Pizza al Taglio

A wet tray dough proved cold for two days, baked in steel and cut with scissors.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (fior di latte).

Ingredients

• 1 kg strong white flour
• 800 ml water
• 4 g fresh yeast
• 22 g salt
• 60 ml olive oil, and more for the tray
• 600 g San Marzano tomatoes, crushed
• 400 g fior di latte, torn and drained

Method

1. THIS IS NOT THE NAPOLETANA DOUGH. It is 80 per cent water against 65, it is never shaped by hand into a round, and it proves cold for two days rather than one.
2. Mix flour and 700 ml of the water to a shaggy mass and leave it 40 minutes. Then work in the yeast, salt, the last 100 ml and the oil.
3. Fold it in the bowl every 30 minutes for 3 hours. It will be too slack to handle and should be left that way.
4. PROVE IT 48 HOURS IN THE FRIDGE, covered. The long cold prove is what gives the open, almost hollow crumb this is recognised by.
5. Oil a steel tray generously and tip the dough in. PRESS IT OUT WITH OILED FINGERTIPS, dimpling rather than rolling, until it reaches the corners. Let it relax 1 hour.
6. Top with tomato and the drained cheese and bake at 250C for 18 to 22 minutes. A tray this deep cannot be done in the minute and a half a napoletana takes, and a napoletana oven would burn the base long before the middle set.
7. CUT IT WITH SCISSORS, in rectangles, and sell or serve it by weight. A pizza wheel drags the topping off a slab this deep.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes