Álvaro Ramírez

My first pizzas were rectangular, matching the baking tray shape, but I really wanted round pies. I found a quiche pan at home and gave that a try. Worked pretty well. The dish bottom comes up, which is pretty handy.

Bake in two stages:

1. Bake the pizza for 6 minutes (without the mozarella) at bottom of oven.
2. Add mozzarella and make for 4 minutes at top of the oven.

• 7g of yeast.
• 325ml of lukewarm water.

Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water.

• 500g of flour.
• 1 teaspoon of salt.

Gradually add flour to the yeast and water mix, using the bottom of a spoon to work it until smooth (no lumps). The dough will be very sticky at first. Stay faithful to the spoon. It'll work. BBC's How to make pizza like a Neapolitan master has a great demo. I followed the dough technique.

Sprinkle some flour on the table and knead the dough (punch, stretch, and fold many times) from previous step. Eventually, the dough will hold its shape.

Roll the dough into a cylinder and cut into 4 pieces. Make 4 balls.

• 500g of passata.
• 3 cloves of garlic.

I love garlic. Who doesn't? Slice the garlic finely and combine with the passata in a class jar. Shake it a little. Garlic and passata. That's your sauce.

Place the 4 dough balls into a container and cover with a damp cloth for 2 hours. You can make 4 pizzas.

*Rookie mistake: I should have used a bigger container. The balls grew and merged.

Preheat the oven at 250°C.

Sprinkle more flour on table prior to shaping the dough. Place ball on table, flatten. Flip over, flatten again. Gradually stretch until you have the shape and thickness desired.

• Semolina
• Aluminium foil

Line up the tray with some aluminium foil. Before transferring the base on to the baking tray, sprinkle semolina (or breadcrumbs) on the foil (it helps prevent the dough from sticking).

• Tomato sauce.
• Salt.
• Olive oil.
• Parmesan cheese.
• 125g of Mozzarella cheese.
• Fresh basil.

Spread some of the tomato sauce with a spoon. Sprinkle salt, olive oil, and parmesan cheese. Break the mozzarella into pieces and spread throughout. Add some basil leaves. Your basic margherita pizza is now ready for the oven.

Place the tray in the oven for 10 minutes. This worked for my oven, which goes up to 250°C. Either way, keep an eye on it.

• Anchovies.

Controversial, but I really like anchovies. Add them post-baking and you're good to go. Enjoy your pizza.

• How to make pizza like a Neapolitan master (BBC).
• How to Make Perfect Pizza (Gennaro Contaldo - YouTube).