Neapolitan pizza dough

Start with the water, add the salt and dissolve it.

Add around 10% of the flour to the water to a crepe or pancake batter consistency, so the yeast is not contaminated by the salt.

Drop the fresh yeast straight into the mix undiluted; it dissolves in seconds into a cream paste.

Add the remaining flour a little at a time so the flour absorbs the water, mixing along the sides of the bowl and folding into the dough.

A stand mixer can start the process; finish by hand on the bench.

Turn the dough onto the table and work it with both hands, pushing in and turning over, picking up all the flour from the bench before adding more.

The dough is ready when it pops back after pressing, or when a thermometer in its core reads between 23 and 26 degrees.

Cover it with a damp cloth so it does not form a skin, and rest it on the bench for two hours before portioning.

Cut into dough balls of 220 to 250 grams and put them in a tightly sealed container.

Rest them overnight at ambient temperature, ideally 16 to 18 degrees, for a rise of 24 hours; if refrigerating, let them rise nearly double first so the dough keeps maturing while the yeast goes dormant.

Shape a ball either by rounding it on the bench, by folding into three fingers of the other hand and rolling it like a cone, or by folding the near edge away four or five times with the seam facing up, then tucking and crimping the bottom.

Flour the bench; press the dough down starting an inch in from the bottom and working to an inch from the top, then turn it and repeat, leaving the cornice untouched.

Crimp with the fingers of one hand an inch in and stretch the dough over the forearm, then flip it back.

Launch and handle the pizza from the side; bring it out of the oven to turn it rather than turning it inside, and do not lift it up to the flame.

The cell structure of the cooked crust, the softness with a little crispiness and the bounce back show it is cooked correctly.