A good start is half the battle. This is also more than relevant in the kitchen. Because if you make sure you have a good or rather perfect base, you are already halfway.
''With the perfect pizza base, more than 3 ingredients on a margherita are usually not needed''.
Surely anyone can bake a pizza, right? Maybe, but if you really want to master the art and technique of a perfect pizza base, it takes a lot of time and practice. Wijnand van de Ham, also known as Wijnand Kookt, travels all over the country with his home-made pizza oven to allow everyone to enjoy the best pizzas in the most unique locations.
"With the perfect base, more than 3 ingredients are often not needed." I learned how to make the perfect pizza dough in Italy (The Marche). The average inhabitant there has a pizza oven somewhere in their backyard and you are welcome everywhere to eat with them. With this recipe in my pocket, I kept trying at home until I found my own perfect composition. The structure of the base is just as important as the technique of turning it out by hand. Only then do you get the airy rounded edges and the perfect crispy bite".
Ingredients
Ingredients for 1 pizza
200 g 0.0 flour
100 g water
18 g fresh yeast
2 tablespoons olive oil (peanut oil is also an option and can withstand heat well)
1 tsp salt
Preparation
Spread out the flour on your work surface and make a well. Mix in the olive oil and salt. Dissolve the fresh yeast in the water. Pour the yeast mixture into the flour. Knead the mixture by hand into a smooth dough. Roll the dough into a ball. Cover the dough with a clean kitchen towel and leave to rise in a warm place for at least 90 minutes.
"You can even make your dough the night before and let the dough rise overnight to make your pizza extra airy and crispy."
A truly delicious bite comes partly from the air in the edges of the pizza crust
If you have followed these steps, you can hardly miss out on a delicious crust. Now it's just a matter of turning it out properly by hand. "Try to avoid using a roller as much as possible as a truly delicious bite comes from air in the edges of the pizza base. Something that is almost impossible to accomplish with a roller". Next, slide the base into the oven, on a pizza stone or in the pizza oven. It's only a matter of patience before a delicious crispy base awaits you.
