Pizza Dough

1. 500g Bread flour

2. 16g kosher salt

3. 1g instant yeast

4. 350 ml water

1. In a medium bowl, thoroughly blend the flour, yeast, and salt.

2. Add the water and, with a wooden spoon or your hands, mix thoroughly.

3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and allow it to rise at room temperature for 18 hours or until it has more than doubled.

   It will take longer in a chilly room and less time in a very warm one.

4. Flour a work surface and scrape out the dough.

5. Divide it into 4 equal parts and shape them.

6. For each portion, start with the right side of the dough and pull it towards the center; then do the same with the left, then the top, then the bottom (the order doesn’t actually matter; what you want is four folds). Shape each portion into a round and turn seam side down. Mold the dough into a neat circular mound.

   The mounds should not be sticky; if they are, dust with more flour.

7. If you don’t intend to use the dough right away, wrap the balls individually in plastic and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

   Return to room temperature by leaving them out on the counter, covered in a damp cloth, for 2 to 3 hours before needed.

Shaping the dough

1. Take a portion of your dough, based on the size pie you want, and roll it in flour.

2. Place it on a floured work surface

3. Begin stretching it into a circle, starting with the outside and forming a crust ring that is thicker than the rest, but leaving a mound in the middle.

4. Once you have a ring, pick up the dough and begin passing it between your knuckles, stretching the center of the dough to form the base.

5. Once you stretch to your desired size, place on a pizza peal dusted with semolina flour for easy transfer to the oven, before beginning to add toppings.

Baking the pie

1. Preheat your oven with the pizza stone in it to 500°F.

   Let it preheat for about an hour while you prep all the toppings.

2. Dust a pizza peal with semolina flour or corn meal.

3. Form your crust on a floured work surface, then transfer to the pizza peal before building your pie.

4. Once you top your pizza, give it a gentle wiggle on the paddle to make sure it’s not stuck.

   If the pizza is sticking and not sliding easily on the paddle, then pick up the front edge a little and add more corn meal. Next time add a bunch more to keep it from sticking.

5. Carefully use the peal to slide the pizza on to the pizza stone.

6. Bake for about 7-9 minutes or until the crust is a dark brown.

   Sometimes it can take up to 15 minutes, it really depends on your oven, you just want the crust to be pretty dark. I usually take it out right before the bits of cheese on the crust turn really dark.

7. Remove using the same pizza peal method and when you put it in.

8. Let the pie rest on a wire rack for a few minutes to let the crust harden.

9. After it has cooled for a few minutes, slice and serve.

   I recommend waiting until the first pie is out of the oven to start building the next one, as you want to build it on the peal.
   You can prep the next dough ahead of time though.