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My obsession with homemade pizza… and food Tiktok!

How I make the dough with perfect chewy texture every time

pizza dough recipe
Homemade pizza with salami Napoli, mozzarella and fresh basil leaves

This pizza dough recipe has become a staple in our kitchen. After watching endless YouTube videos, I finally found a recipe that works for me.

It works because it comes out with the perfect chewy texture each time, the longer you keep it in the fridge fermenting, the better it tastes, and the dough is not difficult to work on. You will find high-hydration doughs (wet doughs) on YouTube and they always say it gives the perfect texture, but I’d leave it to the pizzaiolos. I’m telling you, those high-hydration doughs are difficult to handle. I’m sure it tastes great, but I prefer easy food preparation that tastes just as good. After all, they say that the food tastes better when you put love into it. How can I put love into it when I’m sweating over shaping the dough? I am simply not the most patient cook.

BEST FLOUR FOR PIZZA DOUGH

What makes the best possible homemade pizza dough recipe? Using great flour. I use a mix of Tipo 00 flour and unbleached all-purpose flour.  Tipo 00 is a finely ground Italian flour that you can order online. Professional pizzerias use this type of flour which makes for a chewy and fluffy texture.

DO YOU NEED ANY SPECIAL PIZZA EQUIPMENT?

Contrary to what I’ve read and watched online, I didn’t need any special equipment and extra gadgets in making my pizza. Well, except for my trusty stand mixer that I use for kneading—but you can knead pizza dough by hand. I find that my dark aluminium pan did its job even without a pizza stone. I simply cranked up the oven to the highest temperature with convection setting. (Though this doesn’t stop me from dreaming of having an Ooni Koda 16 pizza oven.)

KNEADING AND PROOFING TIME

I use the stand mixer and mix it for a good 8 minutes, then shape them into balls and allow the dough to rise or ‘proof’ for 45 minutes. That means you should start making pizza an hour before you plan to eat it, or make it in advance and refrigerate the dough. Let it come to room temperature before stretching and shaping.

I also make stretching and shaping a breeze. You can stretch by throwing them into the air but like I said, and as you’ll see in my future recipe posts, I prefer the easy way. From the container, I dump the dough straight onto the pan, pat it into a circle, and stretch it directly in the pan with my hands. (Please don’t use rolling pin and blow out all the bubbles that formed during fermentation. Those bubbles create an airy pizza crust.)

I haven’t had time to make a YouTube video tutorial so I’m attaching a Tiktok video—and that’s how my obsession with the platform started. Believe me, I will not be caught dead dancing in front of a camera and posting it on Tiktok. That’s what I thought the platform was all about at first.  My millennial friend got me into it. He said there are food videos. And sure enough, it was enough to get me hooked.

HOW TIKTOK WORKS IN A NUTSHELL (AT LEAST IN MY UNDERSTANDING)

You can be a ‘digital creator’ overnight, even with no video editing skills, because Tiktok video editor does all the work for you. You simply upload several videos, then choose a music, and the built-in editor auto-syncs the music and videos for you.

Tiktok’s algorithm is pretty impressive. You engage with a few videos at the start and its stalker-like technology feeds you with more videos that you initially engaged with. So now my video feeds are all puppies and food. The more you engage, more of the same content gets fed to you. It’s genius, and it’s no wonder people can spend an average of four hours each day on it.

What do you think of Tiktok?

 

@thekitchendiaristHomemade pizza dough, another staple in the house. #pizzadough #easyrecipe #pizza #homemadepizza♬ Festa Italiana – Global Village Players

Yields 6
Prep Time 15 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients
  

  • 250 grams Tipo 00 flour
  • 250 grams Unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 8 grams instant or active dry yeast 2 tsp
  • 7 grams salt 1 tsp
  • 338 grams warm water 1 1/4 cups + 3 tbsp
  • 13 grams olive oil 1 tbsp

Directions
 

  • Combine the flour, salt, and yeast in a bowl of your stand mixer. Stir to combine. Add the water and olive oil and stir until a raggy dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead by hand. Or continue mixing in the stand mixer until the dough pulls away from the bowl. (About 8 minutes)
  • Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces. Using floured hands, gently shape each half into a boule (ball shape) by folding the dough under itself. Set each boule on a floured surface and dab the dough with a bit of olive oil to keep it moist. Cover all boules with a damp towel and allow them to rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes to 1hour.
  • Transfer the dough to separate sealed containers, large enough for the dough to double in size again, and store in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. (Longer fermentation gives a nutty, unique flavor, but you may use immediately)
  • To stretch the dough, place it on a lightly floured surface and gently press it into a circle. At this point, I move it to the pizza pan and stretch it with my hands by pressing the dough from the middle towards the edge of the pan.
  • Put your favorite toppings (mine is salami Napoli and basil leaves over mozzarella and herbed tomato sauce, sometimes I use ketchup!)
  • Bake at 500F for 8-10 minutes.

 

About author

Articles

Spanning two decades of a career in publishing, she began to see the lockdown as a priceless boon – for it has given her the leisure of unleashing her potential as an amateur baker, writer, and digital publisher.

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