Pizza

Mix

1. Weigh the water into a large bowl (room temp or slightly warm).
2. Add the yeast, stir to dissolve.
3. Add the flour.
4. Mix with a wooden spoon or your hand until shaggy — no dry flour visible.
5. Stop. Walk away for 15 minutes. This rest makes kneading way easier.

Salt & oil

6. Sprinkle the salt over the dough.
7. Drizzle the olive oil over the dough.
8. Squeeze and fold it in until incorporated (~1 minute).

Knead

9. Turn onto a clean counter — no flour needed yet.
10. Knead 8–10 minutes.
11. Done when: smooth surface, springs back when poked, doesn’t tear when you stretch a piece thin.

Divide & shape

12. Weigh the total dough and divide into equal balls (the calculator tells you how many).
13. Shape each into a tight ball: pull edges underneath, pinch closed, roll on the counter with cupped hands.
14. Lightly oil a 9×13 dish or sheet pan; place balls a few inches apart.
15. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Done. Don’t touch them until bake day. Travelling? Keep them cold in a cooler and put them straight back in the fridge on arrival — a little spreading is normal.

2–3 hours before prep

• Pull dough from the fridge, leave it covered at room temp. Do not reshape or knead — just let it warm up.
• Sauce: crush whole peeled tomatoes by hand (or pulse 2–3 times, keep it chunky), stir in 1 tsp salt. No cooking, no oregano — the fire adds the flavor.
• Shred mozzarella from the block yourself (pre-shredded has anti-caking powder that kills the melt).
• Cook sausage fully, break into crumbles, cool. Slice pepperoni. Grate parmesan.

60–90 minutes before fire

• Build a substantial fire — don’t be shy with wood. Keep feeding it until walls, dome, and floor are saturated with heat.
• Push coals to the back or one side; keep a live flame licking the dome.
• Target: floor 600–700°F, dome 700–850°F.
• No thermometer? Flick a pinch of flour on the floor — it should brown in a few seconds. Instantly black = too hot, wait. Nothing = not ready.
• Hot dome but cold floor means charred tops, doughy bottoms. Be patient with floor heat.

Stretch

• Generously flour the surface. Press from the center out with fingertips — leave the outer 1″ untouched for the rim.
• Drape over your knuckles, let gravity stretch it; rotate to ~12″.
• If it springs back, set it down, wait 5 minutes, try again.

Top less than you think

• 2–3 spoonfuls of sauce, spread thin — not to the edge.
• Light handful of mozzarella; you should still see sauce between the cheese.
• Pepperoni and/or sausage. That’s it. Restraint is everything.

Launch

• Dust the peel generously with semolina (grippier than flour).
• Top the pizza on the peel, then immediately shake — does it slide? If not, lift edges and blow semolina underneath.
• Never let a topped pizza sit: top → shake → launch, 30 seconds max. Quick back-and-forth to slide it onto the floor.

Bake 2–4 min

• Place it near the fire. Rotate every 30–45 seconds.
• Watch for: rim browning, cheese bubbling, leopard spots underneath.
• Pull when the rim is puffed and charred in spots.
• Between pies: push the fire back, add a small log if needed, sweep burnt flour off the floor, next one goes on immediately.