6 Steps To Making A Perfect Italian Pizza
If you want to make the perfect Italian pizza, you will need to know a few tricks to create a pizza that tastes authentic.
Add Salt After Kneading the Dough
When making pizza dough, you shouldn't mix the yeast and salt together. Instead, you are going to want to mix all the dry ingredients except the salt. The salt should actually be added to the dough after it has been mixed and kneaded together. That is because salt and yeast do not mix and should not be put together until the dough is kneaded.
Add Olive Oil Last
After you have kneaded the dough and added the salt, then it is time to add the olive oil. If you add the olive oil too early, the flour will not properly absorb the yeast. This will result in the dough not rising correctly. It should be the last ingredient that you add to the dough when making a thin Italian crust.
Reduce the Yeast
If you follow the directions on most yeast packages, you will add the entire packet of yeast into the flour. However, you don't need that much yeast for a pizza. If you use the whole packet, you will end up with a pizza that tastes overwhelming like yeast. If you cut down on the yeast, your pizza dough will turn out much better, and it will taste better as well. A really good crust only needs a very small amount of yeast.
Prepare in Advance
The best pizza places don't prepare your dough right before they cook your pizza. They prepare the dough hours in advance, allowing the dough to rest and rise. This creates a dough that smells and tastes amazing and has more complexity to it.
Use Mozzarella Cheese
If you want an authentic pizza, you need to use the right cheese on your pizza. You are going to want to use real mozzarella cheese on your pizza. This is what an authentic Italian pizza needs to taste great. Don't use a low-fat version – go for the real thing!
Use Homemade Tomato Sauce
Don't use a canned jar of pizza sauce. Instead, make your own sauce. You can make a great sauce using canned tomatoes, salt, oregano, and basil that will taste amazing and much fresher than a jar of pizza sauce.
If you want the perfect Italian pizza, your best bet is to head to an Italian restaurant with a real wood stove. This will produce a crispy, thin-crust pizza with the cheese melted just right.