Homemade pizza is far superior to the shop-bought version. Franco Manca’s famous sourdough pizzas have been hailed as the ‘best in Britain’. Their London pizza restaurants often have queues stretching around the block. And now, Franco Manca has launched a new recipe book which shows you how to make delicious restaurant quality pizzas at home - without the benefit of a wood burning oven. The mouth-watering flavours in this Salami and Goat’s Curd Pizza are for all pizza lovers – try to find a soft salami like finnocchiona, as it is easier to tear into small pieces.

Kcal: 502 per serving

Fat: 18.9g per serving

Sat Fat: 3.3g per serving

Ingredients (makes 10 Slices)

For the dough:

250ml water
10g culture (or 0.2g dry yeast)
400g flour
10g salt
8g olive oil

For the tomato sauce (enough for four pizzas):

240g (1 can) whole, peeled tomatoes
fine sea salt, to taste
fresh basil, torn

For the pizza:

1 dough ball, left to rise for 11⁄2 –2 hours
flour, for dusting
4 dessertspoons tomato sauce (see below)
1 dessertspoon extra virgin olive oil
8 slices salami
60g mozzarella fior di latte, torn into 5 chunks
20g goat’s curd, sliced a handful of rocket or watercress
freshly ground black pepper
chilli oil, optional

Method

For the dough

The key to the perfect dough is to mix it the day or afternoon before, and to leave it developing overnight - ready to make pizzas the next day. Doing your dough in stages gives you time to plan other things without losing your dough or creating an indigestible poor quality product.

Mix your dough in the container you will store it in, preferably one that is airtight. Combine the water and yeast (or sourdough culture) and add the olive oil. Throw in the salt and all the flour. Combine using stiff finger tips until all flour has been absorbed, then leave the dough to 'rest'. After 15 minutes kneed the dough until smooth and elastic, then store. If you are around to 'knock the dough back' gently (or fold and turn it in its bowl) then do this after one or two hours. This helps redistribute the gas and warmth and improves your dough. If you can do this twice in four hours even better. Try to maintain the dough temperature at around 18C-20C at all times. When you shape the dough balls for the pizzas, prove these in an area slightly warmer, if possible. The dough balls are cut and shaped about 2 hours before you make and bake the pizzas.

For the tomato sauce

In a large bowl, squeeze the tomatoes hard through your fingers to crush. If you are reducing your sauce, simmer in a pan over a low heat for 5 minutes. Add a few leaves of fresh basil and fine sea salt to taste. The flavour should all be in the tomatoes so be careful not to over-salt.

For the pizza

Place a rack on the highest shelf of an oven and turn the grill to its highest setting. When hot, place a greased 26cm iron pan on the stovetop, set to medium heat.

Sprinkle a little flour over your hands and on the work surface and open the dough ball by flattening and stretching the dough with your fingers, or by rolling the dough with a rolling pin. Pick the pizza base up and gently stretch it a little further over your fists without tearing it. Drop this onto the hot pan, and allow it to start rising.

As soon as the dough firms up, spread the tomato sauce over the base using the back of a metal spoon. Drizzle with the olive oil and lay down the salami and mozzarella on top.

Cook the pizza on top of the stove for about 3 minutes, then transfer the pan to the grill for a further 3–4 minutes.

Once ready, spread the goat’s curd evenly over the pizza, dress with rocket (or watercress in summer) and serve whole, with a grind of black pepper and more olive oil or chilli oil. The latter complements this recipe very well.

From Artisan Pizza to Make Perfectly at Home by Giuseppe Mascoli and Bridget Hugo, photography by Philip Webb (£12.99, Kyle Books), out now.

Eat with:

Wine expert Jane Parkinson recommends the perfect pairing.

Moncaro rosso piceno 2009, Waitrose, £5.59

A juicy italian red, such as this one from the marche region, is delicious with pizza. it’s a blend of two grapes found in central italy – montepulciano and sangiovese – and has enough red fruit for the salami and chilli oil, while it’s fresh enough to take on the tang of tomato and goat’s curd.

Recipe: Salami and goat’s curd pizza