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Ingredients
- Sponge:
- 1 cup lukewarm water (110°F to 115°F)
- 1 envelope active dry yeast, divided
- 1 cup all purpose flour, divided
- Dough:
- 1 1/2 cups lukewarm (110°F to 115°F) water
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 1 envelope active dry yeast
- 6 cups (or more) all purpose flour
- Olive oil
- Yellow cornmeal
- Sauces and toppings
- Pizza stone
Details
Servings 8
Adapted from epicurious.com
Preparation
Step 1
For sponge:
Place 1 cup lukewarm water in
large bowl of heavy-duty mixer. Sprinkle
1 teaspoon yeast (reserve remaining yeast
for dough) and 1/4 teaspoon flour over
water. Let stand until yeast dissolves and
mixture looks spongy, about 4 minutes. Add
remaining flour and whisk until smooth;
scrape down sides of bowl. Cover bowl
with plastic wrap. Let sponge rest at room
temperature in draft-free area overnight
(about 12 hours; sponge will look bubbly).
For dough:
Add 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water,
2 teaspoons salt, 1 envelope yeast, and
reserved remaining yeast to sponge, then
add 6 cups flour, 1 cup at a time, beating
with dough hook to blend after each
addition. Continue to beat until dough is
smooth, comes cleanly away from sides of
bowl, and is only slightly sticky to touch,
scraping down bowl occasionally, about
5 minutes. If dough is very sticky, beat in
more flour, 1/4 cupful at a time. Scrape dough
onto floured surface; knead into smooth ball.
Brush inside of large bowl with oil. Add
dough; turn to coat with oil. Cover bowl
with plastic wrap; chill 6 hours, kneading
dough down when doubled (after 2 hours).
About 1 1/2 hours before baking, dust 2
baking sheets with flour. Turn dough out
onto floured surface. Knead gently; shape
into 16-inch log. Cut into 8 equal pieces.
Knead each piece into smooth ball. Arrange
4 balls of dough on each sheet. Cover
loosely with kitchen towels and let rise
until almost doubled, 1 to 11/4 hours.
If using pizza stone, place in oven.
Preheat oven to 500&DegF for 45 minutes.
Working with 1 dough ball at a time, dust
dough with flour. Press into 5-inch round,
then gently stretch and roll out to 9-inch
round.
If using pizza stone, sprinkle pizza peel
or rimless baking sheet with cornmeal. If
not using pizza stone, sprinkle large baking
sheet with cornmeal. Place dough round
on cornmeal; brush lightly with oil. Top
as desired. Slide pizza onto stone or place
pizza on baking sheet into oven.
Bake pizza until sauce is bubbling and
crust is crisp and brown, lifting edge of
pizza to check underside, about 14 minutes.
Test-kitchen tip:
To speed things up,
you can bake two pizzas at the same time.
To ensure even cooking, be sure to reverse
the position of the baking sheets after 8
minutes. Baking two pizzas at once may
take longer than 14 minutes.
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