Pizza Base

Potential-Monke

I've searched, but not found my specific situation!

Basically, want to make a non-yeast pizza base, but I don't think I have everything I need. I'm going by this recipe:

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,2341,157183-233201,00.html

I'm using that one because I think I have all the ingredients and don't have to go out in this fantastic weather to get anything... (don't have yeast or semolina)

It's calling for baking powder, and I'm not sure I have that, but I do have baking soda. Same thing? (different sites givibg different answers!)

Also, plain or self-raising flour?

Any help is very welcome! Cheers.

NB: I can't cook/bake, this is a furst attempt.

Seaneh

Americals usually use "All purpose" flour unless stated in a recipe, which is plain flour.

Self raising flour has the salt and rasising agent already in the mix, so I'd assume the flour in the recipe above is for plain as it includes salt and bakign powder in the recipe.

huskerdu

Potential-Monke wrote: »

I've searched, but not found my specific situation!

Basically, want to make a non-yeast pizza base, but I don't think I have everything I need. I'm going by this recipe:

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,2341,157183-233201,00.html

I'm using that one because I think I have all the ingredients and don't have to go out in this fantastic weather to get anything... (don't have yeast or semolina)

It's calling for baking powder, and I'm not sure I have that, but I do have baking soda. Same thing? (different sites givibg different answers!)

Also, plain or self-raising flour?

Any help is very welcome! Cheers.

NB: I can't cook/bake, this is a furst attempt.

Unless it says otherwise, use plain flour.

Baking soda and baking power are not the same thing.

Baking soda is an alkaline, Baking powder is a mixture of acid and alkaline.
Mixing the acid and alkaline together and adding moisture and heat causes a chemical reaction which produces bubble of CO2 which makes the mixture light.

Baking soda on its own will not do this. You need to add an acid - tartaric acid, buttermilk or lemon juice are common.

A scone mixture with buttermilk and baking soda but with no sugar is nice for a pizza base.


Here is one recipe you could try. If you have no buttermilk, add fresh lemon juice to milk and leave it for 5 minutes to go lumpy.

http://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/food/recipes/2012/0228/3027-homemade-soda-bread-pizza/

Boskowski

Why do you want to make non yeast pizza base? Are you allergic or do you find yeast hard to get?

I find bakers or Supermarkets will sell you yeast when you ask nicely, sometimes they even give it to me for free.

And don't bother with seminola and lemon and all that stuff. The more fancy you go with pizza ingredients the worse the pizza gets. Pizza is a simple and cheap dish from few cheap ingredients and thats the way it tastes best.

Just take water and cream flour at a little more than 1:2, say 300g flour and 175ml of water for two healthy pizzas.
Salt the flour first, about half a teaspoon for the above amount of flour. Mix with a whisker.
Use lukewarm water and dissolve the fresh yeast in it before mixing with the flour. Not much yeast needed at all, maybe the size of a biggish olive.

Just poor the water over the flour and mix/knead. I usually start off with an electric kneader (cos I'm lazy) and finish off working it briefly through with my hands cos the electric yoke tends to make it a little crumbly. If you have no electric yoke just use your hands,
If the dough seems a little dry wet your hands and go at it again. Be careful about pouring more water over it. It easily gets too runny.

The texture should be not so dry that working the dough is hard and the stuff is crumbly and not so runny that dough sticks to your hands much. You could call it 'gooey' I guess.

After that put the dough ball in bowl, cover the bowl with a wet/damp cloth and put into a warmish place for at least 30 mins. Ideal is right behind a sunlit window in the summer. Oven even at the lowest setting is too hot. Hotpress would work too I guess.
Once the dough has risen you may knead it through again and put it back for another 30 mins but its not strictly necessary.

Sprinkle flour over your workplate and roller. Then roll it out and roll it out thin.

You will not get a better pizza dough. And since I'm on a roll (pardon) I will let you know two more secrets to a great homemade pizza.

1) Our ovens aren't hot enough. So what you do is you preheat the oven to the max (usually 220˚-230˚) and shove the pizza in as high up as you possibly can - topmost slot - so that the pizza gets all the heat from underneath. And in total you bake it about 10-12 minutes and for the first 5-6 minutes you bake it just with the tomato sauce on it. Then take it out put your toppings on it quickly and put it back in for the second half.

Pizza usually bakes for just 3-5 minutes in around 350˚. Our ovens cant do this kind of temperature so you have to bake for longer, 10 minutes or a little longer even. But over 12 minutes you'd burn the cheese (Lidl grated mozzarella is perfect) and the salami and whatnot. So for a really good pizza the above trick is essential.

2) As with the dough cheap and simple is best with the tomato sauce. Open a can of tinned plum tomatoes and pour into a jug. Put in half a teaspoon of salt, quarter of a teaspoon of ground pepper, one small glove of garlic, half a teaspoon dried basil or oregano (of course fresh is better but no biggie). Blend. Done.

I believe this is the traditional Napoletean tomato sauce and I have to taste a better one yet.

Baking time varies a little depending on how thin you like your base. I like it thin and 10 minutes is nearly enough. As with all recipes it may take you 2 or 3 times to get a feel and perfect it.

Let me know how you like it.