The perfect pizza dough recipe
The secret to a delicious pizza is getting the freshly kneaded dough thin enough and then cooking it at the right temperature to achieve a crispy yet chewy pizza.
Here’s how to create a perfect dough with a little help from Jamie Oliver.
Tip: “00” flour is best for pizza dough because its finely ground. If you can’t get hold of “00” flour, simply use strong white bread flour instead which can be found in most supermarkets
After a lot of trial and error, one of the best recipes is Jamie Oliver’s pizza dough recipe.
Ingredients
1 kg “00” flour, or 800g strong white bread flour
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 x 7 g dried yeast sachets
1 tablespoon golden caster sugar
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Method
- Sieve the flour/s and salt on to a clean work surface and make a well in the middle.
In a jug, mix the yeast, sugar and oil into 650ml of lukewarm water and leave for a few minutes, then pour into the well. - Using a fork, bring the flour in gradually from the sides and swirl it into the liquid. Keep mixing, drawing larger amounts of flour in, and when it all starts to come together, work the rest of the flour in with your clean, flour-dusted hands. Knead until you have a smooth, springy dough.
- Place the ball of dough in a large flour-dusted bowl and flour the top of it. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and place in a warm room for about an hour until the dough has doubled in size.
- Now remove the dough to a flour-dusted surface and knead it around a bit to push the air out with your hands – this is called knocking back the dough. You can either use it immediately, or keep it, wrapped in clingfilm, in the fridge (or freezer) until required.
- If using straight away, divide the dough up into as many little balls as you want to make pizzas – this amount of dough is enough to make about six to eight medium pizzas.
- Timing-wise, it’s a good idea to roll the pizzas out about 15 to 20 minutes before you want to cook them. Don’t roll them out and leave them hanging around for a few hours, though – if you are working in advance like this it’s better to leave your dough, covered with clingfilm, in the fridge.
Big Green Egg Style
To get the best result, once your dough is rolled out thinly, cover your pizza with Italian passata and top with your favourite toppings.
Get your Big Green Egg to 315°C with your pizza stone set in indirect heat. Don’t forget to ‘burp’ your Egg before sliding your pizza off your pizza spade onto the stone. After 7 or 8 minutes, check your pizza and remove from your Big Green Egg. Enjoy!
