Papà Vittorio's Pizza Dough
A family heirloom, the traditional way of making pizza dough of my family, perfected over the years.
Ingredients
- 1000 g of medium flour 11-12% protein
- 600 ml lukewarm water
- 5 g fresh yeast
- 24 g salt
Instructions
- Add flour and salt to a bowl and mix well.
- Melt the yeast into the lukewarm water and gradually add it to the flour. Mix with your hands or with the help of a spoon.
- When the dough starts to come together, pour it on a floured surface and knead the dough energetically for about 10-15 minutes, until it looks nice and smooth.
- Lightly oil or flour the bowl and place your dough in it, make a couple of cuts 1 cm deep on the dough.
- Take a kitchen towel, wet it and squeeze out of it the excess of water. Cover the bowl with the wet towel and place the bowl inside your turned off oven, door closed. *
- Let the dough rise for 12 (maximum 15) hours. **
- Heat your oven as hot as it gets.
- Gently remove the dough from the bowl onto a floured surface. Divide the dough in 7 and gently roll each dough with circular movements and shape it into a ball. Let the dough balls rest under a towel for at least half an hour.
- Once your oven is ready, take one dough ball and start working it into a pizza shape, either with your hands or with a rolling pin.
- Top with your favorite toppings and bake it until the crust is slightly browned and crispy looking! ***
Notes
*This is important because by following this procedure, you will create a micro climate where the dough can raise at a steady and controlled humidity that will prevent the dough to dry out and at the same time will allow it to leaven nicely.
**Make sure that the bowl can contain at least 5 liters!
*** Every time you open the oven, the temperature will drop, so allow a few minutes time to get your oven as hot as it gets. The pizza shouldn’t take longer than 8 minutes tops to get ready, unless the crust will become stone hard.