How to make pizza crust

Need to know how to make pizza crust? Then you are on the right pizza blog. One character of a great pizza is a great crust. Some like the crust thin, others like it crispy while others, fluffy and thick.

fully baked pizza

Making pizza crust might sound difficult from other recipes but trust me, by the time you get at the end of this article you will be in a position to effortlessly make one at home.

With the proper pizza tools like a pizza paddle and a pizza cutter. You will be able to accomplish this with no problems.

So why go through the trouble when you can get buy a frozen one at the store?

Nothing good comes easily. Money can buy you pizza dough, but one made with your great attention is sure to make a better pizza crust. If you do some research, a majority of pizza dough recipe are different. However, they all come from same ingredients: yeast, water, flour, salt, oil and sometimes, sugar.

Here is how to make pizza crust (thick and chewy)

Yield: two 12-inch pizzas

Preparation time: 2 hours 15 minutes

Total time: 2 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients:

3 ½ cups of all-purpose flour (440g)
2 ¼ tsp. of red star yeast (1 packet)
2 Tsp of olive oil.
1 1/3 warm water (320 ml)
¾ tsp of salt
1 Tsp of granulated sugar
Cornmeal

Preparations:

Proofing: In a large bowl, mix the yeast and warm water. Gently stir and let it sit for 5 minutes, until the yeast foams and dissolve. If your yeast does not dissolve, then it’s dead. Add flour, salt, oil and sugar (optional). Mix with a dough mixer or with hands.

If you mix the ingredient and it’s too wet, add a ¼ cup more flour. By the end of the kneading the dough, it should be smooth and elastic. To be sure, poke your dough with your finger. If it slowly bounce back, then you are good to continue. Otherwise, keep kneading.

how to make pizza crust

How to make pizza crust

Shape your pizza dough into a ball then place it in a mixing bowl coated lightly with oil. Turn the ball over several times until it’s covered with a layer of oil. Wrap the dough with plastic paper.

For the pizza dough to rise, it needs to be placed in a warm environment. Heat your oven to 200F and turn it off. Place your dough, leave the oven door slightly and let it sit for 30 minutes. After that, close the oven door and let the dough rise for 1 hour 20 minutes.

Divide the dough into two balls. Let them rest for 15 more minutes. You can choose to make pizza crust with one dough and freeze the other one for later use.

Preheat your oven to 475 degrees F. Let it heat for 30 minutes until every inch is very hot. Dust and oil two baking sheets with olive oil. To dust, use cornmeal.

flattened pizza dough

Flatten each ball, if using two, on the lightly floured surface into 12-inch circle. If using a pizza stone, then place the dough on a lightly dusted pizza peel.

To prevent the dough from getting too soggy from the topping, brush the top lightly with olive oil. To avoid bubbling, use your finger to push dents on the surface of the dough.

Add your favorite toppings and use the pizza peel to place the dough on the pizza peel. Let it bake for 12-15 minutes.

If fully baked the pizza should have a crust. Slice using a pizza cutter and serve while hot.

If there is any leftover, cover it tightly and store in a refrigerator.

More information about ingredients used in our how to make pizza crust

Yeast: You can choose to use dry or wet yeast. Dry yet is 50% slower.

Water: temperature is crucial when it comes to water in how to make pizza crust. Anything above 120F will kill the yeast. No fermentation, no dough rise, no pizza crust.

Flour: You can use any white flour. However, for better result use unbleached all-purpose flour.It absorbs water better compared to bleached flour.

Oil: oil prevents the crust from getting too soggy from your toppings.

Salt: it’s all about the flavor. Also, control yeast activity.

Sugar: sugar helps increase yeast activity and tenderize the pizza dough.

Cornmeal: Cornmeal helps the dough not to stick on the pizza peel. Also adds flavor and crispy texture to the pizza.

Did you find this article “how to make pizza crust” useful? How were the results? Share your experience with the rest.

February 9, 2018February 12, 2018

Pizza cutter scissors

Most cooks don’t know they can make their kitchen more fun my using better pizza gadgets to solve their culinary problems. This is because the majority of time using these pizza cutter scissors looks unorthodox.

