More Cheese More Chocolate

While I used to be a frequent at-home cooker of pizzas, my interest in the area has been nearly nonexistent in the past few months.  Cold weather is the perfect time for cranking up the dial on the oven, but there are only so many times that one can make so-so pizza dough and not want to give up.  Dense, crunchy pizza dough is not worth the effort when I can go to any number of local joints and get delicious toppings on a thin, chewy, bubbly crust.  (See: Punch, Black Sheep)  There have been a few occasions when I’ve thought that I’d discovered the perfect dough recipe, but after trying the recipe a second time I was less impressed.  Is a good homemade pizza crust too much to ask for?  It turns out that it isn’t!

I labeled this post “The Best Pizza Dough to Date” because not only is this the best pizza dough I’ve made in my 27 years, but if I were a contestant on a dating show and this dough was one of my potential suitors it would, without a doubt, be taking me out to dinner.  Like a good date, if you put in a little effort in advance, the result is light and airy and fairly stress-free.  I guess airy isn’t actually a quality I look for in the person I’m dating, but this pizza dough is full of air bubbles and it suits it well.  I won’t get into the fact that the “air bubbles” are actually gas bubbles, although that gives me a pretty good idea of what it would be like to go on a date with either of my brothers.

I’ve been holding onto Jim Lahey’s recipe for no-knead pizza dough in one of my super dorky binders of recipes for over a year, but the fact that you have to start the dough 12 to 24 hours in advance, not including the 2 hours of rising prior to baking, has always held me back.  The need for instant yeast instead of the active dry yeast I always have around has stopped me on more than one occasion as well, but I finally remembered to pick some up, so my dough-making activities hinged solely on finding the perfect 24-hour window of rising time. The opportunity presented itself last week when I had a day with a lot of free time, somewhere to be that night, but then no plans for the following night.  I mixed the dough late in the afternoon of the first day, let it sit overnight, and then made the pizza on the second night.  Twenty-four hours of waiting was well worth the wait.  This dough is fantastic.

No-Knead Pizza Dough

From Tasting Table, adapted from Jim Lahey, Co.

Makes about 4 12-in crusts

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour

1/4 tsp instant yeast

1-1/2 tsp salt

1-1/2 cups water

I bought a pound of instant yeast for a recipe requiring 1/4 teaspoon.  Would anyone like some?  I have plenty for sharing.

Mix the flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl.

Add the water, and stir until blended.  Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest in a warm place (70 degrees or so) for 12 to 24 hours.

12 to 24 hours later…

Remove the plastic wrap from the bowl, and set it aside.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  I used a rubber spatula to help scrape it out of the bowl, which was very helpful.

Dust the top of the dough with a little flour, and fold it over on itself a time or two.  Cover it loosely with the plastic wrap and let it rest for 15 minutes.

Divide the dough into four pieces, and shape each into a ball.  Generously sprinkle a cotton towel with flour, and place it over the balls of dough.  Let it rise for 2 more hours.  When you have about 45 minutes left you can preheat your oven to a very hot temperature with a pizza stone in it and start getting your pizza toppings ready.

Stretch out the dough on a surface dusted liberally with flour or cornmeal.  Add toppings and bake on the pizza stone.