No-Knead Pizza Dough and Party for Two

I saw a version of this Pizza on the cover of the March 2012 issue of Bon Appétit and couldn’t wait to try it. It’s made with No-Knead Pizza Dough from Jim Lahey’s new book.

I confess, the main reason I wanted to make this pizza, besides the fact that it looked so good and I wanted to try something new, is because I have a new taste tester that I wanted to impress with my bread-baking prowess. We were texting back and forth one night, and I texted him about the pizza dough and some of the other features in the magazine. After a while, I said “You hungry yet?” and he said, “I know what ur up to silly girl…” 

Well, it worked… He came over to help me make pizza the other night.

As it turns out, my new taste tester is pretty handy in the kitchen. I think he’s a foodie wannabe, but he scoffed at that. At any rate, he was a big help with the pizza. I got pretty distracted as I sometimes (uh, always) do, and he kept me from completely burning the first pizza. I think it was because he was hungry and didn’t want to lose his dinner.  We had fun and the pizza tasted good so that’s what matters.

 

I liked this pizza dough. It was really easy to make. It’s a wet dough which makes it chewy and bubbly. It becomes crispy when baked under the broiler.

No Knead Pizza Dough

Adapted from: Tomato and Stracciatella Pizzas from Bon Appétit, March, 2012

Makes: Six 10” x 12” Pizzas

We made several substitutions to the ingredients suggested in the original recipe mainly because I couldn’t find the ingredients and our taste buds wanted something different.

Ingredients:

• 7 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (1000 grams) plus more for shaping dough
• 4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
• Marinara or crushed tomatoes (I used homemade marinara)
• Mozzarella Cheese, sliced
• Shaved Parmesan Cheese
• Crushed red pepper flakes
• Fresh oregano leaves
• Extra-virgin olive oil

   

Directions:

Making the No-Knead Dough

Whisk flour, salt, and yeast in a medium bowl. While stirring with a wooden spoon (or Danish dough whisk), gradually add 3 cups water; stir until well incorporated. Mix dough gently with your hands to bring it together and form into a rough ball. 

 

Transfer to a large clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  

 

Let dough rise at room temperature (about 72°) in a draft-free area until surface is covered with tiny bubbles and dough has more than doubled in size, about 18 hours (time will vary depending on the temperature in the room). 

Here is the dough after 18 hours.

 

Transfer dough to a floured work surface. Gently shape into a rough rectangle.

 

Divide the dough into 6 equal portions. Working with 1 portion at a time, gather 4 corners to center to create 4 folds. Turn seam side down and mold gently into a ball. Dust dough with flour; set aside on work surface or a floured baking sheet. Repeat with remaining portions. Let dough rest, covered with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel, until soft and pliable, about 1 hour.

 

DO AHEAD: Can be made 3 days ahead. Wrap each dough ball separately in plastic wrap and chill. Unwrap and let rest at room temperature on a lightly floured work surface, covered with plastic wrap, for 2–3 hours before shaping.

 

Making the Pizzas

During the last hour of dough’s resting, prepare the oven: Arrange a rack in upper third of oven and place a pizza stone on the rack; preheat oven to its hottest setting, 500°–550°, for 1 hour.

Working with 1 dough ball at a time, dust dough generously with flour and place on a floured work surface. Gently shape dough into a 10″–12″ disk.

When ready to bake, increase oven heat to broil. Sprinkle a pizza peel or rimless (or inverted rimmed) baking sheet lightly with flour. I used parchment paper.

I par baked my dough disk for a couple of minutes. Then I removed the parchment paper before adding the toppings.

Place dough disk on prepared peel and spread about 3 Tbsp. crushed tomatoes or marinara over dough. Place mozzarella slices over the top and any other toppings.  We added pepperoni, sliced red onions and green peppers before baking and the rest of the ingredients after it had been baked.

 

Slide pizza from peel onto hot pizza stone. Broil pizza, rotating halfway, until bottom of crust is crisp and top is blistered, 5–7 minutes. Using peel, transfer to a work surface. 

 

Garnish with crushed red pepper flakes, oregano, and olive oil. We also added shaved parmesan cheese. Season to taste with salt. Slice pizza. Repeat, allowing pizza stone to reheat under broiler for 5 minutes between pizzas.

 

I was going to scale down the recipe and only make a couple of dough balls, but then I decided to make all six. I froze three of them for use later, and we made pizza out of the other three balls. We ate one pizza and I sent one home with my friend and kept one for myself to enjoy another day.

 

Happy Baking!

Cathy