What to Look for in an Incredible Pizza Base

If you're American, you probably eat pizza and/or love it. A recent survey found that over 98% of Americans eat pizza and 54% love it. Another survey found that over 350 slices of pizza are eaten in the U.S. every second.

With these statistics, it's also safe to assume that you'll either want pizza for your next meal or a near future meal. Either that or someone you may be cooking for will want pizza.

Unfortunately, a lot of problems can arise when planning a pizza meal. It's cheaper to make it yourself, but making a pizza with the perfect pizza base, sauce, and other ingredients is difficult. For this reason, you may prefer to order out.

However, if you're on a tight budget, this article can help you get started with a homemade pizza. Specifically, it will tell you some tips on how to make incredible pizza bases. Read on to learn more.

Use a Minor Amount of Salt

Salt is an important part of dough as it assists with gluten formation. However, if you add too much salt, it can destroy other flavors. If you add too little, the pizza can taste too bland.

Before adding salt to your dough, consider what other ingredients you're going to add to your pizza. Some of your ingredients, like sauce and cured meats, may already have salt in them. Use this as a guide for the amount of salt you should add.

Cold-Proof Your Pizza Dough

No matter which texture you want, be sure to cold-proof your dough before flattening it. That is, you need to store your dough in the fridge after you kneed the ingredients together. Grease a bowl, stick the dough ball in it, cover the bowl and ball in plastic wrap, and set both objects in the fridge for a few hours.

This will give the yeast some time to break down all the carbohydrates. The dough will have a tastier flavor and will brown better as a result.

Choose the Right Type of Flour

You can use any flour you wish to make pizza dough. However, not being selective in which flour you choose can give you lesser quality dough. Only certain types of flour will give you certain crust textures.

Do you want fluffy dough? If so, you can't use flour that contains too much gluten. This will make the resulting pizza crust too tough.

Instead, select a flour that has a medium amount of gluten compared to others. This will quickly absorb water and soften your dough.

Add More Water for a Crispier Pizza Dough

Do you want a crispier pizza crust instead of a fluffy one? If so, there's one great trick you can use. Try adding more water.

Pizza dough that has a lot of water in it will expand in the oven more readily. This will give the edges time to gain that crunchy texture.

However, don't add too much water. This can make the dough sticky and difficult to kneed and/or roll. It can also cause your pizza sauce to steam and make everything soggy.

The expert recommendation is around 3.25 parts water to 5 parts flour. Don't worry if it starts to get too sticky, though. You can easily keep adding flour in until your dough becomes just right.

High Temperatures Also Crisp a Pizza Base

Another way to get a crispy pizza crust is to heighten the temperature. Depending on your oven, it may be a good idea to set it to 500 degrees Celsius or at least the highest temperature. If you do, be sure to keep a close eye on it to prevent burning.

Another way to heighten the temperature has to do with your cooking tools. A pizza steel or stone can be a great help. You can also make your own pizza oven for not too much.

However, don't feel too pressured to get one if you don't have the money. A pan in a typical home oven will do just fine. Just be sure to stick it in the oven as the appliance preheats to achieve an optimal temperature.

Work the Pizza Dough Properly

The way you wrestle your dough into a flat shape can affect its final texture as well. If you want a thinner pizza crust, be sure to roll it with a rolling pin. For a thicker, fluffier crust, stretch it out instead.

However, it's important to not overwork the dough. This can make it turn out a lot tougher than anyone would want.

For rolling, don't get rid of all the air bubbles. These will help the pizza expand a little. This is important even if you want your pizza thin.

You also don't want to stretch the dough too much. If you have the time, try to make a few pizzas to see which amount of stretching works best.

Don't Overload Your Pizza With Ingredients

No matter how much you love cheese, tomatoes, and/or other ingredients, you can't overload your pizza crust. Doing this can affect your pizza base in many ways.

You don't want to use too much sauce. Doing so will make your pizza too soggy. This can make the pizza difficult to transfer to the oven and the resulting base may get tough.

Having too many ingredients can be a problem as well. This can cause the crust to not cook evenly. The center of your pizza can come out raw and undercooked as a result.

Try Our Award-Winning Pizza in St. Cloud, FL

Most of the actions you need to take to make a great pizza base are simple. However, you can feel well assured that these tiny actions will result in a pizza that everyone will love.

Also, if you live in St. Cloud and are in the mood for pizza, try ours. Our family-owned business, Bella Roma Pizzeria Restaurant, prepares pizzas with only the freshest ingredients. We also use authentic Italian recipes to get just the perfect taste.

Order the pizza that was voted the best in Osceola County today.  

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