Full disclosure: I'm a complete noob at making pizza. It's my second pizza, but hey, it was tasty and fun to make! Making pizza at home is not as far-fetched as I initially thought.
I've made this recipe a couple of times. Made two improvements worth mentioning.
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:
Ok, on to the recipe now…
Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water.
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.
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.
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).
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.
Controversial, but I really like anchovies. Add them post-baking and you're good to go. Enjoy your pizza.