Mark Esler

Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

Steps:

In a small mixing bowl, combine 200 grams of tap water and yeast. Add a minuscule amount of sugar. Stir and let sit for 15 minutes.
In a large mixing bowl, combine flours and salt.
Stir yeast mixture. Combine with dry ingredients. Knead by hand for several minutes. Place paper towel over bowl and let rise for 90 minutes at room temperature.
Knead rested dough for several minutes. Cut into 2 equal halves with a sharp knife. Shape into balls. Place in tupperware with several pin holes in the lid facing outwards. Let rise in refrigerator for several days.
Take dough out of refrigerator to reach ambient temperature before shaping.
Place pizza stone in oven and set oven to its maximum heat.
Flour surface with cornstarch. Flatten dough into a crust by rolling from the center of the dough outwards. Toss or alternate between rolling and tossing.
Place pie on pizza peel and top.
Cook pizza until bubbles in crust are blackened.

Notes:

Dough is best around the fourth day.
Dough lasts for about a week.
Use quality flour.
Consistent yeast handling leads to consistent dough.
Pay close attention to raising the yeast and evenly distributing them into the dough.
Place near door of refrigerator during slow rise. The yeast prefer a slightly warmer environment than the fridge.
For an immediate, but less tasty, dough the rise times can be reduced as much as needed.
The higher the heat the better. If you can bake home pizza at ~950°F, do so.
Most consumer pizza stones will crack above ~500°F.
A hot stone is critical for making a good crust.
Placing a cold stone in a hot oven can crack them.
Leave stone in oven to cool to reduce thermal fatigue.
A cast iron pan can replace a pizza stone in a pinch.
Use as little cornstarch as necessary if any.
Dough will initially be wet before shaping.
Toss to air dry and shape.
Spin tossed dough in one direction per polarity.
Avoid catching dough repeatedly in center.

References: