Da Orazio chefs reveal tips and tricks to creating the perfect pizza at home

Learning how to make good pizza at home can be life-changing, but it isn't always easy. Burned bases, oily cheese and soggy crusts have sent many a would-be pizzaiolo running back to their local Domino's or Pizza Hut in defeat.

Don't pack away your pizza oven just yet, though. Bondi chefs Orazio D'Elia and Matteo Ernandes from one-hatted Italian restaurant Da Orazio teamed up with Ooni pizza ovens to share some simple tips and tricks to transform your pizzas from brutta to bella.

Invest in quality cheese

If there's one ingredient you should splurge on, it's a quality mozzarella cheese, says head chef and co-founder D'Elia.

"It's important to use good mozzarella," he says.

"When it's poor quality you'll notice it when the pizza goes into the oven. It will start to burn, change colour, and sometimes you can even see it start to split and create these oily bubbles.

"That's an indication the cheese was made using leftover rennet."

D'Elia suggests choosing fior di latte (a cow's milk cheese with a fat content of between 3.4 to 4 per cent fat) over buffalo mozzarella (a water buffalo's milk cheese with up to 8 per cent fat) as the latter has a higher moisture content and can make pizza slices soggy.

"We do love buffalo mozzarella, though," he says.

"If you want to use that on your pizza just slice it and let it dry [on a colander] in the fridge for a little bit.

"That way you'll lose some of the liquid but none of the flavour."

Choose your flour wisely

When it comes to making your dough, pizza chef Ernandes encourages the use of high-protein flour to increase the chew, raise the edges and create a pliable, foldable slice.

Flour choice is equally important when it comes to shaping the dough, says D'Elia, who recommends dusting your workspace with semolina flour.

"It's better to use semolina flour because if it sticks to the bottom of the pizza it will give you a bit of a crunch," he explains.

"On the other hand, plain flour will go black and burn in the oven. It will taste bitter."

Flip as you shape

For a circular base, Ernandes recommends placing a rounded ball of dough on your workbench before interlocking your thumbs and pointer fingers to create a semi-circle shape with your hands.

Gently press the dough from the middle, pushing outwards and away from yourself, but never side to side. Then flip the dough to the other side and repeat three to four times, until the base is your desired size.

Work quickly

Don't leave your pizza base on the kitchen bench for too long, otherwise it could stick to the surface and break before you get it into the oven.

"One of the most common mistakes is leaving the pizza too long on a surface," says D'Elia.

"Once you've put some ingredients on there the dough can get a bit wet, so the pizza can become stuck to the bench and you won't be able to lift it onto the pizza peel to bake it."

Start small

D'Orazio cautions beginners not to spread their pizza base too thinly, as it will become difficult to move the dough from the bench and onto the pizza peeler without breaking it.

After placing the toppings on the pizza, gently use your hands to slide the base onto the pizza peeler.

"Once it's on the board, you can make it bigger," says D'Elia.

"Use your hands to gently pull, pull, [the corners]. That's how they make proper pizza in Napoli."

If you do accidentally create a hole in your pizza pase, D'Elia suggests placing a basil leaf like a bandage, placing it on the underside of the base to plug the gap.

Practice makes perfect

"Don't be scared to try it a second time," says D'Elia.

"Even at the restaurant, we never really get it the first time we try a new dough."

The tutorial was provided by Ooni Pizza Ovens, which recently launched their range of portable wood-fired and gas pizza ovens in Australia.