You will need: Fireclay stones
Fireclay brick: approx. 280-300°C
Top heat: approx. 350-400°C
Preheating: approx. 30-40 minutes
Working hours: 25 minutes
Baking: ca. 4-6 minutes

Ingredients
(for 6 pizzas)

Make the pizza dough the day before:

• 650 ml ice-cold water
• 25 g fine sea salt
• 3 g fresh yeast or 1 g brewer's yeast (dry)
• 1 kg pizza flour Tipo 00 or Wheat flour type 550 or 700 g pizza flour Tipo 00 + 300 g Manitoba flour
• 1 tbsp olive oil

For the tomato sauce:

• 700-800 g tinned San Marzano tomatoes or chunky Italian tomatoes from the tin
• 8 g salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil

For the coating:

• 3 balls of mozzarella di bufala or Mozzarella (ideally Fior di Latte)
• fresh basil leaves

In addition:

• Semola for the work surface
• Good olive oil
• Oregano to taste

The day before:

Pour the water into the mixing bowl of the food processor. As the amount of water can vary, reserve approx. 10% for the time being! Dissolve the sea salt in the water. Add the flour and yeast and knead into a smooth dough for approx. 10 minutes using the dough hook of the food processor. Add the rest of the water if necessary. The result should be a smooth, medium-stiff dough. Finally, knead in the olive oil for 2-3 minutes.
The dough must be well kneaded. To check this, use the window test. To do this, moisten your hands and take a small amount of dough from the bowl. Now carefully stretch it out with both hands. If the dough is elastic and can be stretched into a thin skin without tearing, it is fully kneaded. If you knead the dough with your hands, you should allow about 20 minutes. The dough temperature should be 25-26°C. The best way to measure this is with a core temperature thermometer.
Shape the dough into a ball and place in an olive oil-oiled dough pan with the end facing down. Cover and leave to rise at room temperature for approx. 1-2 hours.

Sprinkle the work surface with semolina. Remove the dough from the bowl with floured hands and flatten slightly on the work surface. Using a dough cutter, divide into 6 equal pieces (approx. 280 g each) and roll them into even, smooth balls. The dough should not tear.

Place the dough pieces on baking trays floured with semola (or similar - should fit in the fridge) or pizza boxes with sufficient space between them. Lightly dust the dough pieces with semola. Close the pizza boxes with the lid. If you leave your dough pieces to rise on baking trays, cover well with foil. Leave to rise at room temperature for approx. 3-4 hours. Then place in the fridge (4°C) for 24 hours.

On baking day:
Remove the dough pieces from the fridge and leave to acclimatize at room temperature for approx. 1-1.5 hours.

During this time, heat the Merklinger to approx. 350-400°C. To shorten the heating phase, stack two wood towers, i.e. twice the usual amount of wood, in the combustion chamber and ignite.

Mix the tomatoes with salt and olive oil in a bowl. If you are using whole tomatoes, it is best to crush them with your hands.

Remove the mozzarella from the brine, cut into strips and leave to dry well on kitchen paper.

Spread the semola on the work surface. Now pick up the dough pieces with a dough scraper and turn them in the semola.
Carefully push the gas bubbles into the edge from the center using your fingertips.
Turn once and proceed in the same way. Turn over again and carefully stretch the pizza to the desired size. Do not touch the edge so that it becomes nice and thick and fluffy later. The dough should not be too thin in the middle either.
Now sprinkle some semola on the slider and place the dough on top. Brush with the tomato sauce and sprinkle with oregano if desired.
Bake directly on the firebrick for approx. 4-6 minutes until crispy. After about 3 minutes baking time, spread the mozzarella strips and basil leaves on the pizza and finish baking. This gives the cheese a great texture. (Depending on your taste, you can also add the basil leaves to the pizza after baking).

Drizzle the Pizza Napoletana with good olive oil while still hot.

Tip:
Want to enjoy your pizza the same day? Then make the dough first thing in the morning. But with warm water (38°C). Then leave it in the dough tray for 1-2 hours. Now punch down the dough pieces and leave to rise at room temperature for at least 4 hours. The rising time also depends on the room temperature and the amount of yeast used. You can also control this by the way.