Pizza di Napoli: La Margherita

Pizza di Napoli: La Margherita
This is the pizza I make at home – many a friend has had it, and it always gets compliments. When Wally and I were in Sicily, we visited Agrigento along the southern coast of the island where you find the ancient temples of the Greeks pretty much intact. If you have an interest in ancient ruins, Sicilia is loaded with them – if you are an adventuresome spirit, you might go by Sicilian donkey cart up to see the Valley of the Temples – che bella vista!
There was a restaurant we went to where the cuoco (cook) was a Napoletano. He divulged to me the secret of good pizza-making – namely, good flour, good water, and good hands. He also shared how he worked the ingredients and when he would add them.
Flour is what makes or breaks a pizza – I have provided a little information to guide you on flour selection if you are interested in making delicious pizza on your own. I have chosen the very simple pizza Margherita of Napoli, which later became the focus of North American mania. Very few American pizzerias, however, can replicate this Neapolitan specialty like the way they do in the Zeoli fatherland.
About Flour and Making Authentic Italian Pizza
Italian flour makers (like all flour makers in Europe) don't classify flours in terms of their gluten content. Rather, they classify them by ash content and by grind. Italian Type "2" flour is a coarsely ground high-ash flour (what cooks in the U.S. might call a "meal"). Types "1" and "0" are medium-ash, medium grind flours for hearth breads. Type "00" is the low-ash fine grind that's used for many whiter breads (including pizza), some pastry, and even pasta and gnocchi. In general it's roughly equivalent to our own all-purpose flour. It's fairly high in protein (gluten), and good for a lot of things.
So then if it's high in gluten, why do some pizza makers substitute extremely low gluten flour for Italian "00" flour in their pizza crust recipes? The answer is that not all gluten is created equal. Some varieties of wheat contain gluten that is both hard and springy (like hard red wheat from the U.S.), and make very elastic doughs. Other types contain gluten that's hard but not springy (Italian durum for pasta, for example) which produce doughs that are firm but not very elastic. Most Italian flours are of the latter variety, which is why most real Italian pizza makers don't use this flour type with their dough, but instead prefer to stretch their pizzas into shape.
What does it all mean? It means that Italian flour has "bite" but not "chew". American high-gluten flour has both "bite" and "chew", but that's not necessarily a good thing, depending on who you talk to. Some American pizza makers, hoping to more closely approximate a Neapolitan-style pizza, opt to eliminate the "chew" of American flour by employing low gluten flour, sacrificing the "bite" in the process. It's a trade-off that some people really like. On the other hand, spoiled cooks like me who have had the real thing and know the difference in quality output, go for the genuine ingredient.
For my pizzas, I use half all-purpose (which is like type “0”) and half “00.” I am able to obtain 00 flour in Louisville. If you’re unable to find any in your locations, you can get a near approximation of the 00 four by combining 2 parts all-purpose flour and 1 part cake flour (sometimes known as white pastry flour). That is how the late and great chef Julia Child made her equivalent. 00 flours are available now at most metropolitan locations – if there’s an Italian store near you, chances are they have it or can order it for you.
Ingredients for 4 Pizze (Italian plural for pizza)

1 lb of all-purpose flour
1 lb of 00 flour
2 c of Italian lukewarm spring water, plus a couple of tablespoons more
1 oz of active dry yeast, dissolved in lukewarm water (about ¼ c)
1 T sea salt
2 T extra-virgin olive oil
1 pinch of sugar
Ingredients for Topping:

1 lb or more of mozzarella di bufala in thin slices
8 peeled Roma tomatoes, seeded, and crushed, and with remaining tomato pulp mixed together with crushed parts

A little extra-virgin olive oil to drizzle
Lots of fresh basil
Preparation:
Pour the flours on your pizza working surface. Create a crater in the middle of flour, pouring into it little by little the dissolved yeast and the remaining water, working the flour and water with your hands until you get workable dough. When the dough is pliable, add the olive oil and salt and knead very energetically until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.
Finally, add the pinch of sugar. Knead it thoroughly into the dough. Once finished with kneading, shape the dough into a ball. Then, sprinkle the bottom of a tall pot with flour and position the dough at the bottom. Cover the pot with a lid, and then cover the lid with a pastry cloth. Let rise for 2-3 hours.
Preheat oven to 425ºF. Take the pizza dough and divide it into four pieces. Knead the dough briefly on a floured surface. Take your pizza peel and flour the surface generously to allow for easy transfer to the oven stone. Place dough on the peel, smacking your hand against it to flatten. Then using a rolling pin, stretch the dough out, creating a round shape – get your dough rolled out thin – no thicker than ¼ - 3/8 of an inch for a Margherita pizza. Drizzle a little olive oil over dough surface, then take a ¼ of the tomatoes and put on dough. Add salt and then place the pizza on the oven pizza stone for about 10-14 minutes, depending on your oven. When the pizza is at the halfway point of being done, lift it out the oven with your peel and top with the ¼ of the mozzarella and basil, and return to the oven for about 5 minutes until edges of crust have that rustic look. Take out of oven and place on wooden board, and serve it hot to your hungry guest.
Mangia bene!