Two questions. Firstly, what is "natural improver" and what does it do?
And secondly, I want to make my own pizzas to freeze ahead. Still trying to get away from prepackaged foods. How do I make a simple, and soft base? Also, when the pizzas are covered with topping, how long do you bake them for? (and same for frozen please)
Thank you, I've never made anything with yeast in it before.
1. Sift flour into a large bowl. Add yeast, sugar and a pinch of salt. Combine warm water and oil. Add to flour mixture. Mix until dough comes together.
2. Turn onto a lightly-floured surface. Knead for 8 minutes, adding more flour if necessary, or until elastic (when you press the top it should bounce back and leave no indentation). Cut dough in half and roll each half out into a circle shape. Can do whatever thickness you like - thin or thick both work fine.
Top and bake at about 220 deg. for 10-15 minutes or until topping is done.
This is a really easy recipe and unbaked bases freeze really well.
Thank you Tobily. That looks pretty simple. I have already bought the yeast in anticipation of making some pizza! I thought that you would have had to let the dough rise, but that is great that you don't, much quicker.
I'm going to make pizzas this week!!!!
Actually, , may make the dough TODAY!
Yum yum yum....
Thank you again! Very much appreciated.
Oh, How warm do I have the water???
Last edited by Netix; September 8th, 2008 at 01:16 PM.
I personally find its softer, lighter and more elastic. I do mine in the breadmaker so it is allowed to rise in the machine, then once I put the dough on the pizza trays I allow it to rise again (after I've put the bascillio sauce on it, and I find the crust is flufflier as a result.
If freezing I would let the dough rise before in the bowl, then freeze on trays. You don't have to double proof its just something I prefer. I've never had pizza dough that hasn't been allowed to prove.
Anything other than water, flour, and yeast is an "improver" -- yes, even salt, which is 1) a flavor enhancer, 2) yeast retarder, and 3) gluten strengthener. Fats and sugars tenderize and brown, egg whites can strengthen, while yolks can tenderize and slow staling. Most flours are milled with acsorbic acid and/or non-diastatic malt, so not much point in searching for those. Lecithin goes bad easily, and can often be spoiled before even sold, so be watchful (the effect of egg yolk is primarily from the lecithin, and so I forgo refined lecithin altogether). Most of the others are kind of pointless, as their effects are small compared to the "artificial" additives and preservatives available to commercial bakeries.
One thing I would add - it is worth getting hold of strong baking flour for the dough, you will get better results then with general-use flour.
Bear, okay, so I will look for the baking flour. When a recipe calls for 'x' amount of improver, what should I use? For example, this is the pizza base recipe I have (but am choosing not to use it as it has cheese in the base, so will be an extra $ - I find cheese very expensive , would it work well if I just didn't put the cheese in? That, and I had no idea about what the improver was).
Pizza Base Mix (from the Body Shop Cookbook)
1 1/2 kg plain flour
5 tsp natural improver
1 tblsp salt
2 tblsp dry yeast
2 cups grated tasty cheese
1.1 litres very warm water
Mix all dry ingredients together. Add grated cheese. Pour liquid into dry ingredients.
Mix into a stiff dough. Place in a warm spot (on top of warm oven) to double in size.
Punch down and knead to remove all the air bubbles.
Roll out into the size and shape you want.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 180c in oven with your favourite filling on top.
Makes 2 to 3 medium size pizza bases.
Here's a simple bread recipe that uses natural improvers and makes a good pizza base
30g yeast
30g honey or sugar
625ml of warm water
1kg of strong bread flour
30g salt
1. Dissolve the yeast and honey/sugar in half of the warm water
2. On a clean surface or in a large bowl, make a pile of the flour and salt. Make a well in the center and pour the dissolved yeast mixture into it. Make circular movements around the edge, gradually bringing in more and more of the flour until the yeast mixture is soaked up. Then pour the other half of the warm water into the center and gradually incorporate all the flour to make a moist dough - some flours will need a little more water, some a little less - so don't be afraid to add a little more water or flour to get the consistency right.
3. Knead the dough well for at least 5 minutes - three motions, roll the dough, the push it across the work surface to stretch the proteins, finally fold it over and start again.
4. Flour both of your hands and the top of the dough, make it onto a roundish shape and place it on a baking tray. Deeply score the top of the dough with a knife - allowing it to relax and prove. Leave it to prove in a warm, moist, draught free place until it has doubled in size - putting it into a just warm oven, covered with a bit of cling film or a damp tea towel is ideal. This should take 40-60 minutes.
5. If we were making bread at this stage we would bash the air out of the dough, shape it to type of load we wanted and let it prove a second time until it had doubled again. However for a pizza we can use the dough now, cut the dough into 4 pieces and roll or stretch them out to the desired thickness (5mm), add your toppings and place into an extremely hot oven on a hot pizza stone (I just use a clean paving slab) for 5-7 minutes.
