It’s time for another pizza recipe.
Discovering how to make homemade pizza is one of those enlightening moments in life. I made my first pie a few years ago and have been experimenting with new versions ever since. To some, making pizza at home is nothing more than buying dough at a local pizzeria (or the supermarket) and dressing it with your own set of toppings. I call that cheating 
Gotta make the dough yourself! Besides…that’s the most fun and fulfilling part!
One of the first posts to this blog, back in the day, was a pizza dough recipe that I often use. Well it’s time for a new one. This recipe comes from a recent issue of Bon Appetite. It’s a no knead pizza dough by Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery in NY. The key ingredient in this recipe is TIME. Unlike other dough recipes out there, this one calls for very little yeast (and obviously, no kneading). The trick to this dough an extra long (18 hour) fermentation process. The result is a very light, rustic dough that will amaze you!
Recipe
Serving Size (three 10″ pizzas)
Estimated time: 20 hours (1 hour active, 19 hours inactive)
Ingredients:
- 3 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1 1/2 cups water
- small can plain tomato sauce
- your choice of spices (salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, dried oregano, dried basil)
- your choice of toppings (I used mozzarella, sopresatta and arugula in this recipe)
What You’ll Need:
- medium mixing bowl
- pizza peel
- pizza stone
Dough Directions {steps 1-9 follow sequence of images above}:
- mix dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. slowly add water while stirring with a wooden spoon
- use your hands to create the dough into a rough ball (do not knead). add a slight bit of more flour or water, if the dough is too dry or wet
- move dough into a clean mixing bowl (or clean one you just used) and cover with saran wrap. let sit at room temperature for 18 hours
- the dough will rise fully after 18 hours. spill dough onto a well floured surface and divide, using a dough cutter or butter knife, into 3 equal pieces
- for each piece of dough – shape into a rough square, fold 4 corners into the middle, flip over in your hands and gently (without squeezing air out of the dough) create dough into a round ball by pulling surface of dough from in to out (and under)
- place doughs on a PAM sprayed surface. gently spray doughs and cover them with saran wrap. let sit for another 1-2 hours
- dough will rise again
- at this point, you can either use the dough immediately or store them for later use. if storing, place each individual dough into a large ziplock bag (do not seal completely). pour some oil in and move dough around to keep it from sticking
- if storing for later use – when ready to use dough, remove from refrigerator and place it on the kitchen counter covered with saran wrap for 1 hour (for another rise…similar to step 6 above). if frozen, leave on countertop (covered) for several hours until dough has risen
- generously sprinkle cornmeal onto a pizza peel to prevent dough from sticking. alternatively, you can use parchment paper and spray it with PAM
- use your knuckles to gently stretch the dough out. once expanded, place onto the peel and stretch the outsides using your fingertips. this will take practice and requires feel more than anything.
Pizza Directions:
- preheat oven to 500F (let oven stay at this temp for 30-60 minutes to make it very hot)
- carefully pour tomato sauce onto pizza. use a spoon to evenly spread it out. don’t over sauce the pie!
- sprinkle with spices of your choice
- add toppings
- cook in oven from 8-11 minutes until crust is brown and cheese is melted
Tips:
- I like to make a batch of several dough rounds (this recipe calls for 3). I’ll typically freeze one or two for later use (within a month)
