Neopolitano Pizza Dough
Why I Love This Recipe
Backstory: Finally a pizza dough recipe that doesn't yield a rock solid blob! The key is that the yeast should be fully activated!
Ingredients You'll Need
1 tsp instant active dry yeast
Pinch of sugar
1/2 cup water
5 cups (approx 22.5 oz) unbleached flour
3 1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 1/4 cups water
Directions
Mix yeast & sugar in a small bowl. Add the 1/2 cup of water and let sit for approximately 10 minutes until foam appears.
In a large bowl mix together flour and salt until combined. Pour in yeast mixture and stