Cook it well: the perfect Neapolitan-style pizza

Ooni's Classic Dough and sauce

This whole job is Ooni's own method, from the Koda 16 Essentials Guide and Ooni's Koda 16 Getting Started page. It is a recipe, not a maintenance step.

• Ooni Classic Dough: 607 g "00" flour, 364 g water (60 %), 18 g salt, and 20 g fresh yeast (or 9.2 g active dry, or 7 g instant).
• Knead for 10 minutes, then let it rise for 1 to 2 hours.
• Divide into 3 balls of 330 g for 16 in pizzas (or 5 of 250 g for 12 in), and rest them 20 minutes more.
• Ahead: up to 3 days in the fridge; give it 5 hours back at room temperature.
• Sauce: canned San Marzano tomatoes crushed with salt (Getting Started), or Ooni's cooked Classic Pizza Sauce (Essentials Guide).

Heat the stone, stretch and top

Ooni's method (Essentials Guide; Getting Started).

1. Light it and preheat on Max for about 20 minutes.
2. Check the centre of the stone reads at least 400 °C (750 °F).
3. Stretch a ball by hand to about 3 mm thick, leaving a 1 cm rim. Top it lightly: about 100 g mozzarella, basil and a little olive oil.
4. Dust the peel with flour or semolina, slide the pizza on, and shake the peel: it must slide freely.

Launch, turn and finish

Ooni's method (Essentials Guide; Getting Started).

1. Slide the pizza off the peel into the centre of the stone.
2. Turn the flame down as you launch, so the top does not burn before the base is done.
3. Turn the pizza every 20 to 30 seconds with a small turning peel, so each side meets the hot back-left corner.
4. Turn the flame back up after the first turn.
5. Take it out when the rim is puffed and browned: 60 to 120 seconds in all.
6. Let the stone recover to 380 to 450 °C before the next pizza.