Submitted by: Francesco F.
Recipe Source Country: Italy
Cooking/Prep time: more than 2 hours
Ingredients
- 400g of 00 flour
- 250g of lukewarm water
- 5g of fresh brewer’s yeast
- 10g of extra virgin olive oil
- 10g of salt
- 1 pinch of Sugar
- 300g of peeled tomatoes
- 250g of mozzarella
Directions
- Get yourself a bowl that can allow you to work easily and pour the warm water into it: the slight heat of the water is necessary to give the yeasts a chance to activate. Then dissolve yeast and sugar in water and, once finished, pour in all the flour.
- Remove the lumps with a wooden spoon and start kneading with one hand inside the bowl, helping yourself by turning it clockwise with the other hand.
- Fold the dough on itself, working it for about 5 minutes, add the salt and oil, kneading for a few more minutes and stop for about 10 minutes, covering the bowl with a cloth. Take the dough and work it on the surface in the same way as for the pan pizza recipe, until you obtain a compact and slightly sticky mass: it is important that there are no more lumps. Grease a large container with extra virgin olive oil and place the dough in it, covering it with transparent film. At this point two fundamental conditions are needed for leavening, heat and humidity: heat some water in a saucepan until boiling and place it in the switched off oven near the dough, closing the door. You will have obtained a leavening chamber. Let the dough rise in the oven.
- For a deep, soft and fluffy pizza in a deep pan, take the dough out of the oven after 1 hour and gently roll it out on a workbench dusted with flour. Then transfer the dough into a pan lightly greased with oil and finish rolling it out delicately to preserve the leavening gases.
- Season it with peeled tomatoes chopped by hand or passed through a food mill and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil; place the pan in the turned off oven to rise for another 30 minutes. At this point, take out the pan to preheat the oven at maximum temperature for at least 30 minutes.
- Cook the pizza on the oven floor for at least 10 minutes; then season with the mozzarella and transfer the pan to the top (3/4 of the oven height) to finish cooking: it will take about 3-4 minutes and the mozzarella must have melted. If you instead want a shallower and crispier pan pizza, you will have to leave the dough to rise in the oven for about an hour and a half; take it out, gently lay it out on the workbench dusted with flour and transfer it to a baking tray lightly greased with oil. Also in this case the oven must be preheated to the highest possible temperature for at least 30 minutes and the pizza must cook without mozzarella for at least 10 minutes. Season with mozzarella and finish cooking exactly as for the previous version.
This recipe is perfect for family occasions and time spent together. It is quick and simple.