Basic Pizza Dough

prep time:: 20 min
total time:: 4 hr , including rising and baking time

Makes 2 12-inch pizzas

On movie night, top this crust with prosciutto, basil, and provolone. Serve with the deepest, reddest wine in the pantry. If you spit it out all over the carpet, no worries. Jesus Is Magic! Good times!

ingredients

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
3 1/4 cups unbleached flour
Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tablesoon salt
A baking stone
A baker’s peel (paddle)
Cornmeal

directions

1
Dissolve yeast completely in a large bowl by stirring it into 1/4 cup lukewarm water. When dissolved, in 10 minutes or less, add 1 cup flour and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon. Then, as you continue to stir, gradually add 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/2 tablespoon salt, 1/4 cup lukewarm water, and 1 cup more flour. When putting in flour and water for the last time, hold back some of both and add only as much of either as you need to make the dough manageable, soft, but not too sticky.
2
Take the dough out of the bowl, and slap it down very hard against the work counter several times, until it is stretched out to a length of about 10 inches. Reach for the far end of the dough, fold it a short distance toward you, push it away with the heel of your palm, flexing your wrist, fold it, and push it away again, gradually rolling it up and bringing it close to you. Rotate dough a one-quarter turn, pick it up, and slap it down hard, repeating the entire previous operation. Give it another one-quarter turn in the same direction and repeat the procedure for about 10 minutes. Pat the kneaded dough into a round shape.
3
(Marcella says that this previous step can be done via food processor, which is total bullshit.)
4
Film the inside of a clean bowl with 1 teaspoon olive oil, put in the dough, cover with plastic wrap, and put the bowl in a protected, warm corner. Let the dough rise until it has doubled in volume, about 3 hours. It can also sit a while longer.
5
At least 30 minutes before you are ready to bake, put the baking stone in the oven and preheat overn to 450°F.
6
Sprinkle the baker’s peel generously with cornmeal. Roll the dough out into a thick disk. Stretch the dough by twirling it on both your upraised fists, bouncing it from time to time into the air to turn it. When it is the desired shape, put the circle of dough on the cornmeal-covered peel.
7
Put the topping of your choice on the dough, and slide it, jerking the peel sharply away, onto the preheated baking stone. Bake for 20 minutes or slightly more, until the dough is a light golden brown. As soon as it is done, drizzle lightly with olive oil.