There are countless ways to prepare a good pizza. Today's pizza is made with pasta di riporto, which is simply an ancient Italian way to use leftover dough from a recent bake in order to leaven the dough. The result will be a pizza that needs less yeast, and with much greater depth of flavor. Let's get started!
Preheat The Marinara Pizza Oven to 750°F- 398°C, or when using the Saputo Stones up to 850°- 900°F - 454°-482°C. Before preheating the wood-fired oven, take just a few minutes to easily clean the front of the oven. It definitely will be worth the effort, and the oven will look great!
If the dough has been cold proofed overnight, it will be easier to stretch if taken out of the refrigerator about one hour before making pizzas.
Remove a dough ball from the dough tray and place it on a well floured surface. Flip the dough around so both sides are dusted with flour.
With one hand on top of the other, press down with the tip of your fingers all around the edge of the dough ball leaving the "cordone" or rim, untouched.
Next, with the pads of the fingers, press from the center of the dough ball and gently push to the outer edge toward the cordone. Do this all the way to the outer perimeter of the dough ball, leaving the rim untouched.
You can slap the dough from hand to hand with quarter turns, as shown in the video. This can be done once the center of the dough has been stretched out into the cordone.
Finally softly grab the cordone with the fingers of both hands, and let the dough hang off the work surface as gravity will gently stretch the dough. Do this all around the cordone. Once stretched place it back on the floured work surface to add the toppings.
Place the tomato sauce in the center of the stretched dough. The classic tomato sauce consists of canned crushed Roma tomatoes from San Marzano (uncooked), a little salt to taste, maybe a sprinkle of sugar to cut down the acidity if the tomatoes are acidic. Nothing else is needed.
With a circular motion spread the sauce out until it reaches the cordone or crust. Make sure to leave some of the outer dough untouched by the sauce.
Spread pieces of mozzarella over the tomatoes, as well as the salamino piccante, sliced onions, capers, and olives. Season with salt, oregano or basil. Drizzle with olive oil and it is ready to go!
Measure the temperature of the oven surface with the infrared thermometer before putting the pizza in.
To scoop the pizza up from the work-surface, simply place the peel flat right under the edge of the pizza closest to you. Keep the peel at a slight angle while pressing on the table, also slightly lifting the handle. With a quick motion, scoop the pizza onto the peel. The perforated surface of the peel will eliminate any excess flour below.
Place the peel on the stone inside the pizza oven, and with a quick motion pull the peel back leaving the pizza on the oven surface. Keep the door ajar when cooking and keep peeking inside. When preparing the next pizza, or nothing is in the oven, keep the door closed in order to retain the heat inside.
After 10-15 seconds, use the turning peel to begin rotating the pizza around by a quarter turn so that all sides bake evenly.
Remove the pizza from the oven the crust is a nice golden brown and enjoy!