My son doesn’t like flat pizza, so I had to learn how to make a really soft and doughy pizza like those you can find in an italian bakery (…or anywhere else).
I’ve already told you that I’m a very pizza addict, so here is a second recipe… while waiting for the 3rd! đ
At home it’s mostly impossible to achieve because you would need professional ovens, so after months and months of kneading and baking I figured out how to do it (the secret for a very soft dough is just a potato)… and now my son is really happy (and I keep on baking…).
If you want to save time, like I often do, you can use instant mashed potato flour instead of steaming just one potato. So keep in mind that if you use a steamed potato you need to reduce the amount of water stated in the ingredients.
Soft and Doughy Pizza (Italian Pizza al taglio)
Difficulty: easy
Preparation: 25 minutes 
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 3/4 servings – 40cm x 30cm / 15″ x 12″ pizza pan
Ingredients for the dough:
- 130 grams / 4.6 ounces / 1/2 cup milk (or water if you want a lighter version)
- 200 grams / 7 ounces / 1 cup water* (less if using a steamed potato read below)
- 10 grams / 1 tbsp granulated active dry yeast or 25 grams / 1/2 tbsp fresh yeast or 140 grams / 5 ounces mother yeast
- 20 grams / 1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
- 20 grams / 1/4 cup instant mashed potatoes flour or 1 steamed and peeled potato (in this case use less water*)
- 500 grams / 18 ounces / 4 cups all-purpose flour (or pizza/bread flour)
- 10 grams / 1 full tsp sugar
- 10 grams / 1 1/2 tsp salt
For the topping:
- 1 cup plain chopped tomatoes sauce, plus a little pinch of sugar, salt to taste
- other ingredients to your taste
- fresh mozzarella, cut into 1.5 cm / 0.59 inches square pieces (making big pieces is important to prevent mozzarella from burning during the cooking time)
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 230°C / 450°F / gas mark 8.
Dissolve yeast in warm water and/or milk, sugar and butter, then mix all the ingredients (add the remain water and salt at last) to form a smooth, soft and no sticky dough (If itâs too sticky add a little flour otherwise add more water). Knead for about 20 minutes.
Let rest for 5 minutes, cover your pizza pan with baking paper and roll out the dough.
Cover with a lid or a plastic wrap to avoid the dough from drying and let rise for at least 2 hours (4 if using mother yeast).
Dress pizza with tomato sauce, other ingredients and mozzarella.
Bake for about 20 minutes.
Pizza al Taglio, done!
IMPORTANT tips to know:
If you are using fresh or dry yeast (not mother yeast), I suggest you to greatly reduce the amount of yeast in recipes and, as a consequence, to extend the rising time.
A slow fermentation allow a better maturation of the dough with more digestible, more flavorful and tastier pizzas.
So here are the times I suggest you for 500 grams/18 ounces/4 cups of flour (that usually require 10 grams/1 tbsp granulated dry yeast or 25 grams / 1/2 tbsp fresh yeast for 2 hours of rising time):
- 4 h of rising time -> use 1/2 amount of yeast;
- 6 h of rising time -> use 1/4 amount of yeast;
- 8 h of rising time -> use 1/8 amount of yeast;
- 10 h of rising time -> use 1/16 amount of yeast;
- ……
Here’s an example: if you want your dough to rise in 6 hours use 2,5Â grams / 1/4 tbsp of granulated dry yeast or 6,25 grams / 1/8 tbsp of fresh yeast.
- 130 grams / 4.6 ounces / ½ cup milk (or water if you want a lighter version)
- 200 grams / 7 ounces / 1 cup water* (less if using a steamed potato read below)
- 10 grams / 1 tbsp granulated active dry yeast or 25 grams / ½ tbsp fresh yeast or 140 grams / 5 ounces mother yeast
- 20 grams / 1½ tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
- 20 grams / ¼ cup instant mashed potatoes flour or 1 steamed and peeled potato (in this case use less water*)
- 500 grams / 18 ounces / 4 cups all-purpose flour (or pizza/bread flour)
- 10 grams / 1 full tsp sugar
- 10 grams / 1½ tsp salt
- 1 cup plain chopped tomatoes sauce, plus a little pinch of sugar, salt to taste
- other ingredients to your taste
- fresh mozzarella, cut into 1.5 cm / 0.59 inches square pieces (making big pieces is important to prevent mozzarella from burning during the cooking time)
- Preheat oven to 230°C / 450°F / gas mark 8.
- Dissolve yeast in warm water and/or milk, sugar and butter, then mix all the ingredients (add the remain water and salt at last) to form a smooth, soft and no sticky dough (If itâs too sticky add a little flour otherwise add more water).
- Knead for about 20 minutes.
- Let rest for 5 minutes, cover your pizza pan with baking paper and roll out the dough.
- Cover with a lid or a plastic wrap to avoid the dough from drying and let rise for at least 2 hours (4 if using mother yeast).
- Dress pizza with tomato sauce, other ingredients to your taste and mozzarella.
- Bake for about 20 minutes.
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