Tell me you want my pizza-pie lovin’
Without a doubt, this is the best pizza base I’ve ever tasted or made! Thin, crisp, chewy, perfectly aerated - we have a winner!
To be honest, I was quite happy with the original pizza dough recipe that I’d been using - it was relatively easy, quick, resulted in a tasty end product which was quite enjoyed by those who’d tried it. However, it just didn’t measure up to the better pizza bases that I’d enjoyed at various pizzerias and restaurants, so the hunt was on to find something that would compare - nay, to blow my little toesies out of the water!
What constitutes my ideal base and crust, you ask? Well, I’m a fan of thinner bases with some degree of crunch and chewiness. It can’t be too oily, and needs to be firm enough that it can be held by the outer edge and it won’t fall into my lap - and it needs to have a little softness otherwise it can be akin to chewing cardboard.
Geezus, is that enough of a list? It feels a bit like I’m a contestant on some blind date show - “Behind the door we have contestant A - a charming fellow who enjoys late night snacks and has a penchant for fresh yeast. Contestant B is a bigger burlier fellow but a real softy at heart with a melty-cheese centre. Contestant C is a simple type with simple pleasures, waif-thin and preferring to concentrate on just one or two flavours at a time”
Cheesy enough for ya? 
My family declared that this pizza base was the best they had ever tasted, and I must say that I was inclined to agree 
I get excited about the food I cook (okay, family-friendly blog, remember? I’m talking about excited like a 6yo on Christmas morning!!), but this time I was so overcome with joy that I was actually prancing around the kitchen with a slice in hand, giggling maniacally and jiggling it in the faces of any soul unfortunate enough to cross my path!
Care for a slice?
Me: *giggling like a maniac* “Hey ma, ma, ma ma ma ma ma ma ma!”
Mom: “What???”
Me: *jiggles pizza slice in her face* “Isn’t it gorgeous? Lookit lookit! How perfect is it? Isn’t it just beautiful?”
Mom: “For the Nth time - YES! Now get that out of my face before I gag you with it!”
Rinse, lather, repeat - for about fifteen minutes And luckily, I was much too cunning and quick for her to gag me with the pizza!
Though this recipe is a little more time consuming than the original recipe, it still has very little ‘hands-on’ time and is absolutely well worth it - I know that this is the recipe I will stick by for the rest of my pizza-making life!
Pizza pie perfection
Basic Pizza Dough (Dan Lepard’s recipe from The Cook’s Book)
Ingredients
2-3g dried instant yeast (or 3-4g fresh yeast)
150g warm water (ideally around 20-25 degrees C)
10g caster sugar
25g olive oil, plus more for kneading
100g strong white flour
150g all purpose flour
5g salt
1. If using dried yeast, activate it by dissolving in a bowl with 1 tbsp flour taken from the total amount and 50g water taken from the total amount, but at a temperature of around 35 degrees C. Leave to activate for 10 minutes. If using fresh yeast, you can skip this step and go straight to the next.
2. Whisk the yeast mixture with the remaining water, sugar and oil. In another bowl, mix the salt into the flour, then pour in the liquid and mix together till you have a soft, sticky mess. Cover with a cloth and leave for 10 minutes.
3. Lightly knead the dough:
To knead a yeast-risen bread, the book recommends using an oiled rather than a floured surface, and instead of a constant 10 minutes of kneading it recommends a series of brief kneads with rests in between.
3a. Take 1 tsp of oil (olive, corn or sunflower) and rub it onto your work surface in a large circle. Also rub about 2 tsp oil over the surface of the dough. Scrape the dough out onto the oiled surface.
3b. Before starting your knead, wash and dry the bowl, then rub the inside and your hands with a little oil. Set the bowl aside.
3c. Fold the dough in half towards you. It should be extremely soft and sticky at this stage.
3d. If you are right handed, use your left thumb to hold the fold in place whilst using the heel of your right hand to gently but firmly press down and away through the centre of the dough to seal the fold and stretch the dough.
3e. Lift and rotate the dough clockwise a quarter turn. Repeat the folding, pressing and rotating about 10-12 times, stopping before the dough starts to stick to the surface. Place the dough in the oiled bowl, seam side down, and cover with a cloth and leave for 10 minutes.
