Margherita Pizza

Dough

• strong white flour500 g
• water325 ml
• fine salt12 g
• fresh yeast2 g

Topping

• tinned San Marzano tomatoes400 g
• fior di latte or mozzarella250 g
• basil1 handful
• extra virgin olive oil2 tbsp
• salt

Dough

1. 01

   Dissolve the yeast in the water, add the flour and mix to a shaggy dough. Leave it 20 minutes, then add the salt and knead for 10 minutes until smooth.

2. 02

   Cover and leave at room temperature for 8 hours, or 24 hours in the fridge. The long slow rise is what gives the crust its flavour and its blisters; a quick one-hour rise does not.

3. 03

   Divide into four balls, tuck them tight underneath, and rest covered for a final 2 hours until soft and puffy.

Topping and baking

4. 04

   Heat the oven as hot as it goes with a pizza steel or an upturned heavy tray inside, for at least 45 minutes.

5. 05

   Crush the tomatoes with your hands and season with salt. Do not cook them — the sauce cooks on the pizza.

6. 06

   Stretch a dough ball on a floured surface from the middle outwards, leaving the outer 2 cm untouched so it puffs into a rim. Never use a rolling pin; it presses out the air you spent hours making.

7. 07

   Spread a thin layer of tomato, scatter torn mozzarella, and slide it onto the hot surface.

8. 08

   Bake for 6 to 10 minutes until the rim is puffed and spotted brown. Add basil and a thread of olive oil as it comes out, not before.