Thank you again Bear! You truly are a wealth of information! So the improvers in your recipe would be the honey or sugar, and the salt, correct?
My Mum taught me how to knead while she used to make pasta, and she said to treat the dough as if it is very hot, so that you aren't touching it a lot with your hands.
How thick would the pizza base be when cooked if rolled out to about 5mm?
I love the idea of using a paving stone as a pizza stone, I wasn't keen on the idea of buying a specialty pizza stone (I guess they would be pretty dear), especially if I don't end up using it very often. I guess the paver needs to be one with quite a smooth finish (not necessarily a perfectly smooth cement one though) ? I can see myself having to explain why there are paving stones in the kitchen cupboard to the Man .
Would you please also be able to detail how to finish off making the bread?
I went to Coles before, and looked at all their flour, and saw some bagged as "baking flour", so I'm guessing that is what I need to get. Right?
If using a paver, if you have a BBQ with a hood you can use it similarly to a pizza oven by having all the burners on to make it extremely hot, and then turning the middle ones off so the paver is not on direct heat. You will find the pizza tastes better this way rather than the oven (I'm guessing because residential style ovens don't get to the temperature needed).
Baking flour is similar to cake flour I always thought, you really do need a bread flour or a pizza dough flour (which can be bought in a box from coles).
I haven't seen the boxes of pizza flour in Coles ?! I saw a box of pancake flour in IGA once. I know, its a bit different....
D'oh, I thought of another question before.... After I posted my last reply, but do you reckon I can think of it now? Oh, yes. I think it was "how hot" to make the oven?
Nadine, I don't have a bread maker. Am thinking, and so is the Man, about getting one to primarily make our own bread in, but if I can use it for a multitude of things (as I have learnt on here), like making jam, pizza dough, and the other things currently elude me.....
Netix - correct, the sugar and salt are the improvers in this recipe.
It shouldn't rise much beyond the initial 5mm where it is covered in topping, but might bubble up a bit round the edge if your oven is really hot.
The key thing with the kneading is to stretch the fibers in the dough as much as possible, the more you work the dough, the more they will develop, and the better the finished product will be.
To use the recipe for bread, simply let it prove a second time in a loaf tin, then bake.
The last bread flour I bought was a 5kg bag of "Delifrance" Bread flour from Woollies.
Bread flour is a high-gluten flour that has very small amounts of malted barley flour and vitamin C or potassium bromate added. The barley flour helps the yeast work, and the other additive increases the elasticity of the gluten and its ability to retain gas as the dough rises and bakes. Bread flour is called for in many bread and pizza crust recipes where you want the loftiness or chewiness that the extra gluten provides. It is especially useful as a component in rye, barley and other mixed-grain breads, where the added lift of the bread flour is necessary to boost the other grains.
All-purpose flour is made from a blend of high- and low-gluten wheats, and has a bit less protein than bread flour — 11% or 12% vs. 13% or 14%. You can always substitute all-purpose flour for bread flour, although your results may not be as glorious as you had hoped. There are many recipes, however, where the use of bread flour in place of all-purpose will produce a tough, chewy, disappointing result. Cakes, for instance, are often made with all-purpose flour, but would not be nearly as good made with bread flour.
The point of the paving stone is to get as much heat into the base of the pizza as possible - commercial pizza ovens run at around 400 degrees, so as much heat as you can muster is a good thing. Let the pizza stone get really hot before putting the pizza on it and the dough will sizzle and bubble, producing an authentic crispy, light crust.
Last edited by TheBear; September 9th, 2008 at 07:35 PM.
My oven gets pretty hot, so hopefully it will be hot enough as you say. Its fan forced, so I am always having to adjust and turn it down for recipes! Great, I can just leave it turned up! Do I need to put any oil on the stone? Or is this something I must not do? I just imagine that the dough will stick!
Coles had two brands of baking flour, Defiance I think, and some other brand with a kangaroo on it I think. I didn't really look so much at the flours labelled 'bread'. I kind of only really looked to see if they were all for bread machines, or if you could make them by hand. The idea of a bread machine is growing on me. Must read the bread machine thread. Maybe I will ask for one for Christmas (or a belated birthday pressie)... Once I get the dough down pat (sorry about the pun), I will have to work on the toppings!
I hope you don't mind if I copy and paste what you have written about flour into my own notes for future reference.
How do you make pizza bases?
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, may make the dough TODAY!
, would it work well if I just didn't put the cheese in? That, and I had no idea about what the improver was).
.
I thought of another question before.... After I posted my last reply, but do you reckon I can think of it now? Oh, yes. I think it was "how hot" to make the oven?
Its fan forced, so I am always having to adjust and turn it down for recipes! Great, I can just leave it turned up! Do I need to put any oil on the stone? Or is this something I must not do? I just imagine that the dough will stick!
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