Did you know that you can make amazing pizzas at home? Most of the time even better than those you find at local eateries. I often tried making different styles of pizza, but this time I wanted to try one very similar to the Roman sheet pan pizza.
For this pizza, I chose an 80% hydration and a 24-hour fermentation with very little yeast, only 1.5 grams for half a kilo of flour. Moreover, not having a mixer, I used the folding technique, resulting in an excellent dough.
For the shaping and baking, I was inspired by the Roman sheet pan style, so I started the baking on the bottom rack to get the right crispiness on the pizza’s base. Finally, I completed the baking at mid-height, achieving a quite pronounced alveolation.
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- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Preparation time: 1 Day
- Portions: 8
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
for the Sheet Pan Pizza 80% Hydration
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1.7 cups water
- 0.05 oz fresh brewer's yeast
- 0.44 oz salt
- as needed semolina flour for spreading
- 12.3 oz mixed yellow and red cherry tomatoes
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tsp salt
- as needed extra virgin olive oil
- 2 buffalo mozzarella
Tools
- Bowl
- Kitchen Scale
- Baking Sheet
Steps
To make the Sheet Pan Pizza 80% Hydration
First, to make the dough, start 24 hours before baking. Take a very large bowl and add 4 cups of all-purpose flour, 0.44 oz of salt, and 1.7 cups of cold water with 0.05 oz of dissolved yeast.
Once all the ingredients are combined, start mixing them coarsely with a wooden spoon until all the water is absorbed by the flour. Cover the bowl with an airtight lid or plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for 40 minutes.
After 40 minutes, take the bowl out of the fridge and perform the folds, bringing the outer edges of the dough towards the center, covering the entire circumference of the dough. Do not worry if you notice a very lumpy consistency, it is completely normal at this stage. When finished, cover the bowl and return it to the fridge for another 40 minutes.
To continue, after the time in the fridge, repeat the same operation, taking the bowl out of the fridge to perform the folds again. Already at this stage, you will notice how the dough has undergone a transformation, becoming smoother. When finished, put it back in the fridge and repeat the same process, still every 40 minutes, for 2 more times.
At this point, after 4 cycles of folds 40 minutes apart, let the dough rest at room temperature for 20 minutes before putting it in the fridge for the last time until the next day.
So, we have arrived at the next day, 20 hours after we started putting the dough ingredients together. To proceed, remove the dough from the fridge and place it on a lightly oiled surface. At this point, create a smooth and homogeneous ball using the slapping and folding technique.
Once the dough ball is formed, place it back in the closed bowl and let it rise at room temperature for at least 3 hours. During this wait, you will prepare the topping for the sheet pan pizza.
For the topping, heat a base of extra virgin olive oil in a saucepan and flavor it with a crushed garlic clove. Once it reaches temperature, add the halved cherry tomatoes along with the salt.
Let it cook over medium heat until the cherry tomatoes are soft and well-cooked. You can decide to crush some of them to release a sauce that adds more moisture to the pizza. In the meantime, shred the buffalo mozzarella in a colander to release the excess liquid.
After the 3 hours of rising, preheat the oven to maximum heat, open the bowl, and sprinkle the dough with semolina flour. Sprinkle the same flour on the work surface where you will then place the dough. Proceed by pressing with your fingertips over the entire dough, giving it the rectangular shape of the baking sheet.
Continue by taking a rectangular baking sheet about 20×12 inches and sprinkle it with plenty of extra virgin olive oil. At this point, place the dough, without semolina, inside the baking sheet, giving it the shape of the sheet. Top the entire surface with the cooked cherry tomatoes.
Bake the sheet on the base of the preheated oven and let it cook for 9 minutes. After the time has passed, remove the sheet and continue baking for another 5 minutes at mid-height. To complete, remove the pizza, add the mozzarella, and bake it one last time for 2 minutes.
To conclude, turn off the oven and take out the pizza, which is now ready to be cut into pieces. Serve and garnish with fresh basil leaves.
Tip!
If at the first attempt you do not achieve great results, do not worry, try again, and you will see that over time you will start to understand the procedures better and on your own.
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
What kind of flour can I use?
In this case, I used Caputo Pizzeria Flour and it worked very well.
