Step-By-Step, Great Pizza Dough.
12 January 2012 in Italian Food
Over the years I’ve tried various recipes for pizza dough, some have been moderately successful and others downright disgusting, so I confess that I felt no guilt about lobbing various toppings onto Woolies bases. Then at Christmas my daughter-in-law was raving about the wonderful thin based pizza’s she’s been making and so I thought I’d give it a go. I’ve no idea where she got the recipe, but it’s not difficult to make and I was very happy with the results.
15ml dry yeast (1 sachet)
5 ml sugar
250ml lukewarm water
375g flour ( I used bread flour)
5ml salt
15ml oil
Place the yeast, sugar and water in a bowl and stir, put in a warm place for about 5 minutes until it rises like this….
In a good sized bowl put the flour and the salt, make a well in the centre, add the oil followed by the yeast mixture. Using your floured hands mix until you form a dough.
Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic which should take you about 5 minutes.
Split the dough into 6 equal sized balls.
Place on a lightly floured tray under a clean damp cloth and leave in a warm place until the balls have doubled in size (it should take about half an hour)
On a floured surface roll each ball into a round and place on your pan/tray, mine is 30cm in diameter.
I make my tomato base using a tin of Italian tomatoes in thick sauce, which I chop up. Fry half an onion add the tomatoes, a little sugar, fresh basil and seasoning. (Italian dried herbs also work well) and simmer for 5/10 minutes.
I made two pizza’s one with pancetta, mushrooms, green pepper, cheddar and blue cheese ( I was all out of mozzarella) The second one was salami, banana, cheddar and parmesan cheese.
I only used 2 balls, the rest I put in the freezer individually wrapped. I have since used two and once thawed, they roll perfectly and taste great.
Chef Caro said on 12 January 2012
What a fantastic post Sous *licking my lips and salivating madly*.
Sous Chef said on 12 January 2012
Thanks very much Caro, I won’t be buying Woolies bases in the future.
Baglady said on 12 January 2012
Very nice and looking pretty.
Sous Chef said on 12 January 2012
Thank you, we all enjoyed them.
Oldbat said on 12 January 2012
Yum – it’s amazing just how nice homemade pizza is – sadly doing them for the whole family is a right pain, so they don’t get them very often
Sous Chef said on 12 January 2012
I agree, it’s easy for me because there is usually just the two of us. Thanks for visiting.
wildie said on 12 January 2012
Hoping to be able to say hi
Hot enough up the hill? Glowing gallons down here 
Sous Chef said on 12 January 2012
Howsit! I have been wallowing like a whale in my blow-up pool all afternoon, damn it’s been hot. Hope you are well.
Healthy Vegetarian Foods By Usha Singh said on 12 January 2012
These look amazing and the recipe seems simple enough. I am one of those loyal Woolies pizza base shoppers, but no more thanks Sous
Sous Chef said on 12 January 2012
Try it and let me know what you think, we like thin crusts and it worked for us.
Hopestar said on 13 January 2012
Thanks so much for this recipe SC
Going to copy and save.
And yay! I can comment:)
*hugs*
Debbie said on 13 January 2012
Yummy looking pizzas.
One of our local 7-11s sells bags of dough for R6…makes 3 trays of pizza….so I dont bother making my own dough.They also have brown wheat dough
Zodwa said on 13 January 2012
Hi there – Hoping to get in touch with you quite urgently regarding a foodie piece we’re working on? Please could you mail me on zodwa.valentine@newmediapub.co.za?
Sous Chef said on 13 January 2012
Hi Zodwa, I’ve sent you an email.
kirkee said on 16 January 2012
How many degrees must the oven be and for how long must they be backed and do you pre bake the dough (blind bake) before and then add filling then bake further? Or is this for wood fired pizza/ Thanks
Sous Chef said on 16 January 2012
Your oven must be on it’s highest temperature and you bake the pizza for 10/15 minutes depending on your oven, keep checking it. I do not pre bake the bases.
Nas5627 said on 2 May 2012
Hi, I need to only make 2 pizzas, is it advisable to freeze the other dough and use it when I need to?
Sous Chef said on 2 May 2012
Hi there, yes, I would suggest you freeze it in balls and roll out once defrosted rather than rolling out and then freezing.
Nas5627 said on 2 May 2012
thanks
robert mackie said on 18 May 2012
this is the best pizza dough i’ve came across,my wife and i just love it
Sous Chef said on 18 May 2012
Hi Robert, I am so pleased you like it and thank you for taking the time to comment, much appreciated.
Seeta Kaur said on 1 March 2013
Trying your recipe and have to agree this is the best pizza dough i tried, everyone loved it at home, thank you for sharing this
Sous Chef said on 1 March 2013
I am delighted that you and your family enjoyed your pizza and thank you for taking the time to give me some feed-back, I really appreciate it.