Pizza Napoletana (from the Corona bakery)

Pizza Napoletana – Adapted from the Monaco Family’s Bakery (Corona Bakery)

Watch the video.

Makes one sheet-pan pizza

Ingredients

For the dough:

1 package active dry yeast

2 teaspoons sugar

1 cup warm water (110 degrees F)

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

3 to 4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons salt

Olive oil

For the sauce:

1 can 28oz San Marzano tomatoes, whole and peeled

3/4 – 1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 cup finely chopped parsley

1/2 cup finely grated pecorino or Parmigiano Reggiano

Directions

1. To make the dough, in the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the yeast, sugar, water and vegetable shortening until the yeast dissolves and the shortening starts to melt (there will still be lumps of shortening, that’s normal).

2. Add 3 cups of flour and salt and mix, using a dough hook, until the dough comes away from the sides and crawls up the dough hook.

3. Remove the dough from the bowl. Grease the bowl with olive oil and place the dough back in the bowl.

4. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let the dough rise until doubled in size, about 1 – 1 1/2 hours.

5. Place the dough in a sheet pan and stretch it out until it fills the whole pan, being careful not to rip the dough.

6. To make the sauce, in a small bowl, mix the tomatoes (and their juices), salt, pepper and parsley. Crush the tomatoes with your hands into small pieces, removing any hard bits or stems as you go.

7. To assemble the pizza, spread about 3/4 of the tomato sauce across the pizza dough. Sprinkle the cheese over the pizza. Press the tips of your fingers into the pizza to create small indentations and to mix the cheese into the tomato sauce.