Makes four pizzas:

• 10g fresh yeast or 5g dried yeast

• 220ml beer at room temperature (try an Italian beer like Birra Moretti for true authenticity, if not, any good lager will do – or of course, replace with tepid water and sugar if you don’t want to use beer, just combine the beer and water volumes together)

• 125ml tepid water (or 345ml with a teaspoon of sugar if not using beer)

• 500g strong bread flour or ‘0’ flour (‘0’ is definitely best)

• 2 teaspoons salt

For the topping:

• 400g Italian tinned plum tomatoes

• 1 heaped teaspoon dried oregano

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Chef’s touches:

• A little semolina for dusting under the pizza

• 2x125g balls of Mozzarella, drained and sliced

• A handful of fresh basil leave

Your toppings of choice. I like to add olives and artichokes, maybe a few anchovies but the choice is yours! Note that when it comes to great pizza, less is more, so try to use just a few great ingredients, as otherwise, the pizza will cook unevenly and may be too watery in places.

Method

Add the yeast to the beer and water, then mix with the flour and salt. Knead for 8-10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Shape into a ball, put in an oiled bowl and cover with cling film or a tea towel. Leave in a warm, draught-free spot to rise until doubled in size. After the dough has risen, split into four even-sized balls and leave to rise until doubled in size again. Meanwhile, make the tomato sauce: Put the tomatoes in a bowl and squash them into pieces with your hands or blend them with a stick blender (using your hands always feels best to me!). Add the oregano, salt and oil, and stir well (the simplest and best tomato base recipe ever!).

Bake the pizzas two at a time. Put two baking trays, spaced apart, upside down in the oven. This gives a flat surface to cook each pizza on (if you have a clay pizza base or even a proper pizza oven then obviously use these but the trays make a good substitute). Have a think wooden chopping board or pala (the classic thin piece of wood or metal used for transferring the pizza to and from the oven) and the semolina nearby.

Preheat the oven to its hottest setting – 250-280°C is perfect. Roll out the dough on a floured surface (there are lots of ways to do this, but simply starting to press down and shape with your fingers and then roll out is fine). Scatter some semolina onto the chopping board or pala, pull the fits pizza on to it and spread over a tablespoon of tomato sauce. Top with a quarter of the mozzarella and/or other toppings. Slide the pizza into the oven and quickly pull the board or pala away so that it glides onto the hot, upturned oven tray (admittedly, this can take a bit of practice to get it just right!). Repeat with the second pizza. Bake for 7-10 mins until he bases are golden underneath and the cheese is bubbling. Garnish with the basil leaves and serve. Bake the second batch of pizzas in the same way.