Homemade Pizza Tips – Food

There are probably many who miss the time when you could go out to eat a really good pizza in a restaurant without pandemic worries.

But while restaurant visits are long overdue, the extra time at home can make you the new pizza maker in the house.

Dag Tjersland, restaurant owner, chef and author of the book “Pasta and Pizza”, gave us his top tips for making great restaurant pizzas at home in your own kitchen.

See the pizza recipes at the bottom of the article. You will also find a standard recipe for pizza dough with flour.

Many variations of pizza

– Pizza is exciting to make at home, and now that many don’t have much to do, it’s even more fun to learn about different pizzas, says Tjersland.

Many of us can get a little stuck in the same pattern every time a homemade pizza is on the menu, but the chef has plenty of great suggestions for variety.

– You can make Sfincione, Palermitan, Roman or Neapolitan street food pizza, he explains.

The pizza base itself can also be varied.

– You can make a base with yeast or make sourdough for sourdough pizza, says Tjersland.

He also recommends using different types of flour.

– Although ordinary Norwegian wheat flour is the most widely available, several types of flour have appeared in Norwegian stores, including organic types that work very well, he says.

For a pizza base to be called Neapolitan, one of the prerequisites is that Tipo 00 type flour or a mixture of it and Tipo 0 is used.

– Tipo 00 is a type of Italian flour with the best degree of painting. Tipo 0 is the second best. Lately I’ve been trying organic Norwegian types of wheat mixed 50/50 with organic Italian tipo 00 with good results, he suggests.

Also read: These are the best new wines at Vinmonopolet in January 2021

Durum wheat gives crispness

Tjersland also recommends using durum wheat when the dough needs to be pressed.

– Durum wheat is a type of durum wheat also available in Norwegian stores. Personally, I like using durum wheat on the counter because it gives pizza a different crunch than you get with regular flour, he explains.

For the dough to set properly, Tjersland recommends storing the pasta in the refrigerator for a few days.

– I really like to keep the dough in the fridge on a tray for 2-3 days so that the yeast or sourdough can mature a little and fix the taste, he specifies.

Read also: All our pizza recipes, with and without gluten, coarse and fine

Flip the hob

As for the cooking process, there are several possibilities.

– There are pizza stones to buy for many ovens and the secret is often to preheat them properly. If you don’t have a pizza stone, you can flip a baking sheet, he suggests.

Tjersland insists that good ingredients are just as important when making pizza as they are in the kitchen. For the best filling, the chef has the following tips:

Now that the tomato season is over, you can still get good canned tomatoes. Good garlic, like Spanish red garlic, is also available at regular grocery stores.

Bring the tomatoes to a boil with the garlic and run the tomato sauce using a hand mixer. To keep tomatoes fresh, it is important not to cook them too long, otherwise they can quickly taste like tomato puree.

Get a good olive oil, preferably from Liguria or Sicily as they are often a little fruitier than eg. Tuscany.

Caciocavallo and provolone cheeses are exciting, but a little harder for most people to get. Mozzarella or another good cheese is available at most stores and it can also be a great experience to grate Parmesan over the pizza on a grater just before serving the pizza.

Read also: Recipe for tomato sauce that goes well with pizzas and pasta

Here are some klikk.no recipes for pizza: