Best Pizza Base Recipes

SIMPLE PIZZA BASE

Steps:

• Put the flour, yeast and 1 tsp salt into a large bowl. Stir in 500ml of slightly warm water and the oil. You should end up with a wettish dough that is rough and lumpy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, cover with a tea towel and if your kitchen is cool keep it out, but if it's warm put it in the bottom of the fridge. Leave dough to rise for at least 6 hrs or until doubled in size.
• When ready to cook, bring the dough to room temperature. Heat the oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Dust 2-4 baking sheets with semolina. Dust the work surface with flour, then divide the dough into 2 or 4 pieces. Knead each piece on the floured surface, incorporating enough flour to stop the dough being sticky.
• Roll each piece into a pizza shape and lift onto baking sheets. Leave to rise for 10 mins while you sort toppings (see ideas, below). Top the bases with your chosen ingredients, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and bake following the timings for each topping (18 mins for a large pizza or 12 mins for an individual) or until the crust is crisp and the topping is bubbling.

EASY AND AWESOME PIZZA BASE RECIPE

Steps:

• Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water and leave for 5 minutes.
• While waiting, sift the flour into your mixing bowl. Add the salt & oil.
• Once a foam has formed on the yeasty water pour it in and start mixing. Add more water as required (varies depending on climate, humidity etc.) until the dough feels like a young woman's breast. I was taught this by a baker many years ago and while it sounds rude, it really is the easiest way to describe how a good dough should feel. Now clean your mixing bowl.
• This next part, while not vital, does make a noticeable difference. Rub oil around the surface of the dough, put it in your clean mixing bowl and stick it in the fridge. Leave it there for as long as possible (24 hours is best but 6 hours is ok). If you don't have time for the fridge don't stress - just skip it and move on.
• If you used the fridge you will have noticed your dough rose, albeit slowly. Take your dough out of the fridge and let it rise some more.
• Once risen pound the crap out of it to flatten it again but don't knead it too much. Cut your dough into 3 or 4 balls, roll them flat, fold them up and roll them again. This creates air pockets which expand giving your base the authentic 5 star Italian wood-fired look and feel in the comfort of your own home. If the dough begins to feel tough while you're working it, let it rest for 5 minutes. It's just the gluten tightening up and resting it relaxes it.
• Top your bases and cook for 10 minutes or so. If you make thicker bases it often pays to partly cook the base for 5 min then top and bake again.
• Enjoy!

ZUCCHINI CRUSTED PIZZA BASE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Generously oil a 10 inch pie pan and coat lightly with flour.
• Combine zucchini, eggs, flour, mozzarella, parmesan, herbs and 1 T olive oil in a bowl and mix well.
• Spread into the prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minues or until golden brown.
• About halfway through the baking, brush with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil[optional].
• Remove from oven.
• When it has cooled for about 10 minues, use a spatula to loosen the crust from the pan so it won't break later.
• Top with your favourite pizza items and bake at 400 F until heated through.

EASY LOW CARB PIZZA SAUCE (AND PASTA SAUCE BASE)

Steps:

• 1. Place tomato paste in a small mixing bowl. Add water, using some of the water to rinse the last of the paste out of the cans. Stir well. (I whisk it with a fork.).
• 2. Add seasonings and stir again. You will have a very thick pizza sauce; add more water if you like a thinner sauce.
• 3. Refrigerate leftovers up to one week; freeze for up to a year.

