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Roberta’s pizza

Makes 2 pizzas

Dough

Dough ingredients

Preparation

  1. In a large mixing bowl, combine flours and salt.
  2. In a small mixing bowl, stir together 200 grams (about 1 cup) lukewarm tap water, the yeast and the olive oil, then pour it into flour mixture. Knead with your hands until well combined, approximately 3 minutes, then let the mixture rest for 15 minutes.
  3. Knead rested dough for 3 minutes. Cut into 2 equal pieces and shape each into a ball. Place on a heavily floured surface, cover with dampened cloth, and let rest and rise for 3 to 4 hours at room temperature or for 24 to 72 hours in the refrigerator. (If you refrigerate the dough, remove it 30 to 45 minutes before you begin to shape it for pizza.)
  4. To make pizza, place each dough ball on a heavily floured surface and use your fingers to stretch it, then your hands to shape it into rounds or squares.
    • Tip: Shaping the dough into a round then letting it rest on the counter while you sauce and cook another pizza has shown itself to be a pretty effective way of getting well-conditioned pizza.
  5. Top with sauce and Caccio Cavallo
    • Tip: Belgioso mozzarella pearls also work well for this as they’re lower moisture than slices off larger mozzarella balls
  6. Bake at the highest temp your home oven can do, on a pizza stone or unglazed terra cotta tiles, until the crust is brown and the cheese is bubbly.
    • Alternatively, for better results use a gas- or wood-fired pizza oven. Preheat the oven at its highest setting, then turn it to low while cooking each pie. Turn the oven back up to its highest setting between pizzas.

Sauce

Sauce ingredients

Sauce preparation

  1. The recipe for this sauce is simple. All that matters is that you use the best-quality canned tomatoes you can find. Depending on where you are, that might mean San Marzanos or it might mean tomatoes from California or Mexico. Try a few different labels before you decide on your go-to. Some are sweeter, some are more acidic. And often the flavor of one kind varies from year to year. We like a subtle sweetness, good acidity and strong tomato flavor.
  2. Drain the tomatoes and discard the juice (or use it for Bloody Marys). Use an immersion blender or a regular blender to puree the tomatoes until almost smooth.
  3. Add a splash of olive oil and a pinch of salt, blend until smooth, and taste. Add more olive oil and salt to taste, if needed, but keep in mind that the sauce will reduce a little bit when it’s baked on a pizza, so it will only get saltier. The sauce will keep in the refrigerator for up to a week, and up to 6 months in the freezer.

Reference