The fact is, some of these kitchenwares are worth buying. For example have you ever considered buying Pizza cutter scissors, a pair of scissors specially designed to cut a pizza?

Bringing in pizza cutting scissors into the picture evoke question like, does it do a better job compared to the traditional pizza cutter? If yes, how much does it cost? Is it safe to use? Etc. To help you better understand pizza cutter scissors here is what you can do with it.

Pizza cutter scissors make pizza cutting easier

The primary importance of any pizza cutter is not just to cut a pizza but to make the process efficient. If you have ever attempted to cut a pizza with an ordinary kitchen knife, then you understand that not all sharp objects can be used to cut a pizza. If you want to avoid messing your up pizza after all the process of cooking it, then you need to be using pizza cutter scissors.

Also known as pizza shear, pizza cutter scissors will cut your pizza quickly and without making a mess out of the gooey cheese.

They help get perfect triangular pizza slice

One thing that made pizza shears so popular is their ability to cut a pizza into triangular slices. It’s true that a round pizza is not less delicious than a triangular but something familiar especially when it comes to food is better.

To cut a pizza with pizza cutter scissors and get the triangular shapes, lift the edge of your pizza, snip to the center and repeat on the adjacent side of the pie. Some of the pizza shears have a supporting spatula to make scooping easy. You can, therefore, serve the pizza slice immediately after cutting it.

triangular pies by pizza cutting scissors

Cutting and slimming pizza dough

Once you have rolled the pizza dough to the desired thickness, you can use pizza cutter scissors to cut the dough to your desired dimension. This again brings to the issue of shape. Note: a pizza does not have to be circular. You can make it star-shaped or in a heart shape. Perfect dish for Valentines by the way.

If you insist on a circular pie, you can still use pizza cutter scissors to trim off any scraps.

Pizza cutter scissors won’t deface your cutting board

Some of us invest in an expensive cutting board. Compared to other pizza cutters, i.e., pizza cutter wheel and pizza cutter rocker, pizza cutter scissors do not leave dents on your pizza cutting board or pizza pan.

Since this type of pizza cutter does not roll on these surfaces, it means it won’t get dull or get scratches itself. By having pizza shears it means no need to sharpen your pizza cutter.

You can use pizza cutter scissors on hot pizza

Pizza cutter scissors do not just have good ergonomics but can be used to cut hot pizzas. For example German stainless steel pizza cutter, in case you ever need it to be, has heat resistant of up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Pizza cutter scissors is cleaning is efficient

Pizza cutter scissors edge traditional rollers because of its ability to disregard the cutting or baking surface of the pizza. This pizza shear is not only the least expensive pizza cuter, but most customers like it because of its dishwater safe to boot.

Pizza Mezzaluna and pizza cutter wheels have exposed sharp blades meaning they need to clean separate from other dishes.

You can use pizza cutter scissors to cut lots of other things

Well, who doesn’t like a kitchen gadget which has more than 14 uses? Invest in a dedicated pair of pizza cutter scissors and be on the road to discover endless ways to use them.

Just to mention but a few uses of pizza shears: cutting bacon, breaking down poultry, slicing herbs, cleaning shrimp, preparing greens, chopping canned tomatoes, making a salad, chopping dried fruit, removing crust from bread, etc.

Does pizza cutter scissors, therefore, make the best pizza cutter for you?

Just like picking out other pizza tools, whether this pizza cuter suits you depend on what you are looking for. For example, in regards to price, pizza rolling cutter tend to be lower in price than its counterparts. For durability and ease of cleaning, rocking pizza cutter come top. However, if you need something out of ordinary, safe to clean and has multiple functionalities then pizza cutter scissors are for you.

February 5, 2018February 22, 2018

How to make pizza veg

On this page, we will talk about how to make pizza veg. There are a lot of different types of pizza out there. A veggie pizza is one of the most popular types.

[A veggie pizza is just a pizza with only veggies on it and does not have any meat at all.]

Examples of ingredients on a veggie pizza: Sauce, cheese, mushroom, onions, green peppers, black olives, broccoli, tomatoes, fresh garlic and feta cheese

If you are pizzaholic, then you must have tried different kinds of pizza. How was it compared to homemade pizza? Most people agree that the homemade ones are by far, better.

