This recipe requires patience, method and precision. However, the final result rewards you for the dedication you would put into it. A real professional pizza like the one you can enjoy in a typical Italian stone oven pizzeria!!
A slow leavening dough with pronounced air-cells, thin soft texture and with a wonderful crunchy crust. In addition, the very small amount of yeast used will make your pizza even more digestible.
Let’s bake and and enjoy a real Italian pizza at home! 🙂

- DifficultyVery difficult
- CostCheap
- Rest time1 Day 18 Hours
- Cooking time20 Minutes
- Servingmakes 4 pizzas
- Cooking methodOven
- CuisineItalian
Ingredients
For the first dough
- 300 gwhite flour type 0
- 300 mltable water
- 5 gyeast
For the second dough
- 500 gwhite spelt flour (or manitoba or white flour type 0)
- 200 gsemola rimacinata di grano duro (Sicilian durum wheat semolina)
- 450 mltable water
- 1 spoonbarley malt
For the topping
- 1 kgMozzarella cheese
- 250 mlsalted tomato sauce
Preparation
Day 1 – first dough
– sift the flour onto a large bowl;
– melt the yeast in the lukewarm water and pour it onto the flour;
– mix well with a wooden or silicon spoon till you get a smooth texture;
– cover the bowl with a kitchen towel, and put int the switched off oven for 12 hours
Day 2 – second dough
– take the first though which should have remarkable signs of fermentation (refer to the picture);
– transfer it into a bowl double the size of the previous one;
– melt the barley malt in 400ml lukewarm water and pour it onto the first dough;
– sift the 2 flours onto it and mix well with a wooden or silicon spoon till you get a smooth dough;
– melt the salt into the remaining 50ml water, then pour it onto the dough;
– knead the dough till you get a smooth but sticky ball;
– cover the bowl with cling film and let it rest in the top shelf of the fridge for 24 hours;
Day 3 part I – folding and last rest
– the dough should have doubled its size and it must show remarkable signs of leavening (refer to the picture);
– split the dough into 4 balls;
– grease the working surface with oil and start folding each ball of dough as follow: fold the longer side towards the center, and then fold the other free side towards the center too. You have obtained a cylinder. Fold one side of the cylinder towards the center and then fold the other side over it. This first fold is completed;
– now proceed to the second fold as follow: flat again the dough with your fingers to shape it again into a rectangle, then repeat the same procedure as above;
– transfer the 4 balls of dough in 4 separate bowls, which you would have greased with oil previously;
– cover them with kitchen cloths and let them rest in the switched off oven for 6 hours;
Day 3 part II – Baking
– fold your baking trays (I used round ones with 24cm diameter) with some baking paper, or grease them with oil if they are made of no-stick or cast iron material;
– put each dough into the center of each tray and stretch it gently with your hands till it reaches its edges;
– spread 4 spoonful tomato sauce onto each pizza;
– bring the oven to 240 degrees, then put one tray on the lower rack of your oven;
– after 10/12 minutes, take the pizza out and top it with mozzarella cheese, put it back in the oven but on the middle rack;
– cook till the crust is golden brown and the mozzarella melts;
– repeat the baking for all the other pizzas;