Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

• 200 grams (a little less than 1 cup) lukewarm water
• 153 grams 00 flour (King Arthur Neopolitan-Style) or Bob’s Red Mill Unbleached Artisan Bread Flour (1 cup plus 1 tablespoon)
• 153 grams all-purpose flour (1 cup plus 1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoons)
• 8 grams fine sea salt (1 teaspoon)
• 2 grams active dry yeast (¾ teaspoon)
• 4 grams extra-virgin olive oil (1 teaspoon)

Directions:

Making the Dough:

• In a large mixing bowl, combine flours and salt.
• In a small mixing bowl, stir together the water, the yeast, and the olive oil, then pour it into flour mixture.
• Knead on low with a KitchenAid mixer or with your hands until well combined, approximately 3 minutes, then let the mixture rest for 15 minutes.
• Knead rested dough for 3 minutes. Cut into 2 equal pieces and shape each into a ball. Place on a heavily floured surface, cover with dampened cloth, and let rest and rise for 3 to 4 hours at room temperature or for 8 to 24 hours in the refrigerator. (If you refrigerate the dough, remove it 30 to 45 minutes before you begin to shape it for pizza. You can also freeze the dough after refrigeration. It freezes very well.)
• To make pizza, place each dough ball on a heavily floured surface and use your fingers to stretch it, then your hands to shape it into rounds or squares. Top and bake.

Baking the Pizza in the Oven:

• Preheat the oven to 500 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour with a pizza stone on the middle shelf.
• Put the dough on parchment paper and add all of the toppings.
• Transfer to the oven, with the parchment paper, and bake for 5 minutes.
• Remove the parchment paper and bake for another 4-5 minutes (keep an eye on it).

Baking the Pizza in a Pizza Oven:

• If using a pizza oven, start preheating the oven (to 806 degrees — 1 notch from highest level of heat).
• Flour the peel and a work surface (just a little).  Gently take one pizza dough ball and place it on the peel.
• Flour your hands and use your fingertips to press the dough into a small, flat disc. Working from the center, push the dough outwards while spreading your fingers, making the disc slightly bigger. Pick up the pizza dough and gently pinch it all around the edge, allowing gravity to pull it downwards into a circle (steering wheel motion). The dough should be thin (except for the edge).
• Once the pizza dough is fully stretched, lightly flour your pizza peel and lay the base on it. Make sure the pizza isn’t sticking to the peel by gently shaking it.
• Add toppings, make sure it’s not sticking to the peel, and cook in the pizza oven.  Make sure to turn every 20 seconds and measure dough’s internal temperature (should be 200 degrees).