Thick and soft tray-baked pizza

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PRESENTATION

Fancy some homemade pizza? Today we'll prepare a magnificently tall and soft tray-baked pizza! To make it we'll use a blend of flours, for a moist and perfectly firm dough that will be just right. We've chosen the most classic of all toppings, mozzarella cheese and tomato, just like in cheese and tomato pizza, which is always popular with everyone! Obviously no one is stopping you from trying out new flavors and enriching this base however you like. The thing you'll need to pay the most attention to with this dough is the folding and resting times. This is the only way to make a moist dough and achieve an extremely soft result! So get ready to make some seriously tall and soft tray-baked pizza for the entire family!?

INGREDIENTS

Ingredients (for a 12x16 inch (30x40 cm) tray).
Manitoba flour 1 cup (250 g)
Flour 00 2 cups (250 g)
Water 1 cup (375 g)
Fine salt 1 tbsp (15 g)
Extra virgin olive oil 3 tbsp (40 g)
Fresh brewer's yeast 1 tsp (3 g)
For the topping
Tomato puree cup (200 g)
Extra virgin olive oil to taste
Fine salt to taste
Mozzarella cheese 10 oz (300 g) - Fiordilatte cheese
Preparation

How to prepare Thick and soft tray-baked pizza

To prepare tall and soft tray-baked pizza, place the flour 1, water 2 and brewers yeast 3 in a large bowl. 

Knead by hand 4 for around 5 minutes. When homogeneous, knead the dough as follows: lift one corner and bring it towards the middle of the piece of dough 5. Turn the bowl and continue in this way, so that the gluten develops and strengthens the dough. Now add the salt 6.

Then add the oil 7 and vigorously knead the dough by hand in the bowl, until the oil and salt are fully absorbed. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and leave to rest for 10 minutes at room temperature 9.

After 10 minutes, proceed to fold the dough for the first time. Lift a corner of the dough 10 and bring it towards the middle 11. Turn the bowl around and repeat this operation, folding or overlapping 4 times in total. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest for around 15 minutes. Repeat this operation two more time, folding and resting as indicated. Lastly, cover with plastic wrap 12 and leave to leaven at room temperature for around 2 hours.

When the dough doubles in volume 13, place it on a lightly greased worktop. Slap and fold twice: lift the dough with both hands and slap it back down 14. You'll notice how the dough will become stronger and take on a firmer consistency 15.

Place the dough on a 12x16 inch (30x40 cm) oven tray generously greased with oil 16. Leave the dough to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes 17. Now delicately lift and stretch the dough 18.

It should cover around 80% of the oven tray surface 19. Leave the dough to rest for another 15 minutes at room temperature and in the meantime, prepare the tomato sauce. Season it simply with salt and oil 20 and stir. Once the resting time is up, the dough will be more relaxed and by delicately stretching it out, you will be able to cover the entire surface of the oven tray 21.

Pour the tomato sauce over the dough and spread it, leaving 0.4 inches free along the edge. Leave to leaven at room temperature for 90 minutes 23, then bake in a static oven preheated to 450°F (230°C) for 25 minutes. In the meantime, cut the mozzarella into slices or tear into pieces by hand. Remove the pizza from the oven 24.

Add the mozzarella 25, once more leaving the edge free 26. Place back in the oven for another 5 minutes or until the mozzarella has melted nicely and dried. Remove from the oven and serve your tall and soft tray-baked pizza 27.

Storage

Soft and tall tray-baked pizza can be stored for a day in the refrigerator. You can heat it up before serving.

As an alternative, you could freeze it after baking, or before adding the mozzarella.

Tips

Add salami and vegetables to enrich your pizza!