What is poolish?

And why should I use it for pizza dough? Poolish is a prefermented dough that is prepared with water, flour and a small amount of yeast. The flour-water ratio is 1:1, i.e. 100 grams of flour are mixed with 100 grams of water. The poolish gives the dough more elasticity and also a slightly sour, distinctive aroma.

For this recipe, allow at least 48 hours for the dough to rest. The recipe yields approx. 5 dough balls of 250 gr. each.

Ingredients for the pre-dough (poolish)

• 500 gr flour (preferably a Tipo 00 flour with as high a protein content as possible (>12 gr))
• 500 gr water
• 1,6 gr dry yeast (or 5 gr fresh yeast)

Preparation of the pre-dough (poolish)

• Pour the water into the bowl, add the dry yeast and mix briefly with a spoon.
• Now slowly add the flour to the yeast-water and mix with the spoon. Make sure that no dry flour remains.
• When all the flour is incorporated, the dough will resemble a shapeless, moist and sticky mass (see picture below).
• Now cover the bowl (with a lid or, in a pinch, cling film), let it rest at room temperature for an hour and then refrigerate for another 24 hours.

Ingredients for the main dough

• 100% poolish
• 255 gr flour (preferably a Tipo 00 flour with the highest possible protein content (>12 gr))
• 19 gr fine salt

Preparation of the main dough

• Place the poolish, flour and salt in the bowl of the kneading machine (if you don’t have a kneading machine, you can of course mix all the ingredients together in the bowl by hand and knead).
• Turn the mixer on to speed 1 and knead the dough. The total kneading time is about 15 minutes.
• Then shape the dough into as round a ball as possible, place in a sealable container and cover. (You can also see how to shape the dough into a round ball in this video).

Resting the dough

• Now leave the dough to rest in the fridge for at least 12 or up to 24 hours. You can see what the dough looks like before and after it rests in the fridge in the following pictures.

• Divide the dough into five portions, each weighing about 250 grams.
• Shape the portions into round dough balls (you can see how in this video), place them in a sealable container and leave them to rest in the fridge for at least 12 or up to 24 hours.
• Once the dough has rested in the fridge, take it out of the fridge about 2 to 2.5 hours before baking and let it acclimatise at room temperature.
  You can see how the dough balls look before the cool proofing and afterwards (including the proofing at room temperature) here:

Shaping and topping the pizza

• Prepare a bowl or deep plate with semola (flour will work as well).
• Sprinkle the dough with a little semola (especially on the edges) and take it out of the dough ball box* with a spatula*, put it in the bowl/plate with semola and turn it over.
• Then place the dough ball on the work surface and shape it by hand: if possible, starting from the center, press the air bubbles towards the edge and shape it into a round pizza, leaving a rim. Do not use a rolling pin, as this will destroy the air bubbles.
• Top the pizza.

Baking the pizza

In the pizza oven

• Preheat the pizza oven to 400 degrees at least one hour before baking.
• Carefully pull the pizza onto the pizza peel*. Pull the pizza into a round shape on the peel if necessary.
• Place the pizza in the oven and bake it for about 90 seconds (a little shorter or longer, depending on your own preference and degree of browning).

In the household oven

This recipe for Neapolitan pizza can be also made in your household oven, of course. You should just be aware that the pizza will not taste and look 100% like a Neapolitan pizza made in a 485 degree wood-fired oven. But you can at least come close and make a still very tasty pizza!

• Preheat the oven at the maximum temperature at least one hour before baking. If you have a pizza stone* or a pizza steel* pre-heat either of them as well.
• Carefully pull the pizza onto the pizza peel*. Pull the pizza into a round shape on the peel if necessary.
• Place the pizza on the pizza stone and bake it for about 7 minutes (a little shorter or longer, depending on your own preference and degree of browning).

This is what the finished Neapolitan pizza with 100% poolish looks like

Thanks for reading! I hope this recipe for a Neapolitan pizza with 100% poolish was valuable to you. If you have any unanswered questions, feel free to let me know in the comments. I’d appreciate it if you could share this article with your friends.

Julia