Pizzas, trays and focaccia:
only one dough for each use

In the kitchen, when it comes to pizzas and related products, I often find myself trying different doughs; always looking for what gives me the best result.

For each preparation I have one special!

For a few months, however, I have found one that, without infamy and without praise, gives excellent results both in the preparation of round pizzas to be cooked between 350 ° C and 450 ° C and for trays and focaccias to be made in the home oven at 250 ° C.

Purists, lovers of high hydration and yeast pharmacists will surely find fault and criticism severely ...
but, to me and to those who come to visit me, all the preparations I made with this dough are very appreciated.

And that's enough for me for now!

To obtain good results some precautions are certainly necessary:
for example the use of a refractory stone in the home oven (in the lower part of the oven for trays and focaccia and very high for round pizzas cooked directly on the stone), having available carry-over dough and also the use of malt for baking, are all things that will improve the final result.
(but also the dripping pan of the oven, turned upside down and heated very well, can be a remedy for the lack of a refractory stone ...).

At the end of the recipe I added a table which, in addition to the basic ingredients for four round pizzas or a cm. 30x40, also the one for a dough with biga as well as the one for a single pizza.
(and also the quantities for a hectogram of flour in order to easily adapt them to the quantity you want to prepare!)

So, starting as always from the ingredients, let's start cooking!

Ingredients, for four round pizzas or a cm. 30x40:

Preparation:

ATTENTION:
the photos relating to this recipe are still being worked on, those used here are only intended to give general indications

Dissolve the brewer's yeast in the water and wait a few minutes;
to do it first I put everything in a tightly sealed jar ...

Dough by hand:

Pour into a bowl to mix the flour already mixed with salt.

Make a fountain and pour the water with the yeast in the middle.
(if using carry-over dough - up to 20% of the expected total weight of the dough - dissolve it in the water with the yeast before adding it to the flour)

Mix, preferably with a wooden spoon, just enough to obtain a fairly homogeneous mixture.

Move the dough on the kitchen counter and start working it by hand by pulling it back and forth until you have a soft and elastic dough.

Machine dough:

Pour the flour already mixed with salt into the bowl of the mixer (or food processor).

Add the water with the yeast.
(if you use filler dough - 10% of the total weight of the dough - dissolve it in the water with the yeast before adding it to the flour)

Stir with the leaf for a minute at minimum, just enough to absorb the liquid and then for another minute at maximum speed.
Remove the leaf and go to the hook; knead at maximum speed until the dough detaches completely from the edges of the bowl (five to eight minutes, with my MUM80).

For both techniques:

Place it in a freshly oiled bowl, seal it with plastic (I use a plastic bag) and let it rise for four hours, away from drafts (I keep the bowl in the oven off).

If, on the other hand, you prepare it for the next day, after an hour, move the bowl to the refrigerator and leave it up to four hours before baking.

After this period (or just out of the fridge) transfer the dough, possibly with the help of spatulas (tarot cards), on the freshly floured counter and fold.

Single pizzas:
If you have to prepare several pizzas, divide and form some dough loaves to give them folds before gathering them well into a ball and then letting them rise in a fairly large closed container for three / four hours.

If you use the oven at home, heat it (static) for a maximum of at least half an hour and then roll out the individual loaves by hand, garnish them as desired and cook them one at a time for three to five minutes. With a refractory surface the result will be good and tasty even if the pizzas will not be very colored on the surface.

On the overturned dripping pan it may take a couple of minutes more, but some experiments will be better.
In a pizza oven that heats at least 350 ° C you will get excellent round pizzas (but let's not expect real Neapolitan pizzas!)

Forms:
If you prepare a pizza or a focaccia in a pan, instead, stretch the dough as much as possible and place it in the well-oiled pan and cover it; after an hour, with your hands just greased with oil, gently spread it up to the edges of the pan, brush it with a mixture of oil, water and salt, cover it and leave to rise for another two / three hours.

You can also immediately spread the dough with a rolling pin (very gently) to the size of the pan and transfer it to you; after an hour, however, he will have withdrawn a little and it will be better to enlarge it equally with his hands just greased with oil.

Heat the oven (static) to the maximum for at least half an hour and then transfer the pan already garnished with tomato or a brine to taste for about ten minutes. Then complete with the other ingredients (mozzarella, grilled vegetables, cooked ham or whatever else you want) and continue in the oven for another five to ten minutes until fully cooked.

Remove from the oven, move briefly on a wire rack and then ... cut and serve.

Buon appetito!

ADVICES AND NOTES:

• Recipe, text only: to print or download.
• NOTE flour: having the carryover paste available, up to 20% can be used in the dough, replacing it with an equal weight of water and flour
  (eg if you use 80 g. of carryover paste, 50 g. of flour and 30 g. of water will be removed from the total of the ingredients!)
• Food processor: the tool with various accessories, not only the planetary mixer, for mincing, slicing, blending and mixing; not one of those machines, definitely useful, where you put the ingredients and get them back ready and cooked!
  (I use an old Bosch MUM 80: excellent!)
• Summary table with ingredients for different quantities of dough:

• See also: Pizza in the oven.

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