Eastington@Paddington

by Vito Iacopelli

This is the best recipe I have come across for making Pizza dough, but it needs to be started the day before. The perfection comes from the Poolish.

MAKE POOLISH

• In a container put 200g of water.  
• Add 5g of honey.
• Add 5g of yeast.
• Mix to dissolve.
• Then add 200g of 00 Flour, and mix.
• Let sit for 15m, then close lid.
• Let Poolish sit for 1 hour at room temperature.
• Then put in the fridge, 16-24 hours.  (Any longer than 24 hours, it will be too acidic)

MAKE DOUGH (About a 4 hour process)

• Take out the Poolish 1 hr to come to room temperature.
• Put in a bowl.
• Add 300g of the strongest (highest protein) 00 flour.
• Add 200g of 00 flour (the same flour used in the Poolish)
• Integrate the flour with the Poolish.
• Separately, mix 300g of water  with 20g of salt.
• Little by little add the salted water, and knead for about 10-15m in the bowl.
• Then put the dough on the counter and work the dough until there is no more chunks of flour inside.
• Then flap and fold the dough on the counter.
• Then a little EVOO on the hands and tap the top of the dough, and let it rest for 15m (nothing on top).
• Then more EVOO on the hands (more tapping on top) and gently create a ball.
• Then more EVOO on the hands (more tapping on top) and cover with a towel so that the dough does not get dry, and leave for 1hr at room temperature.

MAKE SAUCE & TOPPING

• Add canned whole tomatoes and juice to a bowl.
• Add salt and chopped basil
• Tsp of EVOO.
• Crush with hands (you want chunks of that tomato)

• Use free mozzarella (low hydration, ie dryer).
• Slice into half finger widths and lengths

SHAPE DOUGH BALLS

• More EVOO on the hands (more tapping on top).
• Cut into 4 (about 250g-280g each).  (Depends on the size of pizza you want).
• Shape into a ball by keeping the top and  “closing” the bottom (like making a cheese).
• Then place the 4 balls on a tray (about 4 fingers apart), cover with cling wrap and let rest for 1 hour.  (It should double in size)

MAKE PIZZA

• Sprinkle a little flour over the balls
• Gentle put one ball in flour (lots of flour), and keep the others covered.
• Gently press in the middle of the ball (to get the air to the crust)
• Flip over and do again.
• Then one hand press and the other pull (stretching the dough)
• Remove excess flour (it will burn and not healthy)
• Add two of 3 spoons of the tomato sauce to the centre, and spread to near the crust
• Add a little freshly grated parmesan cheese
• Then dump the mozzarella on the pizza
• Add a couple of leaves of basil on top, and put a little EVOO on top of the leaves to prevent burning

COOK

• You need to keep moving the pizza around on the stone so that the base gets crispy (it absorbs the heat, so you need to keep moving it to hot spots).     If using a domestic oven two stones would be better.
• When cooked, add a little more parmesan everywhere, and extra basil, and a little EVOO

Perfection when the crust cracks when pressed and soft airy bread inside.