Heston Blumenthal,tomatos,pizza,Naples How to cook the Perfect Pizza - Heston Blumenthal

Heston Blumenthal shares his recipe for creating the perfect authentic pizza at home.

Recipe transcribed to best of my ability:

Part 1(base):
Start with flour designed for pizza making, or one with a high protein content, e.g. 12grams/12%

350g Pizza Flour
195g cold water with:
1/2 tsp malt syrup

Add the water mixture to the flower in a mixing bowl.
After 4mins, should be a quite dry lump.
Leave to rest for 15mins. It should then become more tacky and elastic

Place it back into the mixer with:
1tsp salt
7g fast action bread yeast

for another 4mins of mixing

now, add "pre fermented dough" made form about 1/3rd of the above ingredients, but 24hrs before.
(1/3rd=
117g Pizza Flour
65g cold water with:
1/6 tsp malt syrup

1/3tsp salt
2 1/3g fast action bread yeast)

Add these 2 lumps of dough into the mixer, and mix together on low speed for another 4mins

Take the pizza, and form into dough balls with hands, approx 150g per ball (which i make to be enough for 4 balls/pizzas)

Leave the formed balls to rest on an oiled tray, with enough space left for them to double in size

Part 2(Sauce):
45 large cherry tomatoes on the vine (hot/cold water dip to remove skin)
Take half, and scoop out the seeds into halves. Lay on a backing tray cut side up, with a drizzle of olive oil
2 large cloves of garlic,
2 fresh bayleaves
20 fresh thyme sprigs
1tsp unrefined caster sugar

Place a slice of garlic and bay leaf in each tomato half
scatter over the thyme
season with salt, crushed black pepper and caster sugar

oven, 110 °C, for 4hours. Start inside half up, and turn over half way through

Tomato toping:
Take the other half of the tomatoes, and cut into 1/8ths
place in a sieve, and sprinkle with salt and leave for 1/2 an hour. This will draw out the juice.

place the tomatoes and their juice in a pressure cook, brought up to pressure for 12 mins (i don't have one :( )
after 12 mins, remove from the heat and allow to cool a little before the lid is removed.

Reduce this liquid for 5mins on medium heat, so that it wont make the base soggy

Part 3(Toppings):

stretch out the pizza dough balls, but no bigger than the size of the pan base (see later)

Work quickly, so that the base does not become soggy.
Leave at least a 1 inch gap around the edge.

Spread the tomato sauce on the base.

Add the oven baked tomato halves (remove the herbs and garlic first)

125g buffalo mozzarella

Taer this into pices. add generously

4 fresh basil leaves (per pizza) at its best if cooked quickly

drizzle extra virgin olive oil generously

sprinkle on smoked sea salt (noidea where to get this)

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Have a metal handled pan ready, place the pan onto a hot plate to preheat it, then when ready, place it upside down, near to the grill, with the base of the pizza matching the size of the pan base.

slide the pizza onto the hot pan base

cook for approx 2mins, watching carefully. grills/pan heat/nearness to grill will all vary, effecting cooking time.

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If someone tries this, tell me how it goes, my mouth is watering...