Part of what makes pizza so beautiful is the different styles and adaptions that have emerged across the globe. You’ve got your classic Napoli pizza, invented in the 17th Century; your deep-dish Chicago pizza, resembling a saucy, cheesy pie; your Aussie pizza, loaded with heaps of toppings; and Turkish pizza, with an eastern Mediterranean twist, among plenty of others.
The topic of conversation today, however, is the beloved thin crust pizza – for those who like a little more ‘bang’ for their buck.
Thin crust pizza allows more space for flavours and toppings and, while personally we’re huge fans of crust, we can definitely see the appeal in minimalizing it. Let’s take a look at the secrets of making a thin crust pizza at home:
A thin rollout of your dough
To make a perfectly thin pizza crust, you need a perfectly thin rollout of your dough. Your dough needs to be thinner than you’d usually make it, which involves a couple of specific steps. First, lightly flour your work surface, rolling pin and the top of your dough with flour – keyword: lightly. A thin crust won’t be able to handle as much flour as regular crust. Then, roll it out to the edges with even pressure, making a thinner base and crust.
A thin layer of sauce
We all know what a classic Aussie-style pizza looks like: loaded with heaps of toppings, extra cheese and plenty of sauce. When making thin crust pizza, we try and do the exact opposite of this. We use much less sauce because the thin base and crust can’t manage the weight of lots of sauce, and will become soggy excess sauce is used. Spread the sauce lightly and evenly, so you can still see the dough through the sauce.
Use fewer ingredients
Like we said, we’re not going for an Aussie pizza here. Aim for simple, modest toppings – no more than 3 or 4 of them. Too many ingredients on your thin crust pizza will create excessive moisture, again leading to a soggy, undercooked pizza.
Instead, just use a few high quality ingredients: splurge on the expensive cheese, get organic tomatoes, use fresh basil and butcher-made pepperoni. You’ll thank us later!
Light toppings are good toppings
Another secret to making thin-crust pizza is to choose light toppings over heavy ones. Instead of mushrooms and capsicum, use rocket and basil, opting for simple flavours that won’t weigh down your thin base.
Sydney Fire Bricks believe that all pizzas have a role in today’s diverse culinary climate. That’s why they manufacture the best quality pizza ovens which are designed to cook any pizza you like. Sydney Fire Bricks boast a range of Aussie-built pizza ovens, from small to large, all handmade by masters in the craft. Built from the best quality refractory bricks, Sydney Fire Bricks deliver outstanding ovens at value prices. Browse their online catalogue or get in touch with the team!