THIN BASE PIZZA DOUGH

Steps:

• Combine both flours together.
• Put 225g of combined flours in a large mixing bowl and keep the remaining aside.
• Stir in the sugar, yeast and salt.
• Combine the oil and water.
• Make a well in the combined mix and slowly add the combined water and oil whilst stirring with a wooden spoon.
• Mix in remaining flour until it comes together as a ball and is smooth and elastic.
• Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5-10 mins until smooth.
• Place dough in lightly oiled bowl and cover with a paper towel.
• Set aside in warm spot for 1 1/2 to 3 hours until almost doubled in volume diveded into 3 and shape into very thin circular shape about 12ins diameter

EASY PIZZA BASE - NO NEED TO PROVE

Steps:

• Combine the yeast, flour, sugar & salt in a bowl.
• Add water & oil.
• Mix with a metal spoon until dough comes together.
• Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 - 7 minutes or until elastic.
• Roll out to 3/4 cm thick.
• Bake in a 220 degree celcius fan forced oven for 10-12 minutes.
• Note: You can brush the base with a little garlic oil if you are going to bake the base first before putting your pizza ingredients on (this gives a crispier base).
• Alternatively you can load your pizza toppings on the unbaked base, which will give you a lovely softer pizza base.

YUM ITALIAN PIZZA BASE

Steps:

• Make sure that the room where the dough will be prepared is warm. In the winter, a temperature of about 22ºC and in the summer time, where the temperature in the house could be higher, reduce the quantity of yeast.
• As a first step, activate the yeast. Take 150 ml of warm water and put it into a jug. Add the granulated yeast and the sugar and give a stir. Cover the jug with a cloth and wait for 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, put the flour into a large bowl and sprinkle with sea salt. Stir so to evenly distribute the salt within the flour.
• After 15 minutes, you should have a frothy layer inside the jug. Give another stir.
• tart gently stirring the flour and at the same time pour the contents of the jug into the bowl.
• Add the remaining 150 ml of warm water into the bowl and keep stirring so that all the flour is wet.
• Add the extra virgin olive oil. Give a good stir so that all the ingredients are well mixed together.
• Pour the bowl contents onto the working surface and start to work the dough energetically. Press, extend forward and roll backwards for 10 minutes. The dough should become smooth and elastic and you should have the feeling that it is sweating.
• Coat the dough ball with flour and prepare it for the rising.
• For the rising, you can either put the dough ball into a large bowl or leaving the dough ball onto the working surface. In both cases spread some flour onto the bottom where you will lay the ball dough, so that it will not stick. Then, cover the ball dough with a cloth and leave it in a warm room for a couple of hours or until it doubles in size.
• Spread some flour onto the working surface. Take the risen dough and work it again for a couple of minutes. Then, divide the dough in five parts and make a small ball of each part.
• Take the rolling pin and start rolling so that you can make a large circle, to suit a 30 cm diameter pizza tray.
• The pizza base should be very thin; a couple of millimetres thick.
• Spread some flour onto the pizza tray and then lay the pizza base onto the tray. Top with pizza toppings as you like.
• Set the oven at the maximum temperature (usually 240ºC - gas mark 9) and pre-heat it properly. If the oven is at the right temperature and your pizza is thin, it should take about 8-10 minutes to cook. Fan assisted ovens may require a different cooking time. After 5 minutes cooking, checking the pizza frequently is a good idea and when the border starts to become golden brown, it is probably the right time to take the pizza out of the oven.

PLAIN PIZZA BASE

Steps:

• Find a deep and wide mixing bowl, [Try not to do it on a flat surface such as counter top as it takes more time and can be quite messy. I usually use a wok as i have one:)] Add in the flour.
• Add in yeast and just mix it lightly with the flour.
• Add in water. To be on the safe side, do not add all, always leave a little in the cup and add more if necessary. Mix the mixture with hand until you knead it to a dough that does not stick to your hand.
• Add the olive oil at this stage. You may substitute this with butter or margarine. It's to give the dough its nice golden brown colour when baked. Knead it for a minute.
• Add the salt. It should be 1 flat teaspoon not heap. Knead it for 2 to 5 minutes.
• You may also add ingredients at this stage such as rosemary, basil, cajun spice, etc and made it your unique pizza base.
• Divide and roll to your desired thickness and size. Dust the working surface well with flour. Cover the unused portion to avoid drying out. [If you want to save the dough, divide and roll it tight as a ball, the wrap it with clear plastic film. Keep it in the freezer. I keep them for maximum 2 weeks. Before using it, let it thaw for 30min to an hour, It might get a bit sticky as it has all those water condension. Add a bit of flour and roll your dough.]
• Preheat the oven to 250 degree celcius.
• Add your favourite ingredients and put in the oven to bake at 220 degree celcius for 10 minutes.

