What makes a good Pizza? Although a very simple question, its
answer is not as simple. A good pizza is a combination of excellent dough, nice
cheese, perfect sauce and toppings baked to perfection. A perfect harmony of
ingredients makes the perfect pizza, and we are going to explain what
makes a good pizza and also how to pick the right one for
you.
Let’s start with talking about the good pizza base, its crust.
Step to Makes a Good Pizza:
The Perfect Pizza Dough:
Dough is the main part of any pizza, get it right
and you will end up with a pizza that is always delicious. You can change the toppings as long as you have the
perfect pizza. The dough is what makes the crust
soft, crispy, chewy and melty at the same time.
You need to find that right spot of moisture, thickness and
consistency of the flour, yeast, salt and sugar to make the best base for your pizza.
It all starts with
choosing the right flour. Too fine and you will end up with a hard to knead
dough, too brown and it will be runny. Are you looking for Pronto Pizza?
If you can’t find the
right mix of flour, make your own blend.
Get yourself white and
brown flour, sift it and mix it properly to get the perfect flour mix for your
dough.
Proper
measurement is the key for a consistent, same best quality crust – every time!
Make
sure you measure
everything correctly.
Using
cups to measure flour is not the right
way to do it. Flour can be compressed, and you may end up with more than
needed, ruining the whole batch.
Get
yourself a kitchen scale and
properly weight your flour and measure the water with a scaled container; after
all, you want to do it right, don’t you?
Once you got the right
amount of ingredients, mix it, add water slowly, don’t dump all at once.
Add a little and mix it and keep doing it until you get the right
consistency.
When it comes to
yeast, using instant yeast may not be a very good idea. We are
not against it, but its results are not as good.
Get some warm water, add
a little sugar to it and mix in your yeast.
Let it sit for a short
while and you will end up in a smelly bubbly solution.
Add it to your dough,
again, slowly.
Next, you need to
knead the dough and you need to knead it good. The more you knead it, the
better it will turn out to be.
After you are
done kneading your dough, it needs to rest at the right
temperature. Rest your dough in a little warmer environment, maybe near the
stove.
Cover the bowl
with a slightly damp cloth and let it rest and rise. Let the yeast do
its job.
Here we are going to skip prepping the toppings for a shortwhile.
Once
rested and risen up, knead your dough
once more and let it rest for a few minutes (just one extra small step that we
do).
Now you can proceed
with flattening your dough to make the pizza base.
Making the right pizza sauce:
Ah, the pizza
sauce, yum. If you think you can skip on the correct sauce and rely on your
toppings to make your pizza taste great, you are wrong!
As we mentioned
earlier, everything has to work in perfect harmony to make your pizza
experience the best.
While making your
pizza sauce, you need to balance the acid to control the tanginess of
your sauce.
Tomatoes are tricky
to work with and if you are planning on using tomatoes in the toppings
as well, you will need to control salt and vinegar in your sauce.
When making a pizza at
home, you can use the canned pizza sauce but when you are a pizza joint,
a fast-food restaurant,
you cannot use pre-made sauce.
You need to make it
yourself. You need to practice and come up with a perfect mix of tomato paste,
puree and some ketchup as well. You need to balance the herbs, salts,
some sugar and vinegar in your pizza sauce.
Consistency is key.
Too thick and you won’t be able to spread it evenly on your pizza base, too
thin, and it will be runny, ruining everything else.
You should always make
your sauce on medium to low heat and be always present, running a spoon in the
pan to make sure you have a consistent and unburnt sauce.
Taste test it every 2
to 3 minutes.
Check its consistency
constantly and keep adjusting the flame. High flame will always destroy your sauce,
so avoid it at all costs.
Pizza Toppings:
Authentic
pizza has very less
toppings but pizzas now a days comes loaded, ranging anywhere from just
beef, sausages, pepperoni, chicken and all kinds of meats to fruit and even
just the cheese.
All the hard work you
did till now leads to this step.
Although you can
almost put anything on your pizza as toppings, you shouldn’t. Just like we kept
a balance till now we are going to exercise the same caution here as well.
Like you cannot put
carrot and radish on your pizza, but you can use capsicum, fresh basil,
spinach and even some broccoli as well.
Make sure all the
veggies retain their color after coming out of the oven. That means you need
to be extra careful when you are pre-cooking them before they go into the
oven.
Capsicum,
onions and tomato slices
can be used raw as pizza toppings but it’s always a good idea to blanch the
broccoli.
It’s time you decide how
much spices you are going to need; however, be careful with the salt.
Your pizza dough and
sauce already have salt in it and all the tomatoes in the sauce are also salty.
Same is the case if
you are going to use spinach leaves. Just hold back on the salt.
If you are going to
pre-cook anything that is going on top of your pizza dough, make sure it is dry
and there is no gravy, liquidy and runny, also it shouldn’t be oily as well.
Drain everything as
much as you can before it goes on as pizza topping.
Choosing The Right Cheese For Your Pizza:
One of the most
important ingredients in making the best pizza is the cheese.
Although you can use
almost any kind of cheese, it is always a good idea to include mozzarella
cheese. This is the stringiest of all cheeses when baked and tastes excellent
as well. A combination of cheddar cheese and parmesan is also heavenly.
Remember, the right
cheese for your pizza is not always the most expensive cheese.
Pro
Tip: Always use shredded cheese on your pizza
Make sure to balance
the salt based on the cheese that you are using. If possible, go for unsalted
and freshest cheese. Keep the melting point of your cheese in mind as well
because you do not need burnt cheese nor do you want to pull it before it is
completely melted for obvious reasons, like that stringy feature.
Baking The Perfect Pizza:
This is the final step
in making your pizza. This step can make or destroy your pizza. It is
the step that everything that you did till now will come to light.
All the kneading,
cooking, shredding is going to come to life once your pizza is baked. Make sure
you do it right.
Choose the right oven:
The most authentic way
of baking a pizza is using a brick oven. Brick oven pizzas have a
distinctive taste,but the modern ovens are also not much behind.
Make sure your oven
cooks your pizza evenly from the bottom and the top. Make sure to maintain
proper temperatures and keep an eye on your pizza as well.
The heat from the top
should be less compared to the bottom. Everything on top is either pre-cooked
or sautéed and will require gentle heat, while from the bottom an even heating,
higher than the top setting is required.
Your dough needs to
cook so that it is crunchy on the outside but soft in the middle. It should
melt in your mouth.
Once properly baked, pull your pizza out of the oven and bring it away from the
excessive heat.
Give it a couple of
minutes and then cut it into slices. Again give it a minute and dig in. Enjoy
your perfect pizza.
Conclusion:
There you have it.
This is how you make the perfect pizza. You now know making a good pizza is an
art and to become a good artist, you need to practice and use the right and
correct tools (ingredients).
When it comes to
pizza, you should never settle for anything less than perfection. Making the
best pizza requires work, love and passion and experience.
Always get your pizza
from a place that loves making it and is not in just for the business or make
one yourself.
By the way, making
pizza with your kids at home is one of the best indoor fun activities.