Gino's Italian pizza
He’s wowed us with his signature carbonara, and now Gino is back to whip up another Italian classic.
He’s creating a dish that his country is world famous for - Pizza Margherita!
The real Neapolitan pizza at home - La vera pizza Napoletana fatta in casa
Makes 5 pizzas
Ingredients
For the pizza dough
550ml water
800g “00” flour
25g salt
3g fresh yeast
10g caster sugar
25ml extra virgin olive oil
For the topping
2 x 400g tinned chopped tomatoes
15 basil leaves, plus 10 extra leaves to scatter on top
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to drizzle on top
1 teaspoons salt
3 mozzarella balls, drained and cut into ½ cm strips
Equipment
Pizza stone, 38 x 30cm
Wooden pizza shovel
1 x large bowl, 23cm diameter
1 x medium size bowl, 20cm diameter
Large flat tray, 35 x 40cm, about 10cm high
Large kitchen spoon
Method
1. Dissolve the yeast into the water and set aside.
2. Place the flour into a large bowl and sprinkle over the salt and sugar. Pour over the water and start mixing together for about 1 minute. Drizzle over the oil and continue to mix for 2 minutes.
3. Once all the ingredients are combined, transfer the dough onto a well-floured flat surface. If the dough is too sticky, sprinkle over a little more flour.
4. Gently knead the dough with your hands for 10 minutes until you create an elastic and smooth dough. At this point the dough should be slightly sticky, gently roll it into a big ball.
5. Leave the dough on the flat surface and cover by placing the mixing bowl upside down on top of the dough.
6. Remove the bowl and divide the dough equally into 5 pieces. Each piece should weigh approx. 290g
7. Roll each piece into tight balls, making sure there are no air bubbles in the middle.
8. Lightly dust a large tray with flour and place the balls inside, about 10cm apart from each other. Cover with cling film, making sure the cling film does not touch the dough balls. Place a large tea towel over the tray and let rest at room temperature for 5 hours.
9. Meanwhile, place all the tinned tomatoes, basil, oil and salt into a medium size bowl. With the help of your fingertips, crush the chopped tomatoes into a fine pulp, mix and set aside.
10. Preheat the oven to the highest temperature, if you can, around 290°, with the setting of the heat coming from the top of the oven.
11. Place the pizza stone on the top shelf of the oven, about 10cm away from the oven element's resistance. Make sure you preheat the oven 30 minutes before you are ready to cook the pizza.
12. Gently pick up a dough ball and place on a lightly floured surface. Use your fingertips to gently push the dough ball out from the centre, creating a crown/border around the pizza. The pizza size should be about 30cm in diameter.
13. Lightly dust your pizza shovel with flour and gently slide the pizza base on to it. Use your fingers to adjust the shape of the pizza base.
14. Use a large kitchen spoon to spread 1 and ½ tbsp of the tomato mixture on top of the pizza base. The best way to do this is by pouring the tomato mixture into the middle of the pizza base and spreading it from the centre going outwards, using the back of the large kitchen spoon. Leave the crown/border clean.
15. Equally scatter the mozzarella over the tomato mixture and evenly drizzle over 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Finally place 2 basil leaves on top of each pizza.
16. Slide the pizza onto the very hot pizza stone and cook for 5 to 6 minutes.
17. You have just made a traditional Neapolitan pizza……. Buon Appetito!