BETTY'S 10 MINUTE PIZZA BASE

Steps:

• 1. In a large bowl mix everything together. Remove from the bowl and knead on your bench dusted with flour until it comes together and is "glossy" - that should take about 3-5 minutes.
• 2. Pop the kneaded dough back into the bowl, cover with a warmed tea towel (sprinkle with a little water and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds). Place the bowl in a warm area of your house and let rise for 10 minutes.
• 3. After 10 minutes, use as a pizza base, calzone or even foccacia bread. Bake at 400oF/200oC for 15-20 minutes.

PIZZA BASE (GLUTEN FREE)

Steps:

• Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F.
• Mix together the yeast, sugar and water. Set to one side to allow the yeast to 'activate.'.
• Gently mix together the flours, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt.
• With an electric mixer, on its lowest setting, mix the egg and oil into the yeast mixture.
• Gently, add halt the flour mixture and combine and then add the other half of the flour, but mix this in with a wooden spoon.
• Pour the mixture into a greased baking sheet or pizza tray.
• Allow Pizza dough to rise in a warm place for 10 minutes. (80-100 degrees F).
• Add sauce and toppings and bake for 25-30 minutes.

HARRY'S ITALIAN STYLE PIZZA BASE (DOUGH)

Steps:

• Mix flour and salt in a very large bowl.
• Add sugar and salt to warm water in a separate bowl. (Leave to grow a head, about 15 minutes.).
• Make a well in flour mixture. Pour in oil then yeast water.
• Mix gently by hand until combined. Should be a sticky texture. Slowly add extra warm water by the spoonful if not sticky.
• Leave dough to rise, about 40 minutes in a warm place until it has doubled in size.
• Punch mixture to reduce size and turn dough over. Leave to rise again, about 40 minutes or until dough has doubled in size.
• Pour dough onto chopping board, gently knead to combine, then divide into 3 equal portions (about 450g each.).
• Dough can be rolled out for pizza using extra flour to prevent sticking or frozen in portion sizes for later.
• NOTE: Dough freezes well however it changes flavor and takes on a slight sour dough taste. My family actually prefers the taste of frozen dough over freshly made however both are delicious.

PIZZA BASE

Steps:

• Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 7/220C
• Measure tepid water in a jug, and add the fresh/dried yeast, stir briskly with a fork to fully disolve.
• Mix the flour and salt in a mixing bowl, rub in margerine/butter.
• Add the yeast liquid and mix to a soft elastic dough, add more tepid water if necassary.
• Kneed thoroughly for 5 minutes until smooth and warm. This is a double batch and half can be frozen at this stage for use later, or leave in a bowl until you are ready to use later.
• Cover dough with oiled polythene and put to rise somewhere warm, but NOT hot, until dough has doubled in size. E.g. airing cupboard.
• Get the dough out and roll out into a large circle and place on a well greased baking tray.
• Spread the drained and chopped tomatoes over the dough, add seasoning and herbs.
• Cover with cheese, grated, sliced or diced. Then cover with your choice of toppings
• Bake for aproximatly 30 minuits, until the base has cooked.

PIZZA BASE FOR THE BREAD MAKER

Steps:

• Measure all the ingredients into the pan of the bread maker - the order given will give the best results.
• Run the machine on the dough only cycle.
• Press down to deflate slightly and rest for 30 minutes and heat the oven up with a heavy flat tray or pizza stone on the lowest rack.
• Spread/stretch/roll out to fit your pizza pan.
• Top with your favorite toppings.
• Place into your hot oven, still in the pizza pan, on top of the hot tray and bake at 220C for 15-20 minutes.