Pizza Dough

Ingredients

• 20.25 oz unbleached high-gluten, bread, or all-purpose flour
• 0.44 oz salt
• 0.11 oz instant yeast
• 2 oz olive oil
• 14 oz water, ice cold
• semolina flour or cornmeal, for dusting

Method

Mix flour, salt, and yeast in a large bowl. This order matters: salt kills yeast on contact, so keep them apart until they're diluted in water. Add the cold water and olive oil, then stir by hand in a circular motion, occasionally dipping your fingers in cold water to prevent sticking. Work until the mass is shaggy and unified — roughly two minutes. Don't knead yet.

Turn the dough onto an unoiled counter and knead for eight to ten minutes using the heel-and-fold method until it's smooth and elastic, with a slight resistance when you push your palm into it. The dough should register 50–55°C; if it's warmer, you've generated too much friction heat and yeast-fermentation will accelerate unevenly during cold-proofing-sourdough. Cool hands slow the process deliberately. Once kneaded, the dough should spring back slowly when poked, not deflate or resist.

Oil a baking sheet or bowl lightly and divide the dough into six equal pieces (roughly 170g each). Shape each into a tight ball by cupping your hands around it and dragging it towards you on the counter, creating surface tension. This tension holds the gas that fermentation generates. Arrange the balls on the oiled sheet, coat each lightly with more oil, cover tightly with cling film, and refrigerate overnight, or up to 48 hours. Cold slows dough-temperature and gives gluten-development time to relax; it also develops flavour through slow yeast activity and organic acid production.

Two hours before you plan to stretch, remove the dough from the fridge. On a lightly floured surface, gently pat each ball into a half-inch-thick disc. Dust with flour, cover loosely with cling film, and let them rest at room temperature. This dough-rest allows the gluten network to relax after cold storage, making the dough extensible rather than snappy.

Forty-five minutes before cooking, preheat your oven to its maximum temperature with a pizza stone or steel on the middle shelf. When ready, stretch each disc gently from the edges outward — never the centre, which will tear. If the dough springs back violently, rest it five to twenty minutes and try again. Add toppings sparingly, transfer to the stone, and bake until the crust is deeply coloured and the cheese bubbles, usually four to six minutes at full heat.