You probably didn’t get it the first time, but with practice and attention to details, you managed to make one with a crispy crust and the leopard spots. In this article, we shall show you how to make pizza veg, a healthier and even more delicious pizza.

For the sake of new pizzaiolo, these are the pizza tools you need to make an exceptional pizza: a rolling pin, a pizza paddle, a pizza wheel, and a pizza stove. If you are making your pizza dough then you need a kitchen scale and a dough mixer.

The variation of pizza veg recipes is endless. Since we cannot cover all of them at the same time, I shall give you my favorite recipe with a detailed how to make pizza veg right in your kitchen. I have divided the entire process into three parts: preparing the pizza bread, making the toppings and baking the pizza.

Prep time: 2hrs 20 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 2 hours 40 minutes
Servings: 3

Making the pizza bread

Ingredient

3 cups of wheat flour (separated, 1 cup=250 ml)
2 tsp. of dry yeast
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. sugar
1 cup of warm water
2 ½ Tsp. Olive oil
Cornmeal for use on pizza paddle

Instructions

Add the sugar to the warm water.
Add our yeast and stir to mix. Let the mixture sit for 10-15 mins (at room temperature). It should be frothy at the end.
In a bowl add one cup of flour, add salt, 2 tsp. of olive oil and the yeast mixture.
Gently stir then add another cup of flour. Using dough mixture, stir until the mixture gets sticky.
Add the remaining cup of flour. Stir.
Knead until the pizza dough is smooth and elastic
Apply some olive oil all over the pizza dough

Cover the pizza dough and allow it to sit for 1 ½ -2 hours.

The dough will rise and almost double in size.

Making the pizza toppings

Remember you can make pizza topping of your choice. For my recipe on how to make pizza veg, I choose to make everything from scratch including the tomato sauce.

Ingredient for the tomato sauce

3 medium garlic cloves (finely chopped)
4 medium tomatoes (finely chopped)
2 tsp. fresh basil
2 Tsp. olive oil
2 Tsp. red wine
1 tsp. fresh oregano
Grounded black pepper
Salt

Instructions

Blanch all the tomatoes and chop them.
Heat the olive oil and fry the garlic. Add the tomatoes and the wine.
Let them cook uncovered for 5 mins
Add the herbs, pepper, and salt
Mix and cook for 4 more mins.

How to make Pizza veg toppings

Ingredient

1 sliced capsicum
1 sliced onion
1 tomato (sliced)
9 pitted green olives
9 pitted black olives
Pizza cheese
Dried or fresh herbs

Now the fun on how to make pizza veg begins, assembling the pizza.

Before you begin this process, place the pizza stone on the oven rack. Turn the heat to 200 degrees centigrade. For a crunchy crust pizza, the pizza stone should heat for about 25 minutes before you place the assembled dough on the stone.
Flatten the dough to a disk using a rolling pin. To make this easy, start by brush the rolling pin with some cornmeal.
Brush the pizza spatula with some cornmeal too. Place the flat pizza dough on the pizza spatula.
Brush some olive oil on the pizza base and spread the tomato sauce on the pizza.
Evenly spread your veggies on the now flat pizza dough.
Now spread the assembling with grated cheese.
If the pizza stone has heated for more than 20 minutes, place your dough on the stone using a pizza spatula (preferably with a wooden one)
Bake the pizza on the preheated pizza stone for 20 minutes.
Use a pizza paddle to remove from oven. Allow it to rest for a minute. Using a pizza cutter, slice the pizza and serve while hot.

Recipe notes

The layer of cornmeal on the pizza paddle is used to allow the dough to slide onto the stone easily.
Pre-heating the pizza stone creates that crispy crust on a pizza.
For a better dough, you can store it in a refrigerator for 2 days (in a glass bowl and covered with plastic)
You can serve the pizza with tomato sauce and the herbs.
Leftover pizza sauce and pizza dough can be refrigerated.

Did you find this recipe on how to make pizza veg useful? Feel free to share your experience below.