Adapted from King Arthur’s Baking Company’s 2020 Recipe of the Year, this pizza recipe is Arya’s top choice for pizza (for the moment). It requires some planning in advance, but it’s so good that it’s worth it.
Ingredients:
Crust
- 2 cups (240g) all purpose flour
- ¾ tsp salt
- ½ tsp yeast (instant or active dry)
- ¾ cup (170g) lukewarm water
- 1 tbs olive oil and 1 ½ tbs olive oil for the pan
Topping
- 6 oz (170g) grated mozzarella (about 1 ¼ cups, loosely packed)
- 1/3 – ½ cup tomato or pizza sauce of choice
- Other toppings like pepperoni, sausage or sautéed veggies
Optional toppings to sprinkle after baking like grated parmesan, fresh herbs, red pepper flakes
Equipment:
- Stand mixer / large bowl and spoon
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Spatula
- Plastic wrap
- 10”-11” cast iron skillet/pan or 10” cake pan or 9” square pan
- Small spoon
- Saute pan (if adding sautéed veggies)
- Wire rack
- Chopping board
- Knife / kitchen shears
Instructions:
Weigh or measure flour and place flour, salt, yeast, water, and 1 tbs of olive oil in the bowl of a stand mixer or large mixing bowl.
Using the beater paddle of the stand mixer, stir on low for about 30-45 seconds to mix everything to make a shaggy, sticky mass of dough with no dry patches of flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula to gather the dough into a ball. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
After 5 minutes, uncover the bowl and use a slightly wet hand to stretch the bottom of the dough up and over its top. Rotate the bowl 90 degrees each time and repeat three more times. This process of four stretches is called a fold.
Re-cover the bowl and after 5 minutes do another fold. Wait 5 minutes and repeat. Then another 5 minutes and do a fourth and final fold. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest, undisturbed for 40 minutes. Then refrigerate it for a minimum of 12 hours or up to 72 hours. It will rise slowly as it chills, developing flavor.
About 3 hours before you want to serve your pizza, prepare your pan. Pour 1 ½ tbs olive oil into a well-seasoned cast iron skillet, round cake pan, or square pan. Tilt the pan to spread the oil across the bottom and up the edges as well.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and transfer the dough to the pan and turn it once to coat both sides with oil. After coating the dough in oil, press the dough to the edges of the pan, dimpling it using the tips of your fingers in the process. The dough may start to shrink back. Cover the crust and let it rest for 15 minutes, then repeat the dimpling/pressing. At this point, the point the dough should reach the edges of the pan. If it doesn’t, give it another 15-minute rest before dimpling/pressing for a third and final time. Cover the crust and let rise for 2 hours at room temperature.
About 30 minutes before baking, place one rack at the bottom of the oven and one toward the top. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
Uncover the crust and sprinkle about ¾ of the mozzarella (a little less than 1 cup) evenly over the crust. Cover the entire crust, with no bare dough showing. Dollop small spoonfuls of the sauce over the cheese. Add toppings. Sprinkle on the remaining mozzarella.
Bake the pizza on the bottom rack of oven for 18-20 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and the bottom and edges of the crust are a rich golden brown (use a spatula to check the bottom). If the bottom is brown, but the top seems pale, transfer the pizza to the top rack and bake for 2-4 minutes longer.
Remove the pizza from the oven and place pan on a heat proof surface. Carefully run a knife or spatula around the edge of the pizza to prevent the cheese from sticking as it cools. Carefully transfer to a cooling rack or chopping board. Garnish with optional toppings. Cut, serve and enjoy.