Collect all the ingredients listed in the final pizza dough ingredient list.
Dissolve 5 g of yeast in 225 g of tepid water, stirring for a few seconds with a little spoon.
To prepare the final pizza dough, this time we will use a mixer (the mixer featured in the picture is a Kenwood Chef, but any equivalent mixer will do the job). Put 350 g of pizza flour into the mixer bowl and add 10 g of salt.
Add the diastatic malt powder.
Add the water with the yeast.
Add the olive oil.
Mix at low speed (No 1 setting in my Kenwood) for a minute or two so that all the ingredients come together.
Then, set the speed to the next setting (No 2 setting in my Kenwood) and start adding the biga in little chunks. Let the mixer do its job for about 8 minutes.
This is my pizza dough after about 10 minutes mixing. The dough is still a bit soft but don’t worry.
Dust the work surface with flour and transfer the pizza dough onto the work surface.
Now, we need to shape the dough into a ball. To do so, lift and fold the outer edges of the dough towards the centre, while rotating the dough at the same time and tucking the edges into the centre of the ball. Anything between six and eight folds should be enough.
When finished, turn the dough over and with both hands rotate the dough while applying gentle pressure to the bottom (as if tucking the dough underneath).
If the above instruction has been carried out correctly, you should end up with a ball like this one.
Grease the inside of a large bowl with a thin coat of olive oil.
Put the dough ball inside the bowl and cover the bowl. Leave the dough to rise for 3 hours (this is called bulk fermentation).
This is the pizza dough after 3 hours bulk fermentation.
Dust the work surface with flour and return the pizza dough onto the work surface.
Next, divide the dough in five segments of equal weight (160 g each).
Make a ball out of each segment. To do so, roughly pre-shape the segment into a ball, then cup your hands over the ball. Press down and move your hand in a circular motion, while keeping the hand cupped. This action will compact the ball into a tight round shape.
Spread some flour over the working surface and lay your dough balls onto it. Dust the top of the balls with a little more flour.
Cover the dough balls with a dry cloth and leave them to rest for 1 ½ hour. This time is called final fermentation.
Meanwhile, prepare the tomato sauce. Add a dash of olive oil into a saucepan and pour a can of peeled plum tomatoes into the pan.
Break down the tomato to avoid having big chunks (the most effective way is to use a potato masher). Add a pinch of salt and simmer for about 15-20 minutes. This will eliminate some of the water in the tomato sauce and increase its flavour.
When the sauce has reduced to the right consistency, pour it into a small bowl and let it cool down. This is the sauce you will use later to top the pizza bases. At the same time, make sure you have basil leaves and some buffalo mozzarella balls (roughly 3 basil leaves and one mozzarella ball for each pizza base). Put the pizza stone into the oven and pre-heat the oven at least 1 hour before baking the pizza. This to ensure that the baking stone is at the right temperature. In my case, I have set my electric fan assisted oven to 230°C (450°F). These are the pizza balls after 1 ½ hours final fermentation. It’s 5 PM and now we ready to make the pizza.
Lightly flour the working surface and take the first dough ball. Using a rolling pin, make the pizza base and dust the side that will be in contact with the pizza peel with a generous amount of flour. The pizza base should be very thin; I would say 2 or 2 millimetres (1/16" or 1/8") thick.
Sprinkle some polenta or coarse semolina flour onto the pizza peel (this will make the pizza base slipping onto the pizza stone easier). Move the pizza base onto the peel and quickly spread the tomato sauce.
We will bake the pizza in two stages. Quickly open the oven, let the pizza slip onto the hot stone and bake for 5 minutes (this is stage 1).
After 5 minutes, take the pizza out of the oven.
Quickly, top the pizza by scattering the mozzarella around. Add three or four basil leaves and, finally, complete with a dash of extra virgin olive oil.
Put the pizza back in the oven, onto the hot stone, and carry on baking for about 4 minutes (this is stage 2).
This is the pizza margherita after 5 + 4 minutes baking. For a proper made margherita pizza, the mozzarella should not be burnt. Before serving you can drizzle the pizza top with a little olive oil if you like.If you have followed the directions to the letter you should end up with a very crispy and flavourful pizza.