Overview
Our Pizza Boxes contain all the dough and toppings you need to make authentic Italian pizzas on your EGG. As any Neapolitan will tell you, it’s hard to beat a proper Margherita. Simple, classic, a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.
Prepare the dough: frozen or fresh
Frozen: Before they can be pressed out, the frozen dough balls first need to reach room temperature, then spend a few hours proofing. Remove each ball from its plastic bag while still frozen. Place in a bowl or proofing pot, cover with clingfilm or a lid, and leave to defrost and prove. In the summer, this can take as little as 4 hours. In the colder months, it can take up to 12 hours.
Fresh: Remove the dough balls from their plastic bag while still chilled. Place in a bowl or proofing pot, cover with clingfilm or a lid, and leave to prove for 2 to 6 hours, depending on the weather. The dough needs to be loose, airy and malleable before it can be pressed out.
Set up your EGG
Set up your EGG for indirect cooking, with the ConvEGGtor in a legs-down position, topped with the Stainless Steel Grid and a Baking Stone. Target temperature is 300˚C.
Shape the dough
Dust your work surface with semolina flour mix. Using your fingertips, press out the dough ball firmly, starting at the centre and working out to the edge. Ensure you leave 1cm around the rim of the pizza untouched. Turn the dough ball over and repeat the pressing out process on the other side. Try to move quickly with the dough, as it can stick to the work surface if left too long. If you’re generous with the flour and keep adding a little more as you go along, you shouldn’t end up in a sticky situation.
Take the newly flattened dough ball on the back of your hands, ensuring the weight is on your knuckles.
Using the back of your hands, stretch the dough out as far as you can without tearing it. Turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat this stretching. Do this a few times.
You should now have a disc of dough around 30cm in diameter, consistently thin but with a slightly thicker rim.
Transfer to a well-floured pizza peel, then add your toppings.
Add the toppings
Place a spoonful of tomato sauce in the center of the dough. Using the back of the spoon, spiral the sauce around the pizza leaving a good rim around the edge. Evenly distribute the mozzarella. Finally, place some torn-up basil leaves around the pizza. Do not be tempted to overload with toppings or your pizza will not cook evenly.
Bake the pizza
Take care to burp your EGG, then transfer the pizza carefully onto the Baking Stone. Close the Dome.
After a few minutes, check that the cheese is melting and the dough is blistering. Close the EGG again if it looks like it needs longer. The pizza may need turning if it is developing hot spots. It should take about 6 minutes for the pizza to cook, during which time you can start preparing your next one.
Using the pizza peel, remove the pizza from the EGG. Divide into even slices with our Pizza Wheel and eat straight away.
Top tips
If you over-stretch your dough and it gets too thin, you can sometimes end up with small holes in your pizza base. But don’t fear, all is not lost - just squeeze these gently back together before you put any toppings on.
To avoid a soggy bottom, use less tomato sauce.
