• Mix the water and half the flour together for 2 minutes. Leave for 20 minutes to let the flour absorb some of the water.
• Add the yeast and mix, then add the salt. Then, add the rest of the flour. Knead the dough for 20 minutes. (This is where the Kitchen-Aid is VERY useful!). Form the dough into a ball and leave it on the bench for two hours, closed in a lightly oiled container. At this point, you can put the dough in the fridge and take it out the next day to continue (in fact, that makes the crust even better!).

  A note: for best results, the dough should be quite soft and almost too sticky to touch.
• Cut the dough into 4 even-sized pieces. Form each piece into a ball. At this point, if you can freeze the dough by putting each ball in a plastic bag in the freezer. To continue the process, take them out and follow the instructions below, allowing an extra hour for thawing.
• Put them into individual containers with lids, lightly brushing the inside of the containers with olive oil before doing so.
• Leave to rise for 4 -6 hours. If you want slower rising, you can put the containers in the fridge overnight (again, if you do another overnight fridge rise, the crust is EVEN better).
• One hour before you are ready to make the pizza turn on your oven to the hottest it can go and place the oven rack in the top-most position of the oven. If you have a pizza stone, even better! Heat that up in the oven at the same time.
• Gently ease the dough out onto a floured tray or pizza slice, trying to keep it intact. If you have square containers, the pizzas will be square (I discovered this from experience). Gently push the dough outwards with your fingers to make it pizza size. You will NOT need a rolling pin. This is the bit where you have to be very careful. If it is stretched too far, you can't make it go back to its original shape (also learned from experience!) . If you make a hole in it, it is very difficult to fix.
• Add a few tablespoons of tomato puree to the top of the dough, and spread it out on the pizza. The secret is not to use too much. It should just cover the pizza, not swamp it.

  Do not

  add salt as the crust already has enough in it.
• Sprinkle some bits of mozzarella on the pizza. Do not add too much cheese, otherwise you will end up with a greasy mess. Add other toppings you would like. If you want to make pizza Italian-style, do not add more than two after the tomato and mozzarella. If you want to put

  prosciutto crudo

  or rocket salad on, add it after the cooking.
• Slide the pizza into the oven and bake it for 6 minutes until the edges puff up and the cheese is bubbling.

Here's the link to the video Vittorio made:

• http://vivalafocaccia.com/2011/06/05/ricetta-pizza-napoletana-impasto-video/