Joanna James
Pizza, the food of the gods! This beloved Italian food encircles everything that is good and delicious. So, if you're planning on making the perfect pizza, here's what you need to know.
Whether you have it at a quintessential pizzeria in Rome or an exotic beachfront restaurant in Seychelles like the one Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Resort & Casino; pizza is always awesome. And the reason why a pizza can be so awesome because of the dough. In order to build a good house, you need to make sure you built a good foundation. Same goes for pizza. In order to make a good pizza, you need to make sure you get the base or the dough right. Bad dough is the result of not getting the correct measurements especially flour as it is compressible. So use a scale instead of measuring cups.
Kneading is the next important thing as it is what develops gluten, the network of solid proteins giving structure to baked goods. Sure, you can get a ready-made, less time consuming, pizza dough from the store, but fresh homemade one that's kneaded with love; is always best.
Choose a pizza style that works for you and the occasion. For example, if you're having a big party and don't want a lot of fuss, try the Sicilian-style square pie that doesn't take much kneading time. If you want to indulge in a truly lavish pizza, make the Neapolitan-style pizza that's pretty hardcore, or the New York-style pizza which has a beautiful crunch to it along with a mountain of mozzarella.
According to the celebrity chef Mario Batali, "simplicity is best" when it comes to topping pizza. "Don't overdress it" he says and you don't want your delicious dough to be loose its flavour by a mound of extra topping, do you? Stick to a few simple ingredients with bold flavours. Fresh basil, in season tomatoes and good mozzarella are a few of these that are always part of a good pizza. And go easy on the cheese. Extra cheese is "no buono" according to Chef Mario as that can overtake the flavours of the rest of the ingredients.
After you've tossed the toppings make sure to give the pizza a generous drizzling of extra virgin olive oil to give that true Italian taste.
More often than not, the difference between a homemade pizza and that of one made at a restaurant lies in the fact that these pizzerias use bake their pizza in an oven hotter than yours. An oven with a higher heat can lead the way to a light, crunchy dough. This is because the high heat makes air and vapour bubbles inside the dough expand rapidly which causes the dough to become full of holes and airy. The average heat you should bake your pizza should be in the 550°F range.
Once you've got these steps right, it won't be much of a problem to create the perfect pizza that's going to please your taste buds, your stomach as well as your soul! Bon appétit!
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