizza

Attention! The dough should be done several hours earlier!

Preparation You'll need: A Chamotte stone A bowl
Ingredients for the dough (for two persons, two pizzas) 270 g standard flour some durum semolina or Semola di Grano Duro ca. 6 to 8 g yeast (of a yeast cube) 130 to 140 mL water 3 Tbsp. olive oil 1 tsp. salt
Ingredients for the Pizzaiola (tomato sauce) 4-5 cloves of garlic 2 Tbsp. olive oil Tomatoes in pieces (around 400 g - canned or Tetra Pak) 1/2 to 1 tsp. salt 2 tsp. herb mix for Pizza Some ground white pepper
Preparation (dough) Give 270 g flour and 1 tsp. salt into a bowl and crumble the yeast over it. Add 130 to 140 mL water and 3 Tbsp. olive oil in several steps while kneading the dough. Keep kneading the dough for 10 to 15 minutes (a kitchen machine would be great, but one can do it by hand). Cover the dough with a wet cloth and set it for at least one hour (better two or three) aside.
Preparation (the Pizzaiola) Dice the cloves of garlic and and sauté in olive oil. Add the tomatoes in pieces. Add 2 tsp. Pizza herb mix, ½ to 1 tsp. salt and some pepper, mix well. Let it simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, stir from time to time. The sauce should reduce a bit, but shouldn't get too dry. You can keep the Pizzaiola in the fridge.
Preparation (finally, the Pizza) ---> At least one hour in advance: Put the pizza stone into the oven and heat it up at 300℃! When you want to start doing the Pizza, sprinkle the Semola on the counter and spread out the dough with your hands into a flat disc. Keep rubbing flour on your hands. When the dough is nicely flat spread the Pizzaiola on it (not too thick!) and the layer of Mozzarella cheese. Then the other toppings (ham, mushrooms, bell-pepper ...) and finally the Gruyere. Now put the Pizza on the the Pizza stone (watch out - HOT), the rest should be done by the hot stone. As soon as the top of the crust starts to get slightly brown, turn the oven to top grill so that it gets a nice crust. The pizza should be done after one or two minutes. If you want to do a second Pizza afterwards, keep the oven at 300℃ (convection, not top grill!) while you eat the first round.
A Calzone Since the Calzone is covered by a 'lid', it takes longer for the heat to get to the topping (Salami, ham, bell-pepper ...). It's therefore important to sauté the veggie part of the filling for a short time in a pan. Everything else is roughly the same, just one has to put the Pizzaiola and the 'toppings' just on one half of the dough, leaving a rim of naked dough (around 3 centimetres). I also prefer the 'lid' to be somewhat thinner than the other half. Carefully close the Calzone with the other half of the dough. It's very important to really close it completely - it has to be air-tight so that no liquid runs out, and the taste will be better, too. I prefer that half of the dough, that will be the cover, to be a bit thinner. After closing the Calzone, I brush olive oil or some rest of the Pizaiola on top of it, before it goes into the oven. Switch the oven off completely and let the heat from the stone work - it needs a bit more time than with a normal pizza, so that the heat can really go inside. When you see the top slowly turning brown, switch to top grill to give a final boost.