Homemade pizza margherita with slow-fermented dough
Two 30 cm Neapolitan-style pizzas baked in a home oven: dough made with 00 flour and kneaded the day before, hand-crushed raw peeled tomatoes, well-drained fior di latte, fresh basil and a drizzle of oil, baked on a blazing-hot tray until the rim is puffed and mottled.
Method
- Take the pizza dough out of the fridge. Place an upside-down baking tray in the upper third of the oven and preheat at the highest setting, 250°C or above, for 30 minutes. If not done the day before, tear the mozzarella into 2 cm pieces and drain in a colander throughout preheating, then pat dry with kitchen paper.
- Drain the peeled tomatoes for 10 minutes, then crush by hand in a bowl with 3 g salt. Unroll the dough on its baking parchment. If using a dough ball, stretch with your fingertips into a rectangle about 30 × 40 cm, the size of the tray, on a sheet of parchment, to make one large pizza for two.
- Spread the tomato with the back of a spoon to within 2 cm of the edge. Use just one ladleful, 120–150 g, as shop-bought dough is thin and must not become wet. Scatter over the mozzarella in spaced pieces and drizzle with 1 tbsp olive oil. Add the remaining tomatoes to their reserved juice for tomorrow's pasta sauce.
- Pull the parchment with the pizza onto the hot tray and bake for 10–12 minutes. After 3 minutes, lift the edge with a spatula and remove the parchment so the base browns better. It is ready when the rim is golden and crisp, the mozzarella bubbles and has a little colour, and the base is dry. If the top is pale, switch to the grill for 2–3 minutes, watching closely; the element takes 2 minutes to glow red.
- Take out of the oven, tear over the basil, drizzle with the second tablespoon of oil, cut into 8 pieces and serve immediately.
For a weeknight, supermarket dough makes a good thin pizza. The secret is the same: the hottest oven setting and a preheated tray.
Lighter version
- Type 00 wheat flour for pizza : 260 g
- Water : 156 g
- Fresh fior di latte mozzarella (125 g ball in liquid) : 160 g
- Fine salt : 10 g
- add Courgettes 150 g (1 small courgette, cut into 2 mm slices)
- add Rocket 40 g (a handful, added raw after baking)
Make 200 g dough balls using 240 g flour, 156 g water, the same yeast and 6 g salt in the dough instead of 8 g. Stretch more thinly to 30 cm for an almost crisp base.
While the oven heats, salt the courgette slices with 1 g salt, a pinch, and leave in a colander for 10 minutes, then pat dry with kitchen paper. In step 6, use a little less tomato, 70 g per pizza, as the dough is thinner, and 80 g mozzarella per pizza, half the 160 g. Lay the courgette slices flat ON TOP and drizzle the oil over them, so they roast and brown instead of steaming beneath the cheese. Add the basil and a handful of raw rocket after baking.
Thinner dough, about a third less mozzarella, roasted courgette and rocket: a lighter, thin vegetable pizza that still tastes good.
On your plate
Recipe
1038 kcal · protein 40 g · carbs 137 g · fat 34 g
Quantities per person
- 160 g Type 00 wheat flour for pizza
- 15 g Fine durum wheat semolina
- 97.5 g Water
- 1 g Dried baker's yeast
- 5.5 g Fine salt
- 200 g Tinned whole peeled tomatoes, such as San Marzano (400 g tin)
- 125 g Fresh fior di latte mozzarella (125 g ball in liquid)
- 5 g Fresh basil
- 10 g Extra virgin olive oil
Cooking tips
This is a dairy meal, so serve no meat; the starter should be pareve or dairy. Make the dough the evening before in 20 minutes and refrigerate. The stated 4 hours cover the final dough rise and preheating, not hands-on work. A shaped dough ball can be frozen for up to 1 month; thaw for 6 hours in the fridge, then leave for 3 hours at room temperature. The evening before, remove the mozzarella from its liquid, tear it and leave to drain in the fridge in a colander over a bowl, covered with cling film. By the next day it will be dry enough to melt without flooding the pizza. The drained tomato juice makes a base for tomorrow's pasta sauce. Variations: marinara, without mozzarella and with sliced garlic and oregano, is pareve; or replace the fior di latte with burrata torn over the pizza after baking.
Pizza napoletana verace (AVPN), adapted for a home oven: 65% hydration, less yeast, a long cold rise and baking on a preheated tray.
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