Flour, salt, water and yeast - what do these simple ingredients have in common? They come together to create the perfect foundation for any good pizza! Knead these ingredients together and you will have the best pizza base. Having said that, there is a lot more you need to do other than kneading the dough to perfection to enjoy a soft, fluffy pizza loaded with the desired toppings. So, in this article, we will share some of the best-kept secrets of making restaurant-style pizza at home.
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Here're 6 Easy Tips To Make Restaurant-Style Pizza At Home:
Get the right ingredients:
The only things you'll need to make the perfect pizza dough are flour, water, yeast, and salt. The main elements for a soft and fluffy dough are active dried yeast, high quality all-purpose flour and filtered water. Use cold, filtered water that is devoid of pollutants, salts and minerals.
Choose the right flour:
Flour is the most important component in a pizza dough, and the type you use can have a big impact on the final product. All-purpose flour will suffice, although type 00 flour, the finest milled grade of flour, is recommended for better hole structure and dough texture.
Knead, knead, knead:
The texture of the pizza is greatly influenced by how it is kneaded. Making the correct dough requires the right kneading technique. So, once you've gathered all of the necessary ingredients into a ball, knead the dough using both hands for 10 minutes, or until it's firm and stretchy. To test whether the dough will rise, probe it with your fingertips. When the dough slowly bounces back, it's ready to rise. If it still doesn't seem right, knead it for another 2-3 minutes.
Cold-prove your dough:
The term "cold-proving" refers to storing your dough after it has been prepared in the refrigerator. As the yeast begins to breakdown the carbohydrates, the flavour and browning qualities will improve. Make sure to grease the bowl you'll be using to rest the dough.
Stretching:
Start with a rounded ball of pizza dough as this makes it easier to shape the base into a circle. Place the dough ball on a gently floured surface, flour your hands, and push the dough into a small, flat disc with your fingertips. Push the dough outwards while spreading your fingers from the centre, slightly expanding the disc. Continue until you have a pizza base that is about 12 to 16 inches. Becausepizzas like Neapolitan-style pizza bases are so thin, you should be able to see right through the basewhen you hold them up to the light. Take care when doing this - you don't want it to tear. Don't be disheartened if your pizza isn't a perfect oval, the beauty of homemade pizza is its character, not its uniformity.
When it comes to toppings, less is more:
In particular, the tomato sauce should be used sparingly. Your pizza dough can get soggy and difficult to transfer to the oven if you add too much sauce. Also, avoid putting sauce (or any other toppings) right on the crust's edges. Another important element to remember is that using fresh ingredients is the key to crafting a restaurant-style pizza. Pre-cook the meats before adding them to the pizza because they will take longer to cook than the pizza itself.
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And finally, set your pizza oven to 500 degrees Celsius for restaurant-quality pizza. To achieve this temperature, we recommend using a portable wood or gas fired oven. Why do we recommend this oven temperature? Because the hotter the oven, the better the pizza. 500 degrees Celsius is the ideal temperature for the perfect pizza - crisp on the outside, airy on the inside. Because a home oven can only go up to 250 degrees Celsius, making an authentic restaurant-style brick oven pizza at home can be a challenge. As a result, an outdoor, modern, sleek, and portable oven is your best option. They are significantly easier to install, come at a reasonable price that will not break the bank, and provide tremendous heat and rapid cooking time. They manage to provide all the benefits of a traditional brick oven with none of the drawbacks. The flavour and texture that such ovens provide are unrivalled; they are simply not possible to achieve with a home oven or grill.
So, if you follow these tips, you'll be amazed at how great your pizza-making skills will become. You'll soon find yourself reaching for your own pizza stone and oven rather than ordering takeout. Making restaurant-style pizza at home takes a little longer, but the results are well worth the effort!
Author's Bio: Priyamvada Aggarwal and Karan Raj Aggarwal are co-founders of Pizza Pro (authorized Ooni pizza oven distributors for India)
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