Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 oz fresh yeast
- 1/2 cup lukewarm water
- coarsely ground cornmeal
- salt and freshly ground pepper
- olive oil
- sauce and toppings of your choice
Directions
- Preheat your oven to its highest temperature setting. Place your pizza stone on the highest rack. (You can make this dough and use it as you would with a pizza pan or other tray but we find use of a pizza stone or other ceramic surface truly produces the best results.)
- Sift the flour into a bowl and make a well in the center.
- Add the yeast to the lukewarm water and mash with a fork until dissolved. Pour the yeast and water mixture into the well.
- Incorporate the yeast and water mixture into the flour with your hands or a fork to make a soft dough. Pour the dough onto your counter top and knead well, pulling and stretching until it becomes smooth and elastic (about 3 – 5 minutes).
- Divide the dough in half and either freeze or use immediately.
To use immediately:
- Roll out your dough on a lightly floured surface to roughly 1/8 inch thickness.
- Sprinkle a wooden pizza peel or large cardboard square with coarse cornmeal. This will prevent your dough from sticking to the peel/square and allow you to transfer the topped dough to the pizza stone. Place the dough on the prepared peel/square.
- Spread your choice of sauce on the dough and add your desired toppings. Be careful to not overly wet the dough as it will begin to stick to the peel/square. Use diced, sliced, or otherwise light weight toppings for best results.
- Adjust the oven temperature to a low or standard broil.
- Open the oven, pull out the top rack with the pizza stone on it, and in one vigorous push then pull gesture, transfer the dough from the peel/square to the pizza stone. Return the rack to its place, close the oven and cook the pizza from 3 – 5 minutes.
- To remove the pizza, slide your peel/square under the lip of the pizza and use a set of tongs or a fork to assist the maneuvering of the pizza onto the peel/square.
- Add salt and ground pepper and finish with a drizzle of olive oil over the top.
Note: The peel/square to pizza transfer may take a few tries to perfect. Don’t worry. Any cheese or toppings that slide off the pizza and onto your stone will crisp up and burn away over time, helping to “season” the stone. If your pizza gets stuck on the stone, pull the rack out, stone and all, and use a metal spatula to work the pizza free of the stone.
Adapted from The Silver Spoon‘s “Impasto per la Pizza” by Anna David.
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