Pizza with Salami and Olives

To prepare the pizza dough, we chose to knead everything by hand, but if you prefer to use a mixer, you can follow the same procedure using the hook at a medium-low speed. First, pour the two flours into a bowl 1, crumble the yeast inside 2, and pour in some of the water 3. The ideal water temperature is 77°F.

Mix with a wooden spoon 4 and slowly add the water 5. Continue to mix, and when you have added about half of the water, you can also add the salt 6.

Then add the remaining water, always slowly, until you get a homogeneous mixture; use your hands to work it better 7. Finally, transfer the dough onto the work surface and knead it with your hands 8 until it is smooth and homogeneous 9.

Once you have a nice smooth dough ball, let it rest on the work surface for about ten minutes, covering it with the bowl 10. Once rested, give it a small fold: imagine the sphere is divided into 4 parts, take the end of each one, gently pull it and fold it towards the center 11. Then give the dough a fold 12.

Turn it over on itself 13, shape it into a sphere 14. Transfer the dough thus formed into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap 15, and let it rise. For convenience, you can put the bowl in the oven turned off but with the light on, so the inside will reach a temperature of 79-82°F, ideal for rising; alternatively, you can also keep the bowl in a warm place. The times are approximate because each dough, the temperature, and the weather conditions influence the rising: on average, the dough should take 6 hours to double in volume.

After the rising time, the dough will be nice and swollen 16, so transfer it to the work surface and divide it with a dough cutter into 3 pieces of 9.3 oz 17. If needed, you can lightly flour the work surface. Now take each portion and, as before, lift one edge of the dough 18 and bring it towards the inside.

Then do the same for the other 3 edges of the dough 19. Then stretch the dough by folding it over itself 20 and proceed with the rounding: rounding the dough means turning it with your hands on the work surface, bringing it towards you and then pushing it away repeatedly until you get a smooth and regular sphere 21.

Gradually transfer the dough balls into a pizza box previously greased 22, cover with the lid 23, and let them rest for another 30 minutes 24.

Meanwhile, place the pizza stone in the oven, position it at the top. Turn on the oven to 482°F and set it to static mode. Now, using a dough cutter, gently lift the first dough ball. Transfer it to a surface with plenty of semolina 25 and add a little more semolina on top. With your fingertips, press the dough ball starting from the center. Continue this way, making a rotary movement to spread the dough 26. Transfer the dough onto the peel, taking care not to damage it, and top with tomato sauce, previously enriched with salt and oil 27.

Bake, gently sliding the pizza onto the pizza stone and let it cook for about 6 minutes. Then add a third of the mozzarella and bake again for another 6 minutes. Meanwhile, cut the salami into slices and divide each slice into quarters 29. As soon as the mozzarella has melted, remove the pizza from the oven 30.

Top with olives 31, Neapolitan salami 32, and serve it 33.