Pizza Dough #1 ~ Thin & Crispy Pizza Dough by Jamie Oliver 脆薄皮萨饼皮

The last time I made pizza is years ago and the only pizza dough recipe that I ever tried is the recipe I learnt in my home econ class back to secondary school days. Till now, I still find it very good.

I had family members visit on a lovely Sunday so I thought to make my guests pizza for lunch. Instead of going back to the old recipe, I tried Jamie Oliver’s pizza dough recipe seen from The Batter Baker blog.

This pizza crust is slightly chewy type and the edge is crispy. I find it more “authentic” than my usual recipe which is more “bread” like. I made 1.5 times of the recipe below, served 6. I didn’t roll it into very thin as I preferred thicker crust.

The topping included a layer of store bought pasta sauce, hotdogs, onions, fresh pineapples and yellow capsicums.

I was quite disappointed with the topping, mainly due to the cheese. I usually use mozzarella and cheddar cheese for pizza topping but when I went to shop for the cheese I saw packages of “Pizza Topping” , I thought this was more convenient to use so I grabbed one pack. However, the “Pizza Topping” didn’t turn out good, it was lack of flavour and though I saw the word mozzarella on the ingredient list I couldn’t really taste or see any mozzarella after baking. I only used half pack of it, that’s why there will be Pizza Dough # 2 in my upcoming post. Next post I will be sharing pizza dough using plain flour and shorter proofing time.

Pizza Dough, by Jamie Oliver

Ingredients: (scaled to make a thin 12" base)
130ml lukewarm water
½ tsp sugar
1 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil (I used normal olive oil)
200g bread flour
½ tsp sea salt

Method:
1) Sprinkle sugar and yeast over water (can reserve 1-2 tbsp water, only add the reserved water if the dough is too dry). Set aside for about 10 min till frothy.
2) Pour yeast mixture and oil into flour and salt.
3) Knead dough till smooth and springy.
4) Place the ball of dough in a large flour-dusted bowl. Proof for about 30 min till double in size (I proof for about 50 mins).
5) Knock back dough and roll out to a 12" circle.
6) Place on a greased and floured baking pan or pizza stone.
7) Pile on your favourite toppings, and bake at 220*C for 15-20 min till the crust is brown and the cheese is bubbly.

Note:
I roughly kneaded the ingredients by hand and used my bread machine to continue kneading and proofing.

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #8 - Bread Seduction (June 2011) hosted by Sweetylicious.