(Experiment 74) Neapolitan pizza with Poolish

Polish? No! Poolish!
So what’s poolish?

Let’s use our friend Wikipedia here :

Biga and poolish or pouliche are terms used in Italian and French baking, respectively, for sponges
made with domestic baker’s yeast. Poolish is a fairly wet sponge (typically one-to-one, this is, made with a one-part-flour-to-one-part-water ratio by weight), and it is called biga liquida, whereas the “normal” biga is usually drier.Bigas can be held longer at their peak than wetter sponges, while a poolish is one known technique to increase a dough’s extensibility.

This recipe has been modified from the original one posted by Vito. Also a lot easier to follow. Note that you cannot call this a true Neapolitan pizza as per the VPN Verace Pizza Neapolitana. Yes, they are pretty serious about their pizza, check out the regulations =)

Poolish

• 200gr flour type 00
• 200ML water room temperature
• 4gr dry yeast

Mix all together in a bowl (use a whisk or your hand)

Cover with plastic film but make a couple of holes with a knife

Put in refrigerator for 24hours max 48hours else it will overproof and become acid.

You need

• 200ml water room temp
• 400g flour type 00
• 15g sea salt

Instructions

1. Put the water in a standing mixer bowl, add the poolish
   With your hands, break the poolish with the water, water will start to get milky
   Add salt
   Mix with hand again
   Put the bowl on the stand mixer
   Add flour little by little
2. Mix and knead for 8-10 mins, note that it will be very dry at first but after a couple of minutes it will be all absorbed. When done, the dough should be slightly sticky. If too sticky, add flour and mix a few more mins
3. Make balls, ~260gr each
   Should make 3 and have a little leftover
4. Put the balls in a pan, cover them with olive oil so they don’t stick to the film
   Cover with film the pan tight, so no air gets in
5. Let sit 2 hours if hot, 3 hour is temperature is cooler
6. Dump ball in flour and put on a floured surface
7. To stretch the dough, first gently start from the center and press it down, from there keep on pressing the dough gently toward the edge( this sends the air towards it) , don’t stretch the pizza yet, Just press it down. Leave an untouched edge.

Then with your right hand, keep pressing the right side of the dough
With your left hand, stretch the dough
Rotate dough, and repeat until you have a ~12? pizza

See this video for demonstrations on how to stretch the dough, I use the first technique
I like the stretch & pull method

**after it’s almost the right size, remove all excess flour from the work surface then continue stretching until you reach the right size. Excessive flour will obviously taste bad once cooked

Sample timeline
13h30/14h30 Prepare and make balls
13h40(cold) 14h40(warm) Rest
16h40 Make pie
17h00 cook