Slice of a good thin crust pizza should hold its shape when picked up. To achieve that you have to roll out your crust dough thin, do not sauce it excessively nor top it with too much toppings. And it has to be baked on a very high temperature.
Neapolitan pizza uses good quality fresh mozzarella and tomato sauce. The common household ovens can't give you a char as good as the commercial ovens but we can use the broil option for that. So let's go.
Read the whole text thoroughly if planning on making your mozzarella.
MEK Neapolitan Pizza
For the dough:
2 cups or (240 g) 00 flour
⅛ tsp of instant yeast
¼ tsp sugar
1 ¼ tsp salt
6 Oz. water
High quality marinara sauce
Fresh good quality mozzarella cheese
Fresh basil
Fresh oregano
Olive oil for drizzling
A sprinkle if salt only if using unsalted mozzarella
For fresh mozzarella:
1 gallon fresh raw milk
½ rennet tablet dissolved in ¼ cup bottles water
1 ½ tsp citric acid dissolved in ½ cup bottles water
A thermometer
A kettle of boiling water
For the dough combine all the ingredients at once all together and using a wooden spoon mix everything. This dough is very wet so it's good not to use your hands. After mixing it and kneading it around with the wooden spoon for a few minutes, cover the dough bowl and let it sit at room temperature. Let it rise for 8 hours over the counter.
For the mozzarella:
Pour milk in the pot and heat it till it reaches 55 F. Remove from heat and check the temperature (make sure it's 55 F). Now add the citric acid solution to it and stir it for a minute.
Now transfer the pot back to the burner and heat it to 90 F. Quickly remove from heat and wait just to make sure the rise in temperature stops before adding the rennet.
Once sure that the milk temp is 90 F add the rennet solution to it. Quickly stir it around for 20 seconds and then stop. Leave the milk undisturbed for 10 minutes.
After that time, check in one corner for a clean break. If the milk is not yet set, leave it alone for another 10 minutes. Now break the curds and transfer the pot back to the burner. Heat the curds to 105 F. Turn heat off and keep stirring the curds for a minute more.
Drain your curds and let it sit in a colander for five minutes and keep removing the whey. Once the curds are drained all the way, transfer them to a bowl.
Now comes tempering the curds stage. Pour a glass of warm whey over the curds. Now start adding the hot boiling water (GRADUALLY) to the pot where the curds are tempering. Remember we are tempering, we are not instantly boiling the curds. So, keep adding hot water slowly and keep feeling it till it's too hot for your hands to touch. At this stage your curds should start melting and you should be able to stretch them. As soon as you are able to stretch them, be quick with shaping it. Don't try kneading and squeezing it for fun as you will end up with squeaky mozzarella instead of moist soft mozzarella.
Also don’t look for a smooth finish and shine on its surface because if you see that it means you have overworked your mozzarella.
So, as soon as your mozzarella is melty, quickly stretch it and fold it over itself no more than two times. Break it in pieces and shape it as desired.
Transfer your mozzarella to a bowl of cold tap water and add some salt to the water if desired.
Heat the oven to the highest heat setting and heat your pizza stone on the lowest rack during the preheating period.
Divide your dough in two parts and shape them. Spread ½- ¾ cup marinara sauce on it and top it with cheese (not too much). Drizzle with EVOO. Transfer to the preheated oven onto the heated stone and bake for 5 minutes. Then turn the broiler on and broil it while closely watching it till the desired top color is achieved. Take it out and top it with fresh basil. Slice it and enjoy!
7 июл 2024
