Recipe

Make Poolish

1. Make Poolish (a small amount of dough added to the main dough to improve volume and softness) by pouring water into bowl or container that can accommodate increased volume. Add yeast and stir with spatula, until dissolved. Add flour and continue mixing until fully absorbed, about 3 minutes. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Allow to rest at room temperature for 60 minutes, then transfer to refrigerator for 18 to 24 hours.

Make Pizza Dough

1. In bowl, combine water, olive oil and honey. Add Poolish and mix together using spatula, until fully dissolved. Add half of flour and continue mixing for 2 to 3 minutes, until incorporated. Add salt and mix for an additional 2 minutes. Add remaining flour and continue mixing for another 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer dough onto clean work surface and knead by hand for 2 minutes. Cover dough with bowl or damp cloth and let rest for 30 minutes.
2. Using plastic bowl scraper, work dough into ball shape. While working dough, make sure to keep top part facing upward to maintain smooth surface, moving dough away from surface as you work it. Place dough (without turning it) into greased bowl or food storage container and allow to rest for 30 minutes, covered.
3. Gently remove pizza dough from container and place onto clean surface. Using bench scraper, divide dough into 4 equal portions of about 220 g each. Freeze 3 dough balls for future use. Using hands, take one portion and shape into ball, ensuring it’s taut and smooth. Arrange on tray dusted with flour and cover lightly with plastic wrap. Allow to proof for 2 to 3 hours before shaping into pizza.

Make Tomato Base 

1. Place food mill over bowl or pot. Gradually ladle canned tomatoes into food mill while turning handle to process. Continue until all tomatoes have been milled.
2. Once tomatoes are milled, season sauce with salt and drizzle in olive oil. Roughly chop basil leaves and add to sauce. Stir well to incorporate ingredients.
3. Store sauce in refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Shape Dough

1. Preheat oven to 500°F with pizza stone or baking sheet (lined with parchment paper) on bottom shelf.
2. Dust semola rimacinata on hands and work surface. Stretch ball of dough to 12″ pizza round by pressing dough ball down with tips of fingers to flatten into round. Press around rim of dough, leaving about 1/2″ from edges, and create valley between centre and edges. Using outer part of palm (from little finger to bottom of wrist), stretch dough from centre outward to edges while turning. Be careful not to thin out middle too much. Continue stretching process until desired diameter is reached. Place pizza round on lightly floured surface.

Assemble and Bake Pizza

1. Ladle 1/3 cup of tomato sauce onto pizza and spread to about 1/2″ from edges. Evenly distribute mozzarella and arrange sliced mushrooms on top. Place soppressata slices on pizza in a way that ensures each wedge of pizza, when cut into 6, is topped with soppressata. Sprinkle pizza with chili flakes.
2. Slide pizza peel beneath pizza and swiftly transfer onto preheated stone or baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. Bake until crust becomes golden, 7 to 9 minutes in domestic oven or 3 to 4 minutes in pizza oven.

Note: Semola rimacinata is an Italian durum wheat flour. The word rimacinata denotes flour that has been milled twice.