A great request! And really excellent pizza, even if I do say so myself. This is my best attempt at authentic Neapolitan style pizza done at home and it's seriously good and fun!
Perfect for a pizza party where you can just make, top, cook, eat and repeat as a group!
Ingredients (BAKER’s Percentages):
25% active sourdough starter
65% water
2% salt
100% flour ideally 00, 'Caputo' if possible, otherwise strong plain flour with the highest protein content you can find!
Around 190g dough - per individual pizza (100g flour)
4 pizzas:
400g flour
100 g starter
260g water
8g salt
Day 1:
Mix all of the dough ingredients in your stand mixer (with dough hook) to hydrate flour, then knead on medium speed (3-4 in the Kitchenaid) for 5-6 mins.
Cover and rest for 20 mins then mix again for 5-6 mins (speed 3-4), then give it a scrape and a stretch and fold to tidy it up.
Cover and rest for 30 mins then do first of 4 half hourly stretches and folds.
After the 4th S&F, leave at room temperature for 1-2hrs (it should be about 4-5 hours total from when the dough was first mixed). Then cover tightly and leave overnight in fridge (20-24 hours).
Day 2:
Remove the dough from the fridge and leave at room temperature for about an hour to warm up a little.
Shape into balls and then do the final prove on your workbench for 3-5 hours (or in a dough tray) covered for all but last 30-45 mins. Or, shape and put in a box in the fridge overnight then remove and prove at room temperature for about 4 hours on day 3 for tastier pizza, or 2 days in a row pizza! Just do the same for the final prove, a day later.
Then you can cook in pizza oven or stone from raw if you are fortunate enough to have either of them! Otherwise - heat a dry frying pan and grill. Shape the dough and place into hot pan, then top whilst the base cooks. Manage the heat so that it doesn't burn on the bottom but stays hot enough to puff the dough.
Once base more or less as you want it (3-4 mins), transfer to the preheated grill (2-3 mins) to finish the top. You want it hot but not too hot as we don't want to dough to burn before the toppings are ready. Just keep an eye on it and adjust the grill temp as required.
Once the toppings are done and the dough cooked on the crust, transfer to a board and top with basil, or any other fresh bits you want to. It's going to be volcanically hot... so just wait a minute then dig in!
For the Margherita:
San Marzano tomatoes tinned drained and just blitzed and seasoned with salt. Only cook or reduce it if it's really too watery to work well, and then only cook/reduce it a little! One tin will be enough for 4-5 indiviudal pizzas
Rules for toppings:
less is more, cooked stuff is better, where less moisture will come out. Try sauceless pizzas! Use cooking mozzarella, or drain and shred it first so it loses some moisture, 1x150g ball will do around 4-5 pizzas. Fresh herbs like basil you can add just before serving when it's finished cooking.
