Nonnas Pizza Dough Recipes

NONNO'S PIZZA

Steps:

• Combine the tomato puree, basil, kosher salt and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a small bowl. Allow to sit for 1 hour to let the flavors marry. Remove the pizza dough from the refrigerator and bring to room temperature for an hour as well.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil on a 9-by-13-inch rimmed baking sheet. Stretch the dough in the oil, flipping it back and forth and stretching it to fit the baking sheet. Use your fingers to make a few dimples in the dough. Spread the sauce evenly over the top all the way to the edges. Bake until bubbly and golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.
• Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil and sprinkle with the ricotta salata, oregano and flake salt. Cut into squares and serve warm or at room temperature.

NONNA'S PIZZA DOUGH

Steps:

• Soak yeast in 3/4 c. lukewarm water with sugar until foamy - about 5 min. Sift flour and salt to together. Add oil, water and yeast mixture to the flour and salt. Mix together to form a soft dough. Knead until smooth about 10 min. Note: if you use the food processor let it bring the dough together into a ball and knead for 5 min. Put in a greased bowl covered with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled. Punch down and shape. Add topping and let rise again. Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 min.

NONNA GIULIA'S PIZZA DOUGH

Steps:

• Mound the flour on a smooth work surface, and create a well in the middle of the flour. Break up the cubes of yeast with your hands and add it to the well, along with the white wine, olive oil and a portion of salted lukewarm water. Work the flour slowly, adding the rest of the salted lukewarm water as needed until it turns into a uniform dough. Cover the dough and let rest to rise for about 20 to 30 minutes at room temperature.

PIZZA DOUGH

Steps:

• Combine the yeast, 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water and sugar in a bowl. Mix gently only to blend and set aside to activate for about 15 minutes. It needs to foam and froth to know it is ready to use.
• In a large bowl, place 8 cups of flour and form a well.
• In a separate bowl, combine the oil and 3 tablespoons salt.
• To the oil and salt mixture add the 4 cups of lukewarm water and mix well with a fork to dissolve the salt.
• Add the activated yeast mixture to the flour well and with your hands gently work the flour into the yeast mixture.
• When just blended, make a well again with that mixture and begin adding the water/oil/salt mixture into the well a little at a time.
• Work the flour mixture into the liquid mixture and continue to slowly add more oil/water/salt mixture. You want to add liquid to the point that the dough is slightly wet (we had 1 cup of oil/salt/water mixture left over today).
• To the wet dough, add a little flour at a time just to the point where it stops sticking to your hands.
• Work the dough by gently punching it down for about 5 minutes (you can also turn it out onto a work surface and knead gently for about 5 minutes).
• When the dough is soft and does not stick to your hands, place it in a bowl, cover with food safe plastic and let it rest and rise to about double in size (about an hour).
• When it has risen, lightly punch it down a few times to deflate.
• At this point, you can go ahead and use the dough right away if you need to or let it rise for a second time is preferred.
• Nonna Pina recommends portioning the dough into the required size for the pizza pan you are using (this recipe would make 8 X 12inch rounds), use right away or cover and let each portion rise again then use.
• As well, if you are not using right away or have left over dough, you can refrigerate it for use the next day.
• Roll the dough to your desired thickness/thinness.
• Add your favorite pizza toppings, or use one of our feature pizza suggestions in future posts. Cook at 425F for 20 minutes.

NONNA'S PIZZELLE

Steps:

• Preheat pizzelle iron according to manufacturer's instructions.
• Mix flour and baking powder together in a bowl.
• Combine eggs and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until well-blended. Add 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons shortening and beat until blended. Add flour mixture and mix on medium speed until incorporated. Fold anise seeds and vanilla extract into batter with a spatula.
• Drop a teaspoon of batter onto the preheated iron. Bake until golden, 30 to 40 seconds, or a few seconds longer for darker pizzelle.

NONNA'S EASTER BREAD (PIZZA DI PASQUA)

Steps:

• Traditional Method:.
• Mix warm water, 1 tsp sugar, and yeast together and let sit for ten minutes or so (or until foamy) to proof the yeast.
• Sift together flour, sugar, cinnamon, lemon rind, salt. Place in a large bowl and make a hole in the middle of the dry mixture.
• In a separate small bowl, beat 3 eggs and add in the canola oil, the yeast mixture, and the Grand Marnier (if you're using it) and mix it all together and dump it into the hole you created in the center of the dry mixture.
• Work with this as you would pizza dough. Slowly beat in flour with a fork and when it is stiff enough to knead, put flour on your hands so it doesn't stick and add in the rest of the flour. Once all the flour is incorporated, you may want to transfer the dough to a floured surface to continue kneading.
• Decide whether you want to shape the dough into on large loaf (in which case you will need to place it into a GREASED lasagna-sized pan to rise and bake) or whether you want to try placing it in 2 or 3 GREASED loaf pans. I personally only make one loaf, thus I don't know the baking times for the smaller loaves. If you make it in a large pan, you should shape the dough into a circle so that it grows into a nice shape since it will not quite "grow" into the pan.
• SEE INFORMATION ABOUT BAKING AND RISING UNDER THE BREAD MACHINE INSTRUCTIONS.
• Bread Machine Method:.
• Place ingredients in bread machine in the order recommended in your bread machine's manual (My order was: water, 3 beaten eggs, oil, liqueur (if using), 2 cups flour 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 cup sugar, lemon rind, 2 cups flour, yeast (in a whole formed in the flour), salt and sugar (1 tsp) along the edges of the pan.
• I put it on the dough cycle just until it finished kneading (about 35 minutes or so) as I wanted it to rise in the pan I would be baking it inches.
• Turn it onto a floured surface to shape it and place it in a greased pan (see note above under traditional method concerning options on pan size).
• Baking and Rising instructions for both methods:.
• Take the greased pan or pans and cover them with a clean dish cloth and put in a warm place to rise for 4 hours. I usually let the stove warm slightly while I am working with the dough, turn off the heat, and put it in there to rise but be careful not to let the oven get too hot. It only needs to be warm, not hot.
• After 4 hours, take dough out of oven and pre-heat oven to 300. At this point, beat an egg and brush it over the top of the loaf/loaves.
• If you have shaped the dough into one large bread, it will take between 45 minutes and 1 hour to bake. When it is done, the top will be somewhere between a golden colour and a dark brown. Mine took about 55 minutes this year.
• If you have gone with the smaller loaves, you will simply have to keep an eye on things since I am not sure how long they would take to bake. I would estimate about 30 minutes.