Stuffed Crust Pizza Base

Name: Stuffed Crust Pizza Base
Yield: 2 People
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 500 g ‘OO’ flour (sold in all supermarkets); 7 g Dried Yeast; 300 ml warm water and milk mixed; 1 Teaspoon salt; 200 g grated cheese for the stuffed crust; 5 Cloves Chopped Garlic; Milk wash to seal the stuffed dough; Half a teaspoon of sugar

Ben & Dad @BenAndDad2017

London

I’m not about to tell you how to top a pizza, that’s down to individual preference but I want to explain how to achieve a fantastic stuffed base with a fool proof dough. This recipe will make 1 x 14” base and about 20 garlic dough balls.

Ben & Dad @BenAndDad2017

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Ingredients

2 People

500 g‘OO’ flour (sold in all supermarkets)
7 gDried Yeast
300 mlwarm water and milk mixed
1 Teaspoonsalt
200 ggrated cheese for the stuffed crust
5 ClovesChopped Garlic
Milk wash to seal the stuffed dough
Halfa teaspoon of sugar

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Steps

1

Preheat the oven to 160 / Gas Mk 5
2

Sprinkle the dried yeast into the warm liquid, add the sugar and a pinch of flour then mix well, cover and leave in a warm spot. If your kitchen is not warm, place some warm water in a bowl and place the jug inside.
3

After about 20 minutes your yeast mixture should start working, it will start foaming at the top like a pint of bear head. Once this happens stir it well and repeat the process, the idea is to really get the yeast working.
4

I use a dough hook in a mixer for convenience but if you have the muscles you can make the dough by hand.
5

For great results, warm your ‘OO’ flour in a bowl with the heat in your grill section. You can use bread flour but ‘OO’ flour results in the perfect dough.
6

Once the yeast has again started working, pour it into your warmed flour in two stages and start the mixing. Very soon you will notice your dough will become very elasticated and you’ll notice how lighter it already appears. Knead the dough for around 5-8 minutes then remove from the machine and cover the bowl with a damp cloth. This prevents an atmospheric dry crust on your dough.
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After around 30 minutes you will notice the dough has doubled in size. Knead it again for a further 5-8 minutes, cover it and leave to stand one final time.
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Once again after 30 minutes your dough has doubled in size and now very light and airy to the touch. It’s at this point you add the salt as you finally knock the dough back. The reason why it’s added at the end is because the sodium does affect the yeast and retards it.
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Some people add an egg in the recipe but this can make the dough spongy, some people add olive oil, but this technically fries the dough in the cooking process resulting in a hard base. I do add dried Oregano for extra flavour.
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Remove the dough ball from the bowl and divide in half, pop one half back in the mixer, add the chopped garlic and mix in, these can be rolled out into garlic dough balls and set out to prove under a damp cloth, ok back to the stuffed pizza base....
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Roll out your dough base on a well floured worktop so it’s about an inch bigger than your pizza tray and lay over the tray tucking in the inside edges well.
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Fill the outer edge with grated cheese, then brush milk on the base by the cheese line and fold over the excess edge, pressing down to seal. Leave the base in a warm spot for about 10 minutes so it starts to rise.
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I blind bake the base for about 5 minutes to ensure you don’t get a soggy bottom. Take it out the oven and top it with tomato sauce and whatever toppings you like, it’s your choice. My main aim was to give you the perfect dough formula and the stuff crust technique.
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Cook the garlic dough balls for about 6 minutes and cover with garlic butter when finished. You will notice how light and fluffy they are using ‘OO’ flour instead of bread flour. Enjoy.
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