We've made the perfect pizza crust!! After countless flours, countless recipes, and countless methods of preparation, we've done it! The search is over! And what is the secret? As the many Italian pizzerias will attest to, it's the flour! Ever since we've started using the "00" flour we've found that our pizza comes out exactly as we want it -- thin, crispy, and chewy. We want to taste the wonderful sauce, cheese, and toppings. Let us show you how to make the perfect pizza crust recipe.
For this recipe you will need: Italian "00" flour, instant yeast, olive oil, water, sea salt.
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The secret for the perfect pizza crust recipe
The secret is in the flour. The Caputo flour is imported from Italy and Italian flour is best for pizza crust and pasta. It's classified as 1 . . . .0 . . . .or 00.
This refers to how finely ground it is and how much of the bran and germ have been removed. The 00 is the most highly refined and it's perfect for making authentic Italian pizzas. You know, the pizzas that have a light crisp crust with a nice tender bite.
Have you ever tried to roll out pizza dough and it's a fight between you and that white ball?!
What do you do? If you were me before I found this flour, you let it rest, you cajole it, you even curse it. But still, no luck, it stubbornly retracts into a small round circle.
Not this dough! It's so relaxed, just hanging out to make the perfect crust for the pizza.
Where did we get the 10- 2-pound bags of Italian 00 flour? Where we normally get unusual items --Amazon. This particular vendor had free shipping so that's the way we went.
This Italian 00 flour isn't just for pizza dough, you can also use it for fresh pasta. We make lots of fresh pasta. Nothing beats homemade, that's for sure.
If you like fresh pasta here are some recipes...
Lamb Ravioli with Brown Butter Sage Sauce
Homemade Italian Ravioli with Meat and Cheese Sauce
Italian Spinach Ricotta Beef Ravioli
Triple Mushroom Ravioli With Cheese
Those little delicious pockets of pasta are scrumptious. Try them out!
How to form the easy pizza crust
Now for the pizza, once we rolled out the dough, we placed it on a peel, or you can put it on the back of a cookie sheet, sprinkled with corn meal.
We lightly coated the surface of the dough with olive oil then dressed it with our homemade pizza/dipping sauce with basil.
We added the fresh mozzarella slices on top and sprinkled a few arugula leaves on it.
You can add whatever toppings you like -- the pizza dough bottom holds the toppings and compliments whatever you put on it. We love personalizing pizzas and making them to everyone's taste.
How perfect are those colors? It's the Italian flag: red, white and green. Then we added a few shakes of red peppers to it.
We popped it directly in a preheated 550 F oven sliding the pizza onto our baking stone. Our stone never comes out of the oven . . . . and it looks like it too. It's as much a part of the oven as the racks.
We baked the pizza for 8 minutes and then let it cool for just a few . . . .PERFETTO!!!!!!
Chef note:
If you can't find "00" flour, use all-purpose flour in the same quantity. Our flour of choice is King Arthur flour but you can use another good quality flour.
Tutti a tavola è pronto!
Un caro saluto e alla prossima.
YOU MAY NEED...
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This is similar to the Caputo "00" Flour that we get from Amazon. If you're lucky enough to have an Italian Market nearby you'll probably be able to find it there. Unfortunately we'd love to have a lot of Italian products near us. I'd be at the store all of the time! Let me know if you have an Italian store near you. What is your favorite thing to buy there?
How to Make The Perfect Pizza Crust Recipe
Once you make this recipe you'll know that this is the only recipe you'll ever need or want. It's easy to work with and produces an amazing crust. It won't wimp out under your toppings. In fact, it is the ideal foundation for what ever pizza you want to build. We know you'll love it as much as we do.
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📖 Recipe
The Perfect Pizza Crust {Il Perfetto Crosta di Pizza}
Equipment Needed
Ingredients
- 4 cups Caputo Tipo 00 Flour (500 grams) Use all-purpose flour if you can't find the "00".
- 1 ½ Cups Water (355 grams) Approximate
- 1 ½ Teaspoons Sea Salt ( 9 ⅛ grams) If using table salt, use 1 ¼ tsp.
- ½ Teaspoon Active Dry Yeast (2 grams)
- 2 Tablespoons extra virgin Olive Oil (27 grams)
- Pinch of Sugar
Instructions
- There are several methods of mixing up the dough: food processor {method we use}, table mixer, by hand.
- Food Processor: mix the flour, salt, yeast, sugar in bowl. Pulse a few times. Put the olive oil into 1 ½ cups of water. Slowly start the processor and add the liquid. If the dough seems too dry add more water -- a little at a time until it forms a smooth soft dough. Form into a ball.
- Table Mixer -- Mix the ingredients together in the mixing bowl to form a soft dough. The dough will still be tacky. Time varies but the dough comes off the sides of the bowl. Let rest for 10 minutes, then knead for 5 minutes.
- By Hand -- Mix all the ingredients together to form a soft dough. Let it rest for 10 minutes, then knead for 7 to 8 minutes until smooth.
- Once you've kneaded the dough, place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and allow to rise for 1 ½ hours to 2 hours or until the dough doubles in size. Punch the dough to de-gas it and divide it into 3 equal sized balls and place each in a zip lock bag that has been coated with vegetable spray.
- Keep in the refrigerator overnight. The next day you can either freeze the dough or make it into a pizza. Before using the dough be sure to let it warm to room temperature (72F or more) -- this is a must. Think of a pizza kitchen and how warm it is.
- When ready to bake - preheat oven to 550 ℉ or the highest your oven will bake. Bake your favorite pizza for 7-10 minutes or until the crust is done to your likeness. Every oven will bake differently so keep an eye on it.
Notes
- We have not been compensated by Caputo in any way.
Nutrition
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