Michael Gyetvan’s Pizza Tips & Pizza Dough Recipe

Napa’s Azzurro Pizzeria e Enoteca specializes in wood-oven baked, thin-crust pizzas topped with the freshest local ingredients. We were so impressed by the pizza–with its perfectly crisp, yet chewy, crust and deliciously tangy tomato sauce– that we asked chef Michael Gyetvan for his dough recipe and his favorite pizza combinations. He graciously obliged and even gave us tips for making great dough at home.

Get the recipe and Michael’s tips below.

What ingredients should the home cook have on hand to make great pizza at home?

The home cook should have on hand 00 flour, sea salt, dry yeast, good quality extra virgin olive oil, semolina and San Marzano tomatoes.

What are the secrets to making a great dough?

The secret to making a great dough is accuracy when measuring or weighing ingredients and using quality ingredients.

After making the dough, how should the home cook proceed? Is there kneading involved? How  do you hand-toss? Do you have to hand-toss or can you roll out dough with a rolling pin?

After making the dough and allowing it to come to room temperature, we like to hand shape.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface, flatten with your fingertips and the stretch on the back of your hands to the desired size, approximately 10”.

A rolling pin can be used, it produces a fine product and requires slightly less skill.

Do you recommend a peel and a pizza stone? How do you prepare a home oven for the best possible crust?

I most definitely recommend a peel and pizza stone. The key is to have the stone very hot, 500 degrees for 15 minutes works well. Building your pizza on a peel sprinkled with a little Semolina allows the pizza to slide easily from the peel to the stone.

What’s a great simple tomato sauce that you recommend for topping pizza?

Start with a few cloves of chopped garlic cooked in extra virgin olive oil, then add a pinch of dried oregano and San Marzano tomatoes pureed with a stick blender. Simmer quickly for about 15 minutes.

Pizza Dough Recipe

1 Tbs. active dry yeast

2 cups lukewarm tap water

2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil

5 cups “00” flour

1 Tbs. sea salt, extra fine

In a stand up mixer, with a dough hook attachment, add the water, yeast and oil. Mix on slow for 5 minutes. Turn the machine off and add in flour and salt, turn mixer on slow. Once a ball forms, mix for an additional 20 minutes. Put out on a lightly floured surface and shape into 5 equal balls (approx. 8oz each). Put on a sheet tray, lightly oil and cover. They then can be refrigerated overnight and then brought to room temperature for an hour (for best results) or left at room temperature for 1 hour.

This recipe could be done in a food processer but best results are in a mixer.