The perfect pepperoni pizza

 

For years I have been trying to find that perfect pizza dough recipe. I prefer a thin crust with a slight chew. While searching through YouTube I came across this recipe by Laura in the Kitchen. I finally found a winner!.

I usually make half of her recipe and it gives me 2  medium pizzas, sometimes I have used the dough to make calzones even for my son's school lunch. The only addition I have used in the recipe is olive oil and fine table salt.

She also gave a few tips on how to create that nice crust that you get from pizzerias, since I didn't have a pizza stone, I followed the next tip by inverting my baking tray so the pizza dough sat on the bottom of the tray like this...see photo below. I use baking paper for easy transfer of the pizza.

The recipe was slightly adjusted from the How to Make a restaurant-style pizza recipe by Laura in the kitchen.

Recipe: The perfect pepperoni pizza

Makes 2 pizza

For the dough

• 2 cups plain flour  plus extra for dusting
• 1 tsp instant yeast
• 1/2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp fine table salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• about 1 cup tepid water ( slightly warm, just warm to the touch or you will kill the yeast)

Topping: 

• about 1/2 cup tomato pizza sauce (homemade or store-bought if store-bought check note below) or you can use my sneaky mum's tomato sauce to get some vegetables into the kids.
• 150g pepperoni 
•  Grated Pizza cheese mix or mozzarella cheese grated.
• Chilli flakes and dried oregano to sprinkle on top

To make the dough

1. Sift flour into a bowl, add sugar and salt and mix. Then add the yeast ( if using active dry, the ones found in those little tins, you will need to mix it into the required amount of water along with the sugar used and leave to bubble for 10 minutes). 
2. Now make a well in the centre, and add the oil and water, mixing in as you go. The mixture will be slightly wet, know lightly flour the surface and knead to a nice soft slightly tacky dough. meaning a little sticky, so don't use too much flour when kneading, if too sticky oil your hands and work surface and knead.
3. Rub some oil in a clean bowl, on the dough and place it in the oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with cling film and a towel, and then leave in a warm place in the kitchen for an hour or two till doubles in size.
4. Punch the dough in after it has risen, and divide it into two equal portions. Tuck each ball in and shape them into nice balls. Leave on a lightly floured surface oil them lightly, and cover in cling film for another 20 minutes outside and about 20 minutes in the fridge.
5. Preheat the oven to the highest setting. Turn the baking tray upside down on the bottom shelf of the oven.  
6. Now take the dough out from the fridge,  it would have risen by now let it come to room temperature and gently flatten it with your hands stretching it as you go. Do this on a small sheet of baking paper. Don't use a rolling pin. it will stretch nicely even by hand.  Shape to about 10-inch  round base, top with tomato sauce, then cheese, arrange half the pepperoni on top, and another little sprinkle of cheese. Then season with a pinch of chilli flakes and oregano.
7. Pop the pizza, with the baking paper underneath it for easy transfer, into the oven, and bake for 10 to 15 minutes until the cheese is lightly golden and the crust nice and golden brown.

Note :

If using store-bought pizza sauce, stir in 1 fat clove of garlic, grated, 1/2 tsp of dried herbs or dried oregano, and some chilli flakes into about 1/3 of the sauce. You can also use tomato paste instead of pizza sauce.