getcookin
Main dish

Pizza

Homemade pizza on a fast dough: hot sugared yeast water for lift, optionally a pinch of diastatic malt, sauce that is simmered—not straight from the can—and seasoned hard, lots of cheese (gouda alone, mozzarella in long skinny slices alone, blends, pepperoni encouraged), garlic oil brushed on the rim straight from the oven. Rough pace: ~5 min mixing, 45+ min first rise, ~5 min handling, 30+ min second rest, then ~10 topping and baking.

Prep
90 min
Cook
15 min
Serves
4 people

Product list ingredients

  • garlic
  • mozzarella
  • gouda cheese
  • 00 flour
  • granulated sugar
  • chili flakes
  • instant yeast
  • canned tomatoes
Pizza

Ingredients

Dough:

  • •380 g (~2½ cups) tipo 00 or all-purpose flour
  • •2 tsp sugar — whisk together with yeast into the water before adding flour
  • •1.25 tsp fine sea salt
  • •½ tsp diastatic malt powder, optional (better browning in a home oven)
  • •245 g water, properly hot—not tepid „hand temperature”—aim ~45 °C so it wakes the yeast aggressively but is still nowhere near boiling
  • •7 g instant yeast (measuring spoons lie; weighing is safest)

Sauce:

  • •794 g peeled canned tomatoes
  • •2 cloves garlic
  • •2 tbsp olive oil
  • •Salt to taste
  • •Large pinch of sugar

Toppings:

  • •Cheese combos that work great: mozzarella alone shaved into extra-long thin curls; smoked gouda alone; mixed gouda + mozzarella; or equal mozzarella + Monterey jack + smoky white cheddar. Season the cheese aggressively (fine salt + black pepper ± dried oregano/red pepper)
  • •Pepperoni sliced (use plenty)

Garlic oil:

  • •¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • •3 cloves garlic, grated
  • •Large pinch of flaky salt
  • •Chili flakes (optional)
  • •Softened butter brushed on crust edge (optional tweak alongside garlic oil)

Directions

Dough:

  1. Dough first (~5 active minutes): whisk sugar and yeast into genuinely hot-but-not-scalding water so it wakes up—not lukewarm “skin temperature.” Stir malt (if using) into the flour, then add yeast water and salt until a raggy dough forms. Knead hard but short, about five minutes until smooth. Now walk away—first rise 45 minutes minimum.

  2. First rise: covered, warm spot until puffy and visibly grown.

Sauce:

  1. Sauce discipline: puree or crush tomatoes, simmer with olive oil, garlic, sugar, salt, and extra seasoning until glossy and deeply savoury—you are not finishing with canned-tomato water. Taste boldly; more cooked-down sauce piled on beats timid raw pulp.

Dough:

  1. Second bench rest: knock dough back (~5 active minutes reshaping into a taut ball), cover, proof another 30+ minutes. Pace reminder: rough mix ~5 min • rise 45+ • reshape ~5 min • rest 30+ • top & bake ~10.

Garlic oil:

  1. Garlic oil: mash grated garlic into the oil with flaky salt (+ chili if you want spice). Optionally keep some very soft salted butter beside it for rubbing the blistered rim as an experiment beside the infused oil.

Bake & finish:

  1. Heat: max oven plus preheated stone/steel/tray ≥30 minutes.

  2. Shaping choreography: fist-punch bubble down gently, coax the disc outward with fingertips, flip, spin fast lifting with relaxed hands—not pinching rims outward deliberately. Flour the dough and peel liberally—that floury underside is critical for audible crunch and saline snap. Aim for moderately thick—not tissue-thin—so the crumb has body.

  3. Top boldly: lash on more cooked sauce than you think, then heaps of aggressively seasoned cheese, pepperoni, or future toppings (pulled chicken, chorizo—whatever earns a rerun). Into the oven immediately.

  4. Bake until blistered, crackling, mahogany edges. Immediately brush rim with garlic oil (and dab optional butter while it is molten-hot). Slice after a short breather.

Photos from the process.

Preparation photoPreparation photo