Pizza needs no introduction. From humble beginnings as peasant food in 17th century Naples, it is now one of the most popular and well known foods today. Store bought vegetarian pizzas are meh, so I love making my own pizzas from scratch and injecting tons of flavour at the same time not making the crust soggy.
I love this pizza dough recipe because you can freeze it or refrigerate overnight. You do need a stand mixer otherwise you need to manually knead the dough for over ten minutes. Normally I find kneading therapeutic so don’t use stand mixer for doughs that require shorter knead times! For the dough, best to use bread flour or 00 flour or any flour with a higher gluten content.
It is best to weigh out the water to be precise. Approximately one and a half cups of water makes up to the 350 grams of water needed for the dough.
In Italy, pizza bianca means “white pizza”, which is a pizza drizzled with olive oil and salt and of course no tomato sauce. Sometimes topped with Mozzarella or Parmesan Cheese. We love to top our white Pizza’s with wafer thin slices of potato and herbs.
INGREDIENTS FOR THE PIZZA DOUGH
548g high grade flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 and ¼ teaspoon instant yeast
350g water
2 teaspoons salt
Olive oil or spray to grease bowl or snap lock bag
METHOD
In a stand mixer, fitted with a dough hook, combine the flour, sugar and yeast. Mix on low to combine, about 15 seconds.
With the mixer running, slowly add the water and then mix on low until a slightly bumpy dough forms and clears the sides of the bowl, about 5 minutes.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for 20 minutes.
Uncover the bowl, sprinkle the salt over the dough and mix on medium until smooth and elastic, 5 to 7 minutes. If the dough climbs up the hook, stop the mixer, push it down and continue kneading.
Seal in snap lock bags that have been sprayed with cooking spray or a glass bowl greased with olive oil and refrigerate between 24 – 72 hours or freeze for later use.
When ready to make your pizzas, bring to room temperature by removing from refrigerator at least an hour or two prior.
PIZZA BIANCA
INGREDIENTS
½ quantity pizza dough at room temperature
200g potato, washed skin on (waxy potato is preferable)
60ml good quality olive oil
75g parmesan cheese, finely grated
2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
½ teaspoon chilli flakes
1 teaspoon finely chopped thyme
1 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary
Sea salt flakes to taste
Extra flour for dusting
METHOD
Shape the pizza into a round 30 centimetre disc using your hands dusted with flour. Cover with a moist tea towel and let it prove for 40 -60 minutes depending on how warm your room is. While you are proving, preheat oven to 240 degrees Celsius. If using a pizza steel or stone, place the same on the top rack and preheat too. If you are preheating your pizza steel or stone, you need to have a pizza peel so you can slide the pizza onto the stone.
Using a mandolin, make thin slices of your potato (crisp like) and dry them out by laying on a tea towel in one layer.
Once your disc has doubled in size, spread 45mls of the olive oil on the disc. Sprinkle the chopped garlic and parmesan cheese. Arrange the potato slices and spread the remaining olive oil on top of the potato slices. Top with the chilli flakes, sea salt flakes and some of the cut herbs reserving a few to garnish on top after pizza is cooked.
Bake pizza in the oven for 15 -18 minutes until the crust is crisp and golden. Makes 1 pizza (30 centimetre diameter).