Ingredients
600g pizza flour
1 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 dessertspoon extra virgin olive oil
2 cups (approx.) tepid water
Method
Mix flour, yeast, olive oil and salt in a bowl. Add the water gradually and mix until it becomes a gluggy mess! Turn out onto the bench and knead with the heal of your hand until it becomes a smooth, elastic ball.
Place ball back in a bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place for approx. 2 hours until it has doubled in size.
Punch the dough down and turn out onto the bench again and knead until it is a smooth, elastic ball. Cut the dough into 6 pieces (or 4 for larger pizzas) and roll back into a round shape.
The dough is now ready to use. Sprinkle some polenta) over the base of a pizza tray, then using your hands, stretch the pizza dough and shape it, spread it over the tray and cut off any excess.
With the back of a teaspoon, or using a pastry brush, spread a thin layer of olive oil on the base, then add your topping.
Tip: The dough should be the way we all want to look – thin, glossy and ready to eat!!!
Freezing dough:
In a perfect world, we would all have time to make fresh dough for each firing of the oven, but it doesn’t always work that way, so backup is required!
Complete the process, outlined above, to the stage of cutting the dough into 4 (or 6) balls.
Wrap it in cling wrap and freeze. When ready to use, take out of the freezer and remove the cling wrap while the dough is frozen. Place on a plate and cover with a tea towel.
The dough will be quite “gooey”. Rub some flour on your hands before handling, put a light dusting of flour on the dough and knead again until it is smooth and elastic.