The 10 mistakes that can ruin your homemade pizza

08/10/2021 6:01 AM

• Clarín.com

• Gourmet

Updated 08/10/2021 6:01 AM

Pizza is associated with fast and unhealthy cooking, but it does not have to be this way if we choose top quality products and take control of the preparation at home.

To achieve this, we asked Gennaro Iommelli, a Neapolitan and owner of pizzerias in Barcelona, ​​Spain, for his secrets.

Because 

although it seems simple, making a good pizza requires not making basic mistakes.

For example,

using a pre-cooked or refrigerated dough is a real sacrilege for someone born in the "homeland" of pizza

: "Pizza doesn't turn out well if you don't put passion and love into it, and that is achieved by making the dough yourself", tells us Iommelli, who knows well the work of the

pizzaioli

and the pizzas of Naples, considered since last year intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

Want to know what mistakes they make so they aren't as soft and crunchy as they should be?

How long should the dough rest?

At what temperature should the oven be?

How long should it be cooked?

Can I mix cheese with seafood?

Read on and you will find the answer to everything. 

No prepizza: homemade dough always has a different flavor.

Photo: Martín Bonetto.

 1. Don't make homemade dough

Making the pizza dough ourselves is one of the great secrets so that the result is great.

Nothing to buy it frozen or pre-cooked,

nor go to the other extreme and try to imitate the complex elaborations, slow fermentation and combination of flours that they make in good pizzerias.

The Neapolitan expert advises

not to complicate with the flours and to choose a basic one

, refined enough to have a good result.

It usually absorbs a lot of water and will provide plasticity, elasticity and a good structure to our pizza.

"In domestic ovens, the more hydrated doughs like this are the ones that work better, and they handle very well," he says.

2. Not putting the correct amounts

We must also

choose the right amount of yeast

.

It is important to

calculate well the proportions of each element

.

The amounts for a kilo of flour are 25 grams of yeast, 40 grams of salt and 500 ml of water.

“The dough is made quickly, in a pizzeria it takes more than 24 hours” says Iommelli, who with his restaurant Pappa Pomodoro won the award in the BestPizza BCN 2017 competition.

With 250 grams of dough we can make a standard pizza.

The recipe for a pizza, for example, with mozzarella and alhabaca, has 250 grams of pizza dough, 100 ml of tomato sauce, 100 of buffalo mozzarella and 8 basil leaves.

The choice of the raw material and the quantities is essential for the pizza to come out well.

Photo: Emiliana MIguelez

3. Do not knead well

Once we have all the ingredients ready,

the kneading process has its secret

: put flour in a bowl, heat a small part of water (100 ml), undo the yeast with the help of a spoon, add it to a bowl with the flour and

knead with your hands.

Add the rest of the water and salt and

continue to knead from the center outward until the dough is detached from the hands

, "if it hangs from the hand it is not ready yet", points out the pizza maker.

It should be very smooth.

Between kneading and kneading it is good to pause for 10 minutes

.

So that the edges fit well: "If we don't touch the 2 cm of the tip, they will rise, although we should not be overwhelmed with this because it is complicated."

The pizza made in the oven tray can be very good although not round.

Photo: Hernán Rojas.

4. Stressing out trying to make us look round

When we have the dough ready, we place it in a bowl and cover it with a kitchen towel to keep it at room temperature.

"We must

let the dough rest for three hours, or until it doubles in volume ”, Gennaro points out.

Then we will give it the shape and measure that we want.

"You don't have to stress trying to make it round because it is very difficult, it

can be ideal to put it on the oven tray and it will be square but perfect,

" says the pizza maker.

Putting a little olive oil on it beforehand helps it not stick

.

Although the virgin olive is very good, Gennaro opts for a milder olive to prevent its intense flavor from eating away at the pizza ingredients.

If we have a round mold we can also use it.

5. Misplacing the tomato sauce

Our Neapolitan expert recommends buying

a good tomato sauce, a

passata

(Italian tomato puree) or natural crushed tomato

, and spread it over the pizza before baking it in just the right amount.

The tomato carries a lot of water, therefore we should not overdo it "so that the dough does not get moistened

and it becomes soft", but neither should we stay too short because it will be dry.

About 100 ml for 250 grams of pizza dough.

If we want the tomato to be only a garnish ingredient,

we can use small cherry tomatoes, sauté them in oil and add them when the pizza is finished.

When taking the pizza to the oven, the temperature is essential.

Photo: Silvana Boemo.

6. Not controlling the temperature and baking time

Another basic to obtain a good pizza is the temperature of the oven.

In a good pizzeria they have wood-fired ovens (the pizza is made in one minute) that work at 500 °, or professional gas (it is made in 3 minutes) at 420 °.

"It is impossible to work like this at home, but it

is very important that the oven temperature is high because cold cooking makes the pizza dry

," says Gennaro.

We must cook the dough with

the oven already preheated to 250 ° C

, 12-16 minutes.

The temperature must be high, and the time short.

Remember that the dough should not be cold, but at room temperature.

Otherwise, it will burn.

Bake until the edges are golden brown and crisp.

The way the mozzarella is placed is one of the keys to pizza success.

Photo: Lorena Lucca.

7. Not placing the mozzarella and cheeses well

The mozzarella

should be drained and cut into thin slices and

spread well spread over the pizza dough once we have placed the tomato sauce

, before baking.

Now, in the case that the pizza is white, without tomato and with cheese, the mozzarella will be the base "because it is the ingredient that best withstands high temperatures," says Iommelli.

We can cover the rest of the pizza with pieces of blue cheese, Parmesan, gorgonzola ... The Emmental or cheddar will give it a melting touch.

"You don't have to go overboard in the quantity of cheeses, 4 is enough."

8. Put a lot of ingredients and cook them badly

As with cheeses,

pizza does not handle excess ingredients well

.

"If you drown her, you kill her," Gennaro says.

Each ingredient has its cooking time, its part of water, and if we put many of them not baked well, some will be raw and another burned.

Also, if there is a lot of everything in the end, you don't know what pizza is.

The expert would never put "more than three or four at a time."

You also

have to avoid ingredients that release a lot of water and that can soften the pizza

, and if they are used, cook them correctly.

For example, "mushrooms or seafood should be cooked separately and added last, on top of the pizza."

The basil should also be placed raw last.

9. Don't dare to be creative

"We Neapolitans are lovers of simple pizzas

, in fact with a marinara, a margarita and a calzone, we are already happy," says Iommelli, now that we are experiencing an authentic explosion of gourmet pizzas, such as truffle or mixed flavors.

"It is very good that pizza evolves as long as the preparation, time and temperature are respected," he says.

Food is freedom and any combination of ingredients can be valid.

"

Something as simple as a tomato-based pizza, and when you take it out, put a little garlic with oil, anchovy and oregano, it is delicious

."

It can also be made with mortadella, pistachio and burrata, although it must be remembered that

the ingredients must be added at the end of the pizza

.

"It is very tasty with tuna, and if you put it fresh, you will find it fresh," says Gennaro, who advises cooking fresh food little to highlight its quality.

10. Reheat in microwave

When we have pizza left over, we tend to reheat the slices in the microwave.

The owner of the Terrazza Ravello pizzeria, decorated with ceramics from the beautiful Amalfi town, does not approve of this practice because

the pizza cooks more inside than outside and does not turn out well

.

It may appear burnt or melted.

"

It is better to reproduce a conventional oven on the fire by placing a pan with a little oil

, insert the pizza, cover it and in about three minutes it is crispy again," he says.

Of course, if it is very cold, before reheating it in the pan we can give it a touch of half a minute in the microwave.

If we have a piece of pizza left, it is stored well in the refrigerator one day covered with a film, “but no longer.

It is very simple to make it, and it is always better to make it and eat it than not to keep it ”.

We can also freeze the pizza dough that we have left over.

With information from La Vanguardia.

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