Best Pizza Dough Recipe
Who doesn't love a good pizza, especially when you make it from scratch and it's cooked in your own wood fired pizza oven!
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I've wanted an outdoor pizza oven since forever. But I've always believed we hadn't got enough room in our garden as it's really quite tiny so I put the thought out of my brain.
Outdoor pizza oven
We were strolling around the Caravan and Camping Show at the NEC Birmingham (as you do) and came across the lovely people from The Pizza Oven Shop had a range of wood-fired ovens here in the UK.
So when I spied the Igneus Minimo Wood-fired Pizza Oven I knew we could find a space for it so, of course, I had to be buying one! Most were too big for our tiny garden but the Minimo looked perfect.
This may well be small as far as wood-fired ovens go, but it still enables you to cook lasagne or a whole chicken or steak, etc without any problems you just need to pick a suitable dish
The non-stick coating is not suitable due to the extremely high cooking temperature (around 500C) and therefore obviously plastic or glass are definite no-nos.
Igneus Minimo is only available in black which is no problem for me as I would only want it in black but the larger Igneus models are available in other colours. Check out the best selling pizza ovens.
Wood fired pizza oven
Everyone that's seen it wants one themselves! Yep looks-wise this is totally drool-worthy. I really love the matt black and steel exterior and it's sturdy and very well made.
The other portable pizza oven is by a different brand and is called the Ooni 3 Portable Pizza Oven which is brilliant but it's a bit on the flimsy side (the top bends if pressed) whereas the Igneus range is much stronger and pretty much unbendable.
*Update February 2023 having seen on in a local garden centre it seems Ooni have sorted this problem out - it's now far more sturdy than it once was.
The firebrick
The fire brick or refractory brick inside is removable and you can turn it before you start to cook if you want to.
It's important to keep it clean by cleaning away ash when the oven is completely cool but the stone must never get wet otherwise it will retain moisture and crack when you next use it.
As long as you give it a good brush after using it'll last ages.
With that said it's good to know that if you did ever need a replacement firebrick you can contact The Pizza Oven Shop and, at the time of writing, will be able to send you a replacement although I'm not sure of the price.
The Minimo is handmade in Portugal and cooks pizza to perfection and without any practice.
The picture of my Margherita pizza was my second attempt but the first one a few minutes earlier was just as good although because I wasn't confident using the oven, I didn't get a good enough photo.
And then these photos were also rushed because we just wanted to eat PIZZA! 😋
You can cook a variety of other food besides pizza including steak, chicken, vegetables, burgers, lasagne or even bread and will cook a 12-inch pizza or it can take a square dish of the same size.
Pizza peel and embers rake
The oven comes with its own pizza peel; for introducing and removing the pizza to the oven and embers rake.
A sturdy carry bag is available to buy but was included with mine as a Caravan and Camping Show offer along with a cast iron pan and a sizzling pan.
Check out The Pizza Oven Shop which is the only Igneus stockist here in the UK as they often have offers on, so it's worth checking.
No tools needed to assemble this pizza oven
Just place the oven where you want it. Attach the chimney and place the firebrick inside - job done.
It's portable too weighing just 15kg so it can easily go in the garage or garden shed after use and is small enough to fit in a tiny garden.
My pizza oven is sat on this Keter BBQ Outdoor table with storage, however, we got ours at the Billy bargain price of £55 from Argos when they were selling them as a clearance item.
Okay, I had to drive miles to get one though as they'd sold out in almost every store but hey ho it was still a bargain!
Have you tried this recipe? Please leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star rating in the recipe card below!
How to use a wood fired pizza oven
Always use natural untreated firewood and never use treated wood such as old fence posts.
The Pizza Oven Shop recommends that you always try to use silver birch and never use any type of accelerants such as petrol, paraffin or similar to start the fire.
Small-sized pieces of Kiln Dried Kindling and natural firelighters are the way to go.
Now, the natural firelighters I used look like pieces of compacted cardboard although they're made of something more amazing than cardboard I'm sure.
But since then I've tried Twizzlers firelighters and found them far better, both are available at Sainsbury's.
Yes, this was my first attempt at starting a fire that started burning from the top which is not the right way, but it all worked out fine in the end and we were soon on the way to the perfect pizza.
Gloves - you need gloves, seriously these pizza ovens are not to be messed with they are extremely HOT at around 500C so you will need a pair of heat-resistant gloves.
My once feeble-looking fire got going and after about 15-20 minutes it was ready to cook PIZZA!
Semolina is the very thing you need to lightly sprinkle over the base of the pizza peel to stop your pizza from sticking. Flour isn't so good as it tends to burn on the bottom of the dough when cooking.
Into the hot pizza oven and turn after 30 seconds. You'll find your pizza is properly cooked in just 90 to 120 seconds.
Trust me, a Wood-fired Pizza Oven is the way to go as regular ovens just don't get anywhere near as hot so they just can't compete with wood-fired.
If a wood-fired oven isn't for you, you could consider a wood pellet grill or oven.
Have you tried this recipe? Please leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star rating in the recipe card below!
Margarita Pizza - Best Pizza Dough Recipe
Ingredients
- 500g super fine OO grade pasta/pizza flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon caster sugar
- 7g sachet of easy-bake yeast (the one that's used for bread machines)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 325ml warm water
- Plus semolina for proving the dough on to stop it from sticking - DO NOT add this to the pizza dough mix!
- 1 x 350g jar passata - I used the Cirio brand
- a good-sized pinch of dried Italian seasoning
- a pinch of sugar
- mozzarella well-drained and torn into pieces
- fresh basil leaves only
- freshly grated parmesan Cheese
- olive oil for drizzling
Instructions
- In a large bowl mix the salt with the flour and add the yeast and mix together.
- Knead by hand or pop the lot into a stand mixer as I did until you have a nice soft dough add a tiny bit more water if you need to.
- Pull and fold the dough a few times by hand and you'll end up with a lovely springy soft dough.
- Divide into 4 equal sized pieces and roll into balls.
- Roll each one in a little flour and pop them well spaced apart onto a large baking sheet sprinkled with a little semolina.
- Cover with a damp cloth and leave to prove for 2 hours or so until they've doubled in size.
- Now press and shape into circles (mine were more oblong) but not to fuss whatever the shape!
- Your pizza dough is now ready for the topping.
- Pour the jar of passata into a small bowl and add the Italian seasoning along with the sugar.
- Taste to check the seasoning adding a tiny pinch of salt if you think it needs it.
- Spoon a little of the tomato sauce onto each pizza base just before your about to cook.
- Sprinkle over a little Parmesan and top with mozzarella.
- Scatter over a few basil leaves and add more Parmesan.
- Pop into the pizza oven for 30 seconds before turning and returning to the oven for another 30 seconds.
- Repeat; your pizzas should be cooked in 90 to 120 seconds.
- Pop your pizza directly onto the bars on the middle shelf for about 10 minutes before turning.
- Continue to cook for another 10 minutes or until your pizza is piping hot and cooked through.
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