Pizza Dough

Who doesn't love a good pizza? And who doesn't have an opinion on where you can find the best pizza? From the old country of Italy to New York to Chicago, every pizza lover has a parochial view of why their version is the best. But regardless of origin, one thing most of pizza aficionados agree on is the most important part of the pizza is the dough.

I've been studying and creating pizza dough for over 20 years in pursuit of the perfect crust. Our family joke is that "dad finally perfected his pizza", at least until the next time I made one. But seriously, I think I finally found the best pizza dough we’ve ever had! 

We discovered it at an Italian restaurant in London led by a chef from Napoli. I later found his recipe in a cookbook and another version online, but neither was the same as the one we had at this restaurant. After a deep search into the web, I found a video of this chef making his dough on a cooking show. I put the video on slow motion and carefully constructed the ingredient list and the process he used to create this dough.

His process was unusual to say the least. Most pizza dough recipes follow the same script, but this one did not. I had experienced this before when a great chef shared with me his French grandmothers recipe for Coq Au Vin. When I called him to ask why she was doing some of the traditional steps out of order, he simply said, "just follow the recipe and you will find out why."

One of secrets to a great pizza dough is to make your dough balls well in advance and refrigerate overnight or even freeze them for use much later. This recipe will yeild 8 pizza dough balls. I quickly wrap each ball in plastic wrap, vacuum seal, and freeze them. I pull them out of the freezer the night before I plan to use them and let them thaw in the refrigerator, then remove the plastic wrap the next morning and let the dough rise throughout the day (I like to let them rise for at least 8 hours if possible). Spray a little olive oil on top of each ball to keep the surface from drying out.

The best pizzas are made in wood- or charcoal-fired ovens, but you can come pretty close with pizza stone placed on your outdoor gas or charcoal grill. Most of the popular kitchenware stores sell them for under $50. Place the stone on your already heated grill and allow it to pre-heat for about 25-30 minutes. You should also get a ´pizza peel´ to transfer the pizza to the stone. Since dough will stick to most surfaces, sprinkle corn meal on the pizza peel before applying the dough and pizza ingredients. Also, you can achieve a crispier pizza if you lightly brush the rolled out dough with olive oil before applying any ingredients. Once you have your pizza creation ready, slide it on the pizza stone, cover the grill and a few minutes later you will have a hot, crisp pizza ready to go.

1. In a very large stainless steel bowl, dissolve all the salt in the water.

2. Add half of the flour to the water and mix gently.

3. Prior to mixing in the yeast, take it and rub it between your hands with a bit of flour. Put it in the flour and water mixture too.

4. Start gently mixing the mixture.

5. Add the sugar.

6. Split the remaining quantity of flour in half, and add one half to the mixture. Set aside the rest.

7. Work the mixture with your hands until you start reaching dough consistency. It will look and feel slightly wet.

8. Once your ingredients are well incorporated with each other, add the olive oil and mix it in.

9. The add the last part of the flour and continue working with your hands for another couple of minutes.

10. Transfer the dough from the bowl onto a clean work surface.

11. Start kneading the dough on your work surface until it becomes really smooth. Add more flour as necessary.

12. It will be ready once you have a smooth round ball. Place the ball in a big bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Leave the dough to rest from two to eight hours depending on how much time you have.

13. After the dough has rested, take it out of the bowl and divide it into eight equal smaller balls.

14. The pizza dough can be stored in the fridge for three to four days. I typically freeze my dough until the day before use:

* Wrap each dough ball in plastic wrap

* Vacuum seal

* Freeze until day before use

15. Proofing the dough:

* Remove dough the day before use and allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

* The next morning, unwrap the dough and place in bowl. Spray lightly with olive oil and seal top with plastic wrap.

* Set on counter in dark place for up to eight hours.

16. For the topping (for one pizza)

*Preheat your oven to 480-570°F depending on how high your oven will go (I bring my outdoor pizza oven to 750 degrees).

*Spread with the tomato sauce. Add the basil leaves. Evenly scatter pieces of mozzarella on top. Drizzle on a little olive oil.

*Bake for about six to seven minutes (my outdoor oven does this in about 2 minutes less). Slide your peel under the crust to make sure it is golden brown and cooked properly. Remove from the oven and enjoy while it’s fresh and hot. Buon appetito.