Homemade Pizza - Dough and All (Part 1)

I'm used to buying pizza dough from the market and while it's not expensive, I've always found it a bit gummy and hard to work with. In my search for a homemade recipe that's worthy of the effort, I came across what I think is the winner.


This is not a last minute dish - you'll need to plan ahead at least a full day for the sponge to set up overnight and the dough to proof.


Overnight Pizza Dough Recipe from Epicurious


Sponge:

• 1 cup lukewarm water (110°F to 115°F)
• 1 envelope active dry yeast (approx 2-1/4 teaspoon, divided into 1 teaspoon and 1-1/4 teaspoon)
• 1 cup all purpose flour, separated

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

I've never made a sponge but apparently from the reviews, this makes a huge amount of difference.

Ingredients for the Sponge: Yeast, Water and Flour

First the proofing -- 1 teaspoon yeast, is combined with the warm (110 to 115 degrees) water, along with 1/4 teaspoon flour. After 5 to 10 minutes you should start to see a change in the mixture. It'll look a little cloudy as the yeast starts to feed off the flour.

About 5 Minutes After 1 Teaspoon Yeast, 1/4 Teaspoon Flour and Water Combined

Then the remaining 1 cup of flour is added to the mixture.

Combined Remaining Flour to Starter

After a couple of hours, the mixture will look decidedly more "sponge like." Set it aside on the counter and let it sit overnight.


Sponge After Two Hours

My day got away from me and I didn't have a chance to photograph the dough itself (will update post next time I make the recipe).

To the rested sponge, add 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 envelope yeast, and reserved remaining yeast (1-1/4 teaspoon) 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 and comes away from sides of bowl. It should be barely sticky to the touch - about 5 minutes. If dough is very sticky, add in more flour, 1/4 cup at a time. I found that I only needed 5-1/2 cups so keep an eye on the mix. Scrape dough onto floured surface and knead to form a 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).

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 2 balls of dough on each sheet. Cover loosely with kitchen towels and let rise until almost doubled, 1 to 1-1/4 hours.

[If you are not using the entire recipe -- this made almost 3.5 lbs of dough in my case, enough for 8 9-inch pizzas -- at this point, divide the dough and freeze what you're not using.]

About 1 1/2 hours before baking, dust a baking sheet with flour. If using pizza stone, place in oven. If you don't have a pizza stone, a rimless baking sheet (or an upside down rimmed baking sheet) works great - just make sure to pre-heat it in the hot oven.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees 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. 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.

If you don't have a pizza stone (in which case I'm going to guess you don't have a pizza peel either), I prefer to pre-bake the dough because transferring a slab of wobbly dough piled high with ingredients is not an easy task. First remove the pre-heated baking sheet from the oven, wipe with a thin layer of oil (use spray oil or a paper towel wadded up and saturated with oil). Quickly transfer your dough to the sheet pan. Don't take too long in this process, you don't want to lose too much heat from the pan. After 5 minutes in the 500-degree oven, remove from oven, add toppings and bake another 10 minutes.

Recipe:
Overnight Pizza Dough from Epicurious