Reinhart Neapolitan Pizza

Ingredients

Instant yeast variant:

Sourdough variant:

Recipe

  1. Mix the flour, salt, and yeast/starter in a large bowl.

  2. Add the water and oil and mix until well combined.

  3. Knead using a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment at medium speed for at least 5 minutes. The dough will be smooth and sticky.

  4. Divide the dough into six pieces. Each piece should weight ≈174 g.

  5. Keep each sixth in a plastic bag in the refrigerator overnight.

  6. Take the dough out of the refrigerator 2 hours before you want to eat. On a floured surface, shape the dough into discs that are about 5" wide and ½" thick, then cover with plastic wrap [1].

  7. 1 hour before you want to eat, place a pizza stone in the lowest rack of the oven and preheat the oven to 550°F (or as hot as possible).

  8. Toss or stretch the dough until it's about 12" in diameter [2], then place on a baking sheet dusted with cornmeal.

  9. Add toppings sparingly [3].

  10. Bake for 6-9 minutes.

Footnotes

  1. Shaping the dough into a somewhat round shape when it comes out of the refrigerator and letting it rest that way for 15-30 minutes makes it much easier to toss.

  2. Don't use a rolling pin to shape the dough. This squeezes the air out and results in a dense crust.

  3. Topping ideas:

    • Hot sopressata, sweet peppers, goat cheese, honey
    • Ginger, balsamic vinegar, goat cheese
    • Shaved sweet potato, ricotta, sautéd onions

  4. Thoughts about cheese:

    • Low-moisture whole milk (LMWM) is ideal
    • But it's hard to find!
      • "Whole milk" mozzarella is not the same: it's less moist than fresh mozzarella, but still too moist for pizza.
      • Check the cheese sticks; that's one way you might find it.
      • Also ask the deli counter.
    • If LMWM cheese is not available, part-skim is the next best.

References

The Bread Baker's Apprentice.