No-Knead Pan Pizza

Ingredients

• 400 g bread flour
• 10 g kosher salt
• 4 g instant yeast
• 275 g water
• 8 g extra-virgin olive oil
• homemade pizza sauce
• low-moisture mozzarella cheese
• toppings of your choice

Method

Combine flour, salt, yeast, and water in a large bowl—at least 4–6 litres. The salt should dissolve into the water first; it controls fermentation speed and strengthens gluten development. Add oil last. Mix by hand until no dry flour remains. This is a wet, shaggy dough; you're not developing gluten through kneading. bulk-fermentation happens over time instead.

Cover the bowl and leave it at cool room temperature—ideally 18–20°C, certainly no warmer than 24°C. The dough will rise dramatically over 8–24 hours. The long, slow no-knead fermentation builds flavour through enzymatic activity and allows the dough to develop extensibility without mechanical work. You'll see bubbles spreading through it and smell sour, yeasty notes. This is correct. Longer fermentation (16–24 hours) gives better flavour and a more open crumb; shorter (8–12 hours) is faster but thinner on taste.

Turn the dough onto a floured work surface and divide it in half. Form each half into a loose ball—don't compress it. Pour 15–30 ml olive oil into a 25 cm cast-iron skillet. Place one dough ball in the pan and turn it to coat evenly. Using the flat of your hand, press the dough outward from the centre, working gradually towards the edges until it covers the bottom and reaches the sides. This is a direct press, not a stretch—the dough is extensible enough that force isn't needed. Cover tightly with plastic and rest at room temperature for 2 hours.

After the first hour, move your oven rack to the middle position and heat to 260°C. At the two-hour mark, the dough should reach the pan's edges with a light, dimpled surface. Press gently into any corners with your fingertips. If large bubbles have formed, pop them—they'll create dense pockets rather than open crumb. Lift the dough's edges slightly to release trapped air. Top with three-quarters of a cup of sauce, low-moisture mozzarella, and your toppings. Bake for 12–15 minutes until the top is golden and the edges are deep brown. The bottom should show mahogany-brown crust; if it's pale, transfer the pan directly to a hob burner for 2–3 minutes to build colour and oven-spring the base.