3f. Repeat previous step another 2 times, remembering to rub a little more oil over the dough after each 10 minute rest if it has become too sticky.
After the final kneading, leave the dough to proof for about 1 - 1.5 hours.
4. After proofing, cut the dough in half and roll each half into a circle, then cover and leave for 10 minutes. Uncover and roll it even thinner, ideally about 2-3mm thick if you like thinner crusts, and 3-4mm thick if you want a slightly thicker one.
5. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C, and rub a tiny bit of olive oil over the surface of your baking trays, then sprinkle lightly with cornmeal.
6. Place the dough onto the tray like you would like a tart tin (roll the dough lightly over a rolling pin then unroll on the tray) and then tidy up the shape.
7. Brush surface with olive oil, pesto or paste (depending on what kind of pizza you’re making, put down a layer of cheese then arrange the other ingredients as the cheese will help hold them to the dough. If necessary, sprinkle a little extra cheese over the top, but restrain yourself from adding too much topping to the pizza 
8. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 15 - 20 minutes, or till the top is lightly browned and the edges are crisp. Repeat wth second amount of pizza dough, and enjoy!
This base can also be parbaked and stored in the freezer to be pulled out when you need a quick meal Prepare the pizza base as above, but instead of adding ingredients and baking till browned, bake for only about 5-10 minutes or till the dough has half cooked through. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap then stick into your freezer
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Comments
Ellie muh luv -
It looks insanely good.. there is serious droolage happening over here. Seriously.
‘kay I heart my Auntie’s pizza - I say it is the best in alla world. BUT because of your description and excitment over this dough - I’d like to try it. Can you recommend a good conversion site so I can convert the measurements? And also.. what is strong white flour? How does this flour differ from all-purpose?
I’ll be looking forward to your advice!
Hugs!
xoxo
Is there anything better than a perfectly cooked (and topped) pizza? I don’t think so. Lovely as always, Ellie!
OMG!! I recently stumbled onto your site and I’m loving all the recipes! Its 10am in the morning and all I feel like is a slice of pizza! Damn you! *shakes fists* It was supposed to be the start of the healthy eating new years resolution! But looking at the photos, I’d happily let your mother gag me with a slice of pizza!
Oh, the joy of discovery and creation!! You certainly know how to entice the crowd. Beautiful pizza.
Looks mouth-watering, Ellie! I was planning to make pizza on Sunday afternoon anyway, so I’ll give this recipe a go…
Kat - Thanks hon
Rachel - hehehe, pizzas everywhere I’ll have to try the artichoke hearts thing from your blog!
Lis - an email is on it’s way I hope you like it as much as I do!
Gattina - aahh, a fellow thin-crust lover! Glad you like this pizza
Ivonne - It’s definetely hard to beat! Thanks hon
SorMuiJai - I’m glad you’re liking the site And pizza can absolutely be healthy, you just need to be wary of your toppings Well, that’s my reasoning anyway, hehehe!
Tanna - Thanks hon
Cindy - Cheers! It’s does take a little while so you want to start it around 2 hours before you plan on eating, but it’s well worth the hassle!
Beautiful, thin crust gorgeous pizza you have there……sister moon makes hers on the grille. Something I have yet to try. I think I am dough challenged.
I first pulled this post up early this morning. OH M GOD I WANT PIZZA BEFORE I EVEN GET DRESSED OR TAME MY WILDLY OUT OF CONTROL BED HEAD. Yum.
Might want to leave your dough covered in the fridge overnight, knocking it back once. I do not know how this will work with store bought yeast (I use a levain starter) but for me it develops a complexity in the dough that can stand up to the flavors and fats of stronger toppings.
That crust looks seriously good - I love how this it is. looks well worth the loooong number of steps.
Doodles - I’ve heard of making pizzas on the grille! I’ve actually wanted to try it, but I don’t think mine on my bbq gets hot enough 
Darn electric thing!
Gagatka - Thanks hon! Hopefully your cravings for pizza were sated
DrReb - Cheers I’m with you - thin crusts all the way!
Sue - Thanks sunshine, glad you like it
Bea - Be my guest
Kevin - LOL! I think you should make some pizza - cold pizza makes for an excellent breakfast food 
(though not necessarily healthy!)
Peabody - Thin crusts are the way to go!
Jim - I have done the slow proof in the fridge before (though not with this recipe) but I didn’t find that it made any noticable difference to either the dough’s texture or flavour.
Emily - Hehehe, it is quite a long list, though half of it is just a description of the kneading process I think it’s quite worth the effort!
Hi, I found your post from LJ. This looks incredible. I was wondering what the toppings on the photograpphed pizza are, it looks insanely delectable. As for the base, this looks like the recipe I’ve been holding out for. No more sad pita bread bases for me!
Keep up the great work!
Hi I enjoy reading your blog, Pizza looks gorgeous!… I come from a family of Pizza qoeners and have seenmy share of perfect recepies! As I waited to get to yuour recepie what you described liking was beginning to sound like a Pizza that required a Brick oven … but without a brick oven this can be achieved with CORNMEAL appled to bottom of dough and pizza trays and Congargulations . it worked you found one of the many secrets. It really just depends what yuor into.. For the longest time only deep- dish chicogo style pizza’s turned my head, more recently thin, and even more recently only whole wheat crust pizza’ Next what ya might like is trying a srtomboli with the dough recepie you have just roll in favorte colcuts and cheeses , its delicious, if you care to try.
Nightblindk - Glad you have love for the pizza! The toppings on this one (and most of the omnivore ones that I make) are - mozarella cheese, sliced and panfried chorizo sausages (this helps rid them of some of their oil so it doesn’t soak the pizza), green capsaicum (bell pepper), mushrooms, semi sundried tomatoes and some onion I spread the uncooked base with some home made tomato sauce (roma tomatoes, lots of garlic, oregano and basil), layer a bit of cheese over that, chuck on everything else, add another tiny bit of cheese then bung the lot in the oven!
I know it sounds like quite a bit of topping for such a thin pizza, but so long as you make sure to slice everything up fairly thinly and not have it all piled on top of each other, the base should be fine
I hope this recipe treats you as well as it treats me!
Maria - thanks for stopping by I have to admit that I can’t accept praise for the cornmeal idea as that was what the cookbook instructed The stromboli sounds like a good idea, I’ll give it a try this weekend - thanks for the suggestion
I can see from your comments how much we all love a good pizza. Heck, i haven’t tasted it and I feel giddy looking at it. Thank you, i’m going to check this dough out since we have similar pizza taste.
Looks delicious! I have never had much look with pizza bases (they always come out too dense), but will try this one.
Hi again Ellie,
I did indeed give this recipe a go on Sunday afternoon, with wholemeal flour. It turned out very differently, but was still enjoyed by all. I’ve blogged about it here. Will probably have another (more patient) attempt in the future and see how that turns out.
Thanks again for the detailed recipe and I-have-to-have-this photos.
Callypgia - By the looks of it, a good pizza might bring about world peace I think most people will agree that a good pizza pie makes for a wonderful meal!
Diesel - This one is quite easy, I hope it works well for you
Cindy - I’ve just spoken with my colleague at work (who is quite the experienced baker/cook and my resource for information when I’m stumped!) and he’s said wholemeal flour is a lot less refined than white flour, so the end result will be something a lot heavier than what the result would be like made with white flour. To combat this you’d need to use more yeast to get it to rise nicely. Also, though not 100% certain, he said he’s fairly sure that wholemeal is a lot ‘thirstier’ than white flour, so you may need to add more liquid to get the dough to the same consistency.
Since I’ve never baked with wholemeal before, I’m only guessing here, but perhaps you could add another 1g of the yeast for the initial blooming, and use 150g white flour and 100g wholemeal? I’m not sure about adding more liquid – if you find that the dough that comes together at first isn’t sticky at all, perhaps add another 50grams (a little less than approx ¼ cup) to see if it helps? If you’re feeling up for experimentation, this could be a good starting point Also, if you’re up for something not quite *so* thin, what you can also do is try and roll it into the full shape (about 4mm thick) the first time around, layer the toppings then cover it with a dishcloth and leave it to proof for about 10-15 minutes, that *should* get you something a bit puffier/breadlier
I hope this is of some help!
ooh, your pizzas are getting more and more delicious looking!