Napoletana Pizza Dough Recipes

Steps:

• Sprinkle the yeast over the water and let stand for 1 minute, or until the yeast is creamy. Stir until the yeast dissolves.
• In a large bowl, combine the cake flour, 2 1/2 cups of the all purpose flour, and the salt. Add the yeast mixture and stir until a soft dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, adding more flour if necessary, until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
• Lightly coat another large bowl with oil. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to oil the top. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm, draft free place and let rise until doubled in bulk; about 1 1/2 hours.
• Flatten the dough with your fist. Cut the dough into 2 to 4 pieces and shape the pieces into balls. Dust the tops with flour. Place the balls on a floured surface and cover each with plastic wrap, allowing room for the dough to expand. Let rise 60 to 90 minutes, or until doubled.
• Thirty to sixty minutes before baking the pizzas, place a baking stone or unglazed quarry tiles on a rack in the lowest level of the oven. Turn on the oven to the maximum temperature, 500 to 550 degrees F.
• Shape and bake pizzas in desired fashion.

Steps:

• 1. Stir together the flour, salt, and instant yeast in a 4-quart bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer). With a large metal spoon, stir in the oil and the cold water until the flour is all absorbed (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment), If you are mixing by hand, repeatedly dip one of your hands or the metal spoon into cold water and use it, much like a dough hook, to work the dough vigorously into a smooth mass while rotating the bowl in a circular motion with the other hand. Reverse the circular motion a few times to develop the gluten further. Do this for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are evenly distributed. If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for 5 to 7 minutes, or as long as it takes to create a smooth, sticky dough. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet and doesn't come off the sides of the bowl, sprinkle in some more flour just until it clears the sides. If it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a tea- spoon or two of cold water. The finished dough will be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50 to 55°F
• 2. Sprinkle flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Prepare a sheet pan by lining it with baking parchment and misting the parchment with spray oil (or lightly oil the parchment). Using a metal dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you are comfortable shaping large pizzas), You can dip the scraper into the water between cuts to keep the dough from sticking to it, Sprinkle flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Lift each piece and gently round it into a ball. If the dough sticks to your hands, dip your hands into the flour again. Transfer the dough balls to the sheet pan, Mist the dough generously with spray oil and slip the pan into a food-grade plastic bag.
• 3. Put the pan into the refrigerator overnight to rest the dough, or keep for up to 3 days. (Note: If you want to save some of the dough for future baking, you can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag. Dip each dough ball into a bowl that has a few tablespoons of oil in it, rolling the dough in the oil, and then put each ball into a separate bag. You can place the bags into the freezer for up to 3 months. Transfer them to the refrigerator the day before you plan to make pizza.)
• 4. On the day you plan to make the pizza, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator 2 hours before making the pizza. Before letting the dough rest at room temperature for 2 hours, dust the counter with flour, and then mist the counter with spray oil. Place the dough balls on top of the floured counter and sprinkle them with flour; dust your hands with flour. Gently press the dough into flat disks about 1/2 inch thick and 5 inches in diameter. Sprinkle the dough with flour, mist it again with spray oil, and cover the dough loosely with plastic wrap or a food-grade plastic bag. Now let rest for 2 hours.
• 5. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone either on the floor of the oven (for gas ovens), or on a rack in the lower third of the oven. Heat the oven as hot as possible, up to 800F (most home ovens will go only to 500 to 550F, but some will go higher). If you do not have a baking stone, you can use the back of a sheet pan, but do not preheat the pan.
• 6. Generously dust a peel or the back of a sheet pan with semolina flour or cornmeal. Make the pizzas one at a time. Dip your hands, including the backs of your hands and knuckles, in flour and lift I piece of dough by getting under it with a pastry scraper. Very gently lay the dough across your fists and carefully stretch it by bouncing the dough in a circular motion on your hands, carefully giving it a little stretch with each bounce. If it begins to stick to your hands, lay it down on the floured counter and reflour your hands, then continue shaping it. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss as shown on page 208. If you have trouble tossing the dough, or if the dough keeps springing back, let it rest for 5 to 20 minutes so the gluten can relax, and try again. You can also resort to using a rolling pin, though this isn't as effective as the toss method.
• 7. When the dough is stretched out to your satisfaction (about 9 to 12 inches in diameter for a 6-ounce piece of dough), lay it on the peel or pan, making sure there is enough semolina flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide. Lightly top it with sauce and then with your other top- pings, remembering that the best pizzas are topped with a less-is-more philosophy. The American "kitchen sink" approach is counterproductive, as it makes the crust more difficult to bake. A few, usually no more than 3 or 4 toppings, including sauce and cheese is sufficient.
• 8. Slide the topped pizza onto the stone (or bake directly on the sheet pan) and close the door. Wait 2 minutes, then take a peek. If it needs to be rotated 180 degrees for even baking, do so. The pizza should take about 5 to 8 minutes to bake. If the top gets done before the bottom, you will need to move the stone to a lower self before the next round. if the bottom crisps before the cheese caramelizes, then you will need to raise the stone for subsequent bakes.

Steps:

• Mix yeast with 1/2 C of lukewarm water and let it proof. This usually takes 5-15 minutes.
• Place all ingredients including the remaining lukewarm water (1 1/4 C plus 2 T) according to the ABM machine instruction and set it for dough only. My ABM takes 2 hours for dough only setting.
• After the 2 hours are up take out the dough and place it in a well olive oiled large bowl. Turn the dough to coat it with the oil, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put the bowl in the refrigerator overnight. The overnight method makes wonderful tasting pizzas.
• Next day remove the bowl of dough from the refrigerator 2 hours before you plan to make the pizzas. The dough will have expanded and gluten very relaxed.
• Using wet hands gently transfer the dough to a floured counter, trying not to degas the dough as little as possible.
• Using a pastry blade or knife dipped in water, divide the dough into 6 equal pieces. Gently round each piece into a ball and brush or rub each ball with the olive oil.
• Brush the sheet pan with olive oil and place each dough ball on the pan and loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap. (If you do not plan to use all the pieces, place the extra ones in individual freezer bags and freeze).
• Allow the dough balls to sit at room temperature 2 hours before making the pizzas.
• Preheat the oven to 500°F.
• Roll out the each dough into 9 to 12 inch diameter pizzas using a rolling pin and your hands. This dough is very soft, elastic and hard to handle compared to other pizza doughs and will require some effort to get to 9 inches diameter. I use combination patting down, stretching, and use of rolling pin to get it to 9 inch diameter. Once you get very good handling this dough, you may get it to 12 inch diameter, but 9 inch is perfectly fine.
• Lightly oil the pizza baking pan and place the pizza. Spread 1/4 C to 1/2 C sauce over the surface of dough, leaving a 1/4 to 1/2 inch border uncovered. Arrange mozzarella over the top and sprinkle with grated Parmesan or Romano cheese.
• Bake for about 9-10 minutes in the middle rack. When done, the crust should be puffy and slightly charred on the edge and thinner in the center, and cheese fully melted and just beginning to brown in spots. The underside of the crust should be brown and crisp, not white and soft. Keep an eye on it until you know how long your oven will take because each oven is different.
• Remove the pizza from the oven and lay 4 - 6 basil leaves. Repeat with the remaining ingredients to make the next pizza.