Kevin

Neopolitan Pizza a la Pan

 Combine the water, salt, sugar in a mixing bowl and stir.

 Add 1000 grams of the flour, as well as the yeast. Break the yeast up in your hands with the flour.

 Add the olive oil, and mix with hands. It should be fairly wet

 Add the rest of the flour, and mix until just coming together, then transfer to table.

 You’re going to knead the dough for 15-20 minutes, this will activate the gluten, and get the dough nice and airy. Make sure to do at least 15 minutes, if not you’ll get a dough that doesn’t rise and is dense.

 Put the dough back in the mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap for an hour.

 After the hour is up, you’re going to portion the dough into balls. The size of the dough is up to you, but I found a basebal sized dough was perfect for a 10.5 inch pan. Cut the dough and smooth the sides over, the ball should be smooth. You can round it on the table as well.

 Store the balls in a sheet tray and cover with plastic wrap again for 6-8 hours. This is to proof the dough. This is crucial.

 During this time you can prep the toppings. The traditional way of marinara is to crush the tomatoes in hand and add salt and evoo, however I personally like the taste of a cooked tomato, it’s stronger and more tart, and less watery.

 If you wanna follow me, cook the can of tomatoes down about 15 minutes, then take off heat, add basil stem, olive oil, salt and refrigerate.

 Cut the mozzarella into thin strips, this is the traditional Italian way of doing it. You can get preshredded, but I prefer to cut mine from fresh mozzarella.

 After the dough has proofed, you’re going to dust the top of one with some flour, and using a bench scraper with some flour on it pick up one of the doughs.

 Round off the edges, and using your finger tips, you’re going to press the air out from the middle off the dough to the edges.