YUM ITALIAN PIZZA BASE

Steps:

• Make sure that the room where the dough will be prepared is warm. In the winter, a temperature of about 22ºC and in the summer time, where the temperature in the house could be higher, reduce the quantity of yeast.
• As a first step, activate the yeast. Take 150 ml of warm water and put it into a jug. Add the granulated yeast and the sugar and give a stir. Cover the jug with a cloth and wait for 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, put the flour into a large bowl and sprinkle with sea salt. Stir so to evenly distribute the salt within the flour.
• After 15 minutes, you should have a frothy layer inside the jug. Give another stir.
• tart gently stirring the flour and at the same time pour the contents of the jug into the bowl.
• Add the remaining 150 ml of warm water into the bowl and keep stirring so that all the flour is wet.
• Add the extra virgin olive oil. Give a good stir so that all the ingredients are well mixed together.
• Pour the bowl contents onto the working surface and start to work the dough energetically. Press, extend forward and roll backwards for 10 minutes. The dough should become smooth and elastic and you should have the feeling that it is sweating.
• Coat the dough ball with flour and prepare it for the rising.
• For the rising, you can either put the dough ball into a large bowl or leaving the dough ball onto the working surface. In both cases spread some flour onto the bottom where you will lay the ball dough, so that it will not stick. Then, cover the ball dough with a cloth and leave it in a warm room for a couple of hours or until it doubles in size.
• Spread some flour onto the working surface. Take the risen dough and work it again for a couple of minutes. Then, divide the dough in five parts and make a small ball of each part.
• Take the rolling pin and start rolling so that you can make a large circle, to suit a 30 cm diameter pizza tray.
• The pizza base should be very thin; a couple of millimetres thick.
• Spread some flour onto the pizza tray and then lay the pizza base onto the tray. Top with pizza toppings as you like.
• Set the oven at the maximum temperature (usually 240ºC - gas mark 9) and pre-heat it properly. If the oven is at the right temperature and your pizza is thin, it should take about 8-10 minutes to cook. Fan assisted ovens may require a different cooking time. After 5 minutes cooking, checking the pizza frequently is a good idea and when the border starts to become golden brown, it is probably the right time to take the pizza out of the oven.