Ingredients

• Pizza Essentials dough ball1 (250g)
• San Marzano tomatoes, hand-crushed80g
• Salt (for sauce — 0.8g per 100g tomato)~0.6g
• Parmigiano Reggiano, freshly gratedto taste
• Fior di latte mozzarella, torngenerous
• Fresh basil leaveshandful
• Extra virgin olive oildrizzle
• Semolina Rimacinata or flour, for dustingas needed

Method

1. Prepare your dough. If using from frozen, leave at room temperature for 5 to 6 hours to defrost and begin fermenting. Transfer to a dough tray, refrigerate for 24 hours, then remove 2 hours before baking to come up to room temperature. Ready dough will be puffy, light, and almost doubled in size.
2. Cut out the dough ball. Dust your surface with semolina or flour. Use a dough cutter to cut around the ball, slide it fully underneath, and lift it out cleanly. Flip it so the original top side faces up — this is the side you'll stretch and top.
3. Open the dough. Using three fingers from each hand, push the air outward toward the crust to create a clean border. Work your fingers down toward the centre and back out. Rotate and repeat. Flick or pinch away any large surface bubbles.
4. Slap stretch to size. Slide one hand under the dough, flip it onto your wrist, then slam it down with the opposite hand at 90 degrees and give a short pull. Rotate and repeat, building speed, until you have a round 12-inch base. Shake off any excess flour.
5. Sauce. Spoon 80g of hand-crushed San Marzano tomatoes onto the centre. Spread in a circular motion toward the edges, leaving the crust clear.
6. Top. Grate a generous amount of Parmigiano over the sauce. Add a few fresh basil leaves. Tear the fior di latte and distribute it evenly across the base. Finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
7. Transfer to the peel. Lightly dust a 33cm perforated peel and shake off the excess. Scoop or slide the pizza on, then gently stretch it to the limits of the peel. Check it slides freely before going near the oven.
8. Cook. Launch into a 500°C oven. After about a minute, slide the peel underneath, break the seal, and rotate with quarter turns — watching the base colour and keeping an eye on the crust. Keep heat on high throughout.
9. Finish and serve. When the cheese is bubbling and the crust has good colour, lift the pizza toward the flame for a final few seconds to finish everything off. Remove, slice into four with a pizza wheel or rocker, and serve immediately.