You will need: Fireclay stones
Fireclay brick: approx. 250-280°C
Top heat: approx. 350-380°C
Preheating: approx. 45-60 minutes
Working hours: 20 minutes
Baking time: per Pinsa approx. 8-10 minutes

Ingredients (for 8 pinsas)

For the dough - 24-72 hours before baking:

• 700 g wheat flour type 550 
• 150 g wholegrain rice flour or light rice flour
• 80 g soy flour
• 70 g Semola
• 750 + 50 ml ice-cold water
• 3 g yeast
• 20 ml olive oil
• 24 g salt

In addition:

• Semola for the work surface
• Olive oil

For the dough (24-72 hours before baking):
Mix the flours in a bowl. Pour 750 ml of water into the mixing bowl of the food processor and dissolve the yeast in it. Add the flour mixture and knead for approx. 10 minutes.
(First 4 minutes on a slow setting and then 6 minutes on a fast setting).
 
Add the salt and knead at high speed for approx. 2 minutes.
Then knead in the remaining water (50 ml) and the olive oil for 8-10 minutes at high speed. Keep checking the temperature of the dough. It must not exceed 22°C, otherwise the gluten bonds will break. If necessary, leave the dough to rest briefly in the fridge.

The result should be a smooth, silky, shiny dough.

Cover the dough and leave to rest for 30 minutes. Stretch and fold once during this time.

Then place in an oiled dough tray and leave to relax at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours.

The dough is now placed in the fridge for 24-72 hours. The longer it matures, the more aromatic and large-pored the pinsa will be.

On baking day:
Remove the dough tray from the fridge and leave the dough to acclimatize at room temperature for 1 hour.

Then tip onto a lightly floured work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces (225 g each). Roll these into round balls and leave to rise at room temperature for 2-4 hours until doubled in volume.

This works best in a lightly oiled pizza tin. Alternatively, you can also place the dough pieces in an oiled oven dish and cover with foil. (Brush the dough pieces with olive oil to prevent the surface of the dough from drying out).

During this time, heat the Merklinger to approx. 350-380°C.

Carefully pick up one pastry piece at a time with a pastry card, turn in semola and place on a serving board sprinkled with semola.

Carefully shape into an oval. To do this, stretch the dough pieces slightly and press small indentations into the dough with your fingertips. (The trapped gas bubbles should not be destroyed, but only distributed).

You can now finish the pins as you wish. There are various ways to do this.

Would you like tomato sauce on your pinsa?
Brush with tomato sauce, drizzle with a little olive oil and bake in the hot Merklinger for approx. 8-10 minutes until crispy.

Then top as desired with fresh ingredients such as mortadella, burrata, rocket, lamb's lettuce, baby spinach, bresaola, basil, salami, Parma ham, etc. and drizzle again with olive oil.

Or are you a Pinsa Bianca fan?
If so, brush the pastry with olive oil, bake and then top with fresh ingredients.

Depending on which topping you like on your pinsa, you can also bake them with the topping. Or pre-bake them, top them and put them back in the Merklinger for a few minutes.