Pizza is one of the most popular dishes in the world. Perhaps it is not so easy to find a person who would not like pizza. In fact, it is nothing more than a hot sandwich, the test base of which is baked with the filling (“topping”) placed on it, made up of different products.
Pizza preparation technology provides that a variety of doughs can be used in the cooking process. The main thing is that it is in harmony with the selected contents of the dish. The choice and preparation of pizza dough, as well as the toppings, always depends on the culinary's own taste and the availability of necessary products. The unlimited breadth of choice of possible ingredients provides scope for culinary creativity, allowing you to cook an infinite number of a variety of pizzas for every taste. This explains the enormous popularity of pizza throughout the world.
Story
There is a legend that the first recipe and technology for making pizza was distributed by Roman legionnaires returning from Palestine. The dish was called "picea" and was a piece of unleavened bread with various vegetables laid out on it. Other sources claim that the Romans modified the Greek placunthos. Among other things, cheese was added to it.
The historian Cato the Elder mentions in his works that pizza - “a flat circle of dough greased with olive oil” - was baked by the Romans on hot stones, covered with honey and herbs. Over the past centuries, pizza cooking technology has not changed much. It still requires a special approach, although it cooks the dish quickly enough.
Pizza today: pastry
There are so many recipes for this popular dish. Today, specialists use the traditional technology of making pizza dough. The whole variety of recipes is based on two main methods of preparing the base - yeast and yeast-free.
Italian pizza: dough cooking technology. Cooking yeast base
This recipe is a classic. To master it, no special skills are needed; the set of ingredients is also quite accessible and simple. Pizza manufacturing technology provides for the use of:
- Wheat or bread flour - the gluten contained in it gives the dough elasticity and the ability to rise.
- Dry yeast. They should be diluted with warm water in a bowl, which is recommended to be preheated.
- Eggs Their number depends on the personal preferences of the hostess.
- Sugar, salt and olive oil.
Cooking features
Yeast dough is usually kneading by hand. It should not be rolled out immediately - about half an hour, you must wait until the product rises. It is recommended to cover the mixed dough with a damp towel and place in a dark warm place. The rolled dough is seasoned with tomato sauce, the filling is laid out on it, which is sprinkled with chopped greens on top.
Tips
Experienced housewives recommend preparing pizza dough for one and a half to two hours before baking - it takes time to rise. When used for baking treats of a round form, it is necessary to carefully lubricate it with vegetable oil and sprinkle with semolina. So pizza will be easier to take out of shape. Before installing the form with pizza in the oven, it is recommended to put it in a warm place for 15 minutes. To get a delicious crust on the surface of the dough, experts recommend first putting the dough without filling in the preheated oven.In this way, the special taste of pizza is achieved.
Cooking according to the cooking technology (the number of ingredients and the sequence of actions must exactly comply with the instructions) guarantees a successful result. The thickness of the dough depends on how it is rolled.
Pizza Technology: A Yeast-Free Recipe
Use:
- wheat or bread flour (you can add semolina or corn grits for sprinkling);
- eggs - to ensure viscosity and better rolling;
- margarine or plum. butter, kefir, milk, sour cream or cream;
- olive oil, salt and sugar.
Stages
All products should be kneaded, many housewives recommend using a mixer for this. Roll out the dough immediately. You can cook it:
- In the pan. For this, rolled dough is laid out on a heated pan with hot vegetable oil. The filling is placed on top. The hostess recommends to cover with a lid. In order for pizza to bake evenly, the fire should be kept to a minimum. The undoubted advantage of cooking in a pan is a minimum of time costs: the process takes about 15 minutes.
- In the oven. Thin pizza baked in the oven is similar to yeast. Cooking time is reduced. A base made from yeast-free dough is baked in half an hour.
- In the steam bath. This method is used to prepare diet pizza for people who should not eat baked and fried foods.
About cooking secrets
Experts believe that the main thing in pizza is a tortilla. Many prefer pizza with thin crust. But recently, a dish made on a thick dough has become increasingly in demand. The cake must be crispy and soft so that it can be folded freely, without damaging the crust. When preparing pizza dough, olive oil is used. It contributes to better absorption of high-calorie dishes.
The taste of pizza, as noted by gourmets, should not be monotonous, while eating the product, the taste experience should change (from cheese to tomato, then to spicy, olive, etc.). The taste of the ingredients is interrupted by nothing in pizza. All the ingredients of the filling should be absolutely fresh, this factor is important for shaping the taste of the dish.
To prepare the classic pizza dough, special whole grain flour, yeast, olive oil, salt and water are used. The dough is usually kneaded by hands, after proofing it is rolled out in a thin layer. Then it should be covered with tomato sauce, after which add almost any toppings.
Pizza baking is recommended to be made in a special oven, where the temperature is maintained at least 350 degrees. For baking classic pizza, they use a special wood-burning stove (the so-called Pompeii), characterized by a hemispherical arch shape. In addition, the dish is prepared in convection and hearth ovens.
Pizza recipe Margarita
Today, a great variety of pizza recipes are known. In a modern kitchen, a variety of ingredients are laid out on a dough cake - from vegetable and fruit to rare delicacies. To make Margarita pizza - one of the most famous dish options - use:
- flour - 400 g;
- warm water - 350 ml;
- yeast (dry) - 15 g;
- olive oil - 50 ml;
- sugar - 1 tbsp. l .;
- salt - 1 tsp;
- tomato sauce - 150 ml;
- mozzarella cheese - 200 g;
- Parmesan cheese - 70 g;
- olive oil - 2 tbsp. l .;
- Basilica - 2 stalks.
Cooking
Pour water into a large bowl, add yeast and leave for 5 minutes. After the mixture begins to foam, sugar, butter and salt are added. Constantly whisking the mixture with a whisk, gradually pour the flour until a sticky dough is formed. Leave the dough for 1 hour. The bowl should be covered with cling film.After the dough rises, it is laid out on a work surface, sprinkled with flour, and begins to knead until its surface becomes smooth.
Next, the dough should be rolled out and put on a baking sheet, which is pre-lubricated with olive oil. The oven is heated to 250 degrees. Mozzarella is cut into small cubes, parmesan is grated. Tomato sauce is distributed on the surface of the dough, cheese is spread on top, decorated with basil leaves. Do not forget to sprinkle the product with olive oil. Bake pizza in the oven.
The traditional classic pizza is cut with a special knife before use (into pieces in the number: 4, 6, 8, etc.). They eat pizza with their hands.
Main course in Italian restaurant
The menu of every self-respecting institution specializing in Italian cuisine, necessarily includes a diverse selection of pizzas. A full-fledged pizzeria is a special object of the food industry, which in a certain sense can not compete with other restaurants and cafes. The establishments, on the menu of which pizza is presented, unlike the classic pizzerias, has a minimal set of special equipment, a significant part of which is replaced by manual labor. But, although they say that the best equipment for pizza is the soul and hands of a master, without equipping an institution with high-quality professional equipment, it is unlikely that they will be able to accurately observe all the subtleties of pizza production technology.
Pizzeria equipment and production stages
The technology for preparing pizza in a pizzeria involves the separation of the process into two stages: the production of semi-finished products (topping, i.e., toppings and dough pieces) and baking of finished products. The equipment of the working area (pizza pizza) in the restaurant is usually represented by a minimal set of equipment (flour sifter, dough mixer (dough mixer), proofer, vegetable slicer, slicer, stove for making sauces and a special oven. The flour sifter is used to clean flour from foreign particles and impurities, as well as for its enrichment with oxygen, necessary to increase the intensity of the dough fermentation process.
The dough mixing machine equipped with a spiral working body provides the optimal structure of the dough with a short kneading time. Proofing cabinet provides proofing of yeast dough.
A fairly common opinion is that hand-made dough is the best. But experts argue that the preparation of the dough in a dough mixer allows you to avoid overheating and achieve greater uniformity of kneading.
When choosing a kneading machine, the owner of a pizzeria should first of all pay attention to the level of productivity and capacity of the bowl. These parameters are directly dependent on the planned production volumes. After the batch is made, the dough is divided into equal parts and kneading into cakes. When forming a pizza crust in pizza establishments, manual labor is traditionally used. It is believed that a pizza show demonstration is attractive to customers. But the organization of large-scale in-line production involves the use of such an aggregate as a test press.
Pizza ovens
Creating a quality product is impossible without the use of a professional pizza oven. Its main feature is the presence of a special stone surface that prevents the burning of dishes, and ensuring stable maintenance of high temperatures.
Pizza ovens are divided into 3 main types:
- wood (so-called Pompeii, using firewood and fuel briquettes);
- hearth (Spanish gas or electricity);
- conveyor belts (Spanish convection heating).
According to professionals, the pizza baking process can be equally successful using both electricity and gas (although this option is considered more complicated and problematic with the so-called certification).
A great option to get the perfect baking taste are wood stoves. In ancient times, pizza was baked on fires, using charcoal. Over time, they were upgraded to stone wood-burning stoves. The use of such stoves is associated with many financial costs and additional problems (installing ventilation, obtaining permits, etc.) Therefore, they usually try to install them in restaurants located outside the city. In institutions located in the city (the first floors of residential buildings, offices, shopping centers), experts recommend installing static hearth furnaces (gas or electric). Their design simulates baking processes in real Italian wood-burning stoves (the temperature in them reaches +500 degrees).
What is a hearth pizza oven?
This installation is an economical version of a wood stove using the energy of electricity or gas. Its name is associated with the presence inside the ceramic hearth, which is an analogue of the hearth in wood stoves. The principle of operation of the equipment is as follows: due to the action of tubular heating elements installed in the upper and lower parts of the working chamber, its temperature is brought to the required level.
On the floor of the oven is equipped with a ceramic under, designed for making pizza. Baking is done directly on the surface of the hearth or in special forms that are installed on it.
Classification
Hearth furnaces are classified according to the following criteria:
1. Capacity:
- Small. 2-4 pizzas are made at a time, the diameter of which is up to 35 cm.
- Medium (for 6-10 pizzas, d = 35 cm).
- Large (for 12 pizzas, d = 35 cm).
2. Number of levels:
- single-level;
- two-level;
- three-level;
3. Power Type:
- gas powered;
- electric.
Cooking pizza in a hearth oven
The technology of baking pizza in a hearth oven implies that the heating in the oven for making real Italian pizza on a thin basis and with a minimum amount of filling must reach more than 300 degrees. Only in this case the product will be elastic and will differ in the presence of a crisp. Ovens equipped with a ceramic or stone hearth, providing the ability to adjust the temperature of the lower and upper and surfaces, are the most successful option for baking such pizzas. For a long time, a rather high temperature level is maintained in their chambers.
Using a thermostat, the heating of the furnace is set to the desired temperature (from 250 degrees). Pizza is pre-cooked, laid in a special form or laid directly on the oven. It takes about 6-8 minutes to cook.