Vegan Marinara Pizza

Take 500 g of ready-made pizza dough out of the refrigerator, divide it into two 250 g balls, and leave them, covered, at room temperature for 30 minutes. Cold dough tears rather than stretches, so let it relax fully before shaping.

Crush the San Marzano tomatoes by hand into a bowl, breaking them into a rough, uneven pulp. Stir in the minced garlic, dried oregano, sugar, chilli flakes, 1 tbsp olive oil, and a generous pinch of fine sea salt. Set the no-cook sauce aside at room temperature — do not heat it.

Place a pizza stone or heavy upturned baking tray on the highest oven shelf and preheat the oven to its maximum temperature, or at least 250°C or 480°F, or gas mark 9 for a full 45 minutes until the stone is thoroughly saturated with heat.

Stretch one dough ball by pressing outward from the centre with your fingertips, then drape it over your knuckles and rotate, letting gravity thin the base to roughly 30 cm. Avoid using a rolling pin, which deflates the air bubbles essential for a blistered crust.

Dust a pizza peel or flat baking sheet generously with semolina and lay the stretched base on it. Spoon 3–4 tbsp of sauce over the base, spreading to within 2 cm of the edge. Scatter the sliced garlic evenly over the sauce and finish with a thin drizzle of olive oil.

Slide the pizza onto the hot stone and bake for 10–12 minutes until the crust is deeply golden with dark charred blisters and the edges are puffed and crisp.

Remove from the oven, scatter over torn fresh basil and a pinch of flaky sea salt, and drizzle with a little extra-virgin olive oil before slicing. Repeat with the remaining dough balls.