Steps

• In a large bowl, preferably stainless steel, pour room-temperature water and dissolve the yeast together with the sugar. Add the Caputo Nuvola flour sifted little by little, stirring continuously so everything blends well. As soon as all the flour is incorporated, add the salt and mix; then add the oil and mix again until well incorporated. At this point transfer the dough to a work surface and knead it by hand for at least 15 minutes. The dough must be well worked: stretch it out on the board, roll it into a ball and slap it onto the board, repeating several times — this helps dry the wetter parts of the dough.

  Place the dough in a large bowl greased with oil, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise about 1 hour at room temperature. Then take the dough, place it on a lightly floured board and perform 3 sets of folds (stretch the dough with your hands into a rectangle and bring the two long sides toward the center, then fold in half like a handkerchief). Let it rest 10 minutes and repeat the second fold as before, rest another 10 minutes and make the last fold. Place the dough back in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in the refrigerator until the next day.

• The next morning (around 11 AM) remove the dough from the fridge and let it rest about 1 hour at room temperature.

  After this time, divide the dough into 5 balls of about 10 oz (280 g) each. On a lightly floured board shape rounded loaves and let them proof spaced apart on a floured surface for at least another 5 hours (until dinner time when you will bake the pizzas).

  Shaping the pizza:

  Stretch one ball at a time.

  Lightly dust the work surface with semolina.

  Gently place a ball on the board and using your fingertips, stretch from the center toward the edges to get a thin base and a bubbly, higher crust. It may seem difficult, but it will come out well automatically because the dough will form bubbles along the crust by itself, as in the photos.

  

• Baking with the G3 Ferrari Oven:

  The home baking method that best reproduces pizzeria results is the pizza express oven G3 Ferrari. If you don’t already have one you can find it BY CLICKING HERE (this is not a sponsorship, just the oven I used). This type of compact oven reaches very high temperatures and allows perfect pizza baking in 5–6 minutes.

  To bake the pizza perfectly, preheat the oven; once it reaches temperature, place the stretched pizza directly on the oven stone, close the oven and wait 1 minute.

  Open the oven and add the tomato sauce, close again and bake another 2 minutes.

  Open the oven again, add the mozzarella and any other toppings you like, close the oven and finish baking for another 2–3 minutes.

  As soon as the pizza is baked, use the provided spatulas to transfer it to a serving plate, finish with basil and a drizzle of raw olive oil and serve.

  

• After the final rise the Nuvola pizza dough is ready to make pizzas. At home you have two other alternatives; I tried both and the best is pan + grill.

  SKILLET + GRILL BAKING: Stretch the pizza by hand from the center to the edge, leaving a higher crust, and place it in a large non-stick skillet. I often stretch it directly in the skillet and let it rest 20 minutes. Put the skillet on the stove and cook the pizza 2 minutes over medium heat covered with a lid. Add the seasoned tomato (salted and oiled), cover and cook until the bottom is nicely golden; then raise the heat a bit.

  Meanwhile preheat the oven on grill setting and put the oven rack on the position just below the grill. Heat the oven with the door closed. As soon as the bottom of the pizza is golden, transfer the skillet with the pizza into the oven keeping the handle outside and the door slightly open, bake 1 minute. Quickly remove the pizza, add the mozzarella and return to the oven still with the handle out and the door open. When the crust is well browned like at the pizzeria, remove the pizza and rotate it with a spatula, return to the oven and also brown the side near the handle, always with the door open. As soon as the pizza is nicely browned remove it from the oven, place on a serving plate, drizzle with raw olive oil, add some basil and it’s ready. The same procedure applies to all types of toppings.

  BAKING DIRECTLY IN A HOME OVEN: Preheat the oven to 428°F (220°C), although home results are generally best with specialty pizza ovens with a stone base.

  Stretch the dough on a very lightly floured board with your fingertips, widening from the center toward the edge to form a slightly higher crust. Top the pizza as desired and bake on the bottom of the oven. For home ovens it’s preferable to bake the pizza on the lowest shelf for the first 12 minutes, then finish for about 5 minutes on the upper shelf just below the grill.

  
•