Pizza Dough

By John W

Ingredients

• 4 cups high gluten flour
• 1 1/3 cups warm water 115 F
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pkg active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt

Preparation

Step 1

In a heavy-duty stand mixer fitted with dough hook, add the water, oil, yeast, salt. Mix thoroughly until yeast has fully dissolved. Add flour and mix on low speed until all of the flour and water have mixed and a stiff dough ball forms, about 3 to 4 minutes. Stop mixing as soon as the dough ball forms as this type of dough should not be kneaded.

Option 1:
Place the dough ball into a large bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise for 24 hours in the refrigerator before using.
Option 2:
Place the dough ball into a large bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise for 2 hrs in a warm dry spot. Divide dough into 3 equal parts and press into 6-8 in dia circles. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in refrigerator for 2- 8 hrs.
Remove dough from refrigerator and let rest for 30min. roll out dough into 14 in rounds.
Pre heat oven to 450 F
pre-cook the crust for 4 minutes before adding any sauce or toppings. Remove the crust from the oven and pop any large air pockets that may have formed. Add the sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese, and your favorite toppings.

Continue baking, on the lowest oven rack, rotating the pan half way through so that it cooks evenly, until crust is sufficiently browned and crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove the pizza from the oven and slide pizza out of cooking pan onto a large wire cooling rack or cutting board. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a serving pan. This step allows the crust to stay crisp while it cools, otherwise the trapped steam will soften the crust.

To ensure crisp crust, bake pizza’s 1-2 hrs in advance, then reheat the cut pieces on the stove top in a large skillet (cast iron preferred) over a med-high heat.