Neapolitan Pizza

1. Make the Biga. Mix the150 g flour and yeast thoroughly. Slowly add 75 g water and mix with hands until combined. Don’t over mix/knead. 2. Let Biga ferment in the refrigerator for 48 hours in a closed container. (I make the Biga around noon 2 days prior to pizza dinner) 3. Make the Dough. Combine the Biga and 300g water in a mixing bowl. Slowly massage the biga in the water until it is milky. 4. With a dough hook (necessary) add 50% of flour (~187.5g) and all the salt until combined. Add remaining flour and mix with dough hook for 15-20 min. 5. Middle Flops, Remove the dough and perform the middle flop (see video below) until the top is smooth. Roll the dough under to make smooth surface ball. Rest under a large enough bowl for 30 min. 6. After rest, perform a few more middle flops, roll under into a ball and rest another 10 min. 7. Make Balls. Create 3 x pizza doughs, each should be about 300 g. Need work work quickly and gently as dough is quite sticky. It is important to keep the smooth surface from the middle flops intact across the entire ball. (see video). 8. Rest dough balls for 2 hours in a container at room temperature, covered with plastic wrap. Dough balls should have plenty of space to expand, and should be dusted well with flour so plastic does not stick. 9. Preheat Oven (2 hours ahead) Preheat the oven at the maximum temperature, with pizza stone in middle rack for about 2 hours prior to making pizza. My oven is set to 565 F. The hotter the better. 10. Stretch Dough. Remove one dough ball at a time, and place top down in a pile of flour (i do 50% ‘00’ 50% Semolina). Use fingers to press the middle of dough (protect the edges). Flip to ‘top up’ back in the flour press middle a few more times, then place top up on a working bench. You will want to cook with the top side up. Use a fold over stretch, or stretch over hands keeping the crust as untouched as possible. 11. Initial Bake. Add sauce to pizza, transition to the oven using a pizza peel. Take care moving dough to peel, as it is quite soft/sensative. Again don’t pinch the crust, lift and slide onto peel as needed. Bake pizza with sauce only for ½ the time. ~4min at 565F. 12. Finish Pizza. After initial bake, remove te pizza onto a cooling rack. Add toppings, cheese, etc. Optional to brush olive oil on the crust. Back in the oven for remaining time. 3-4 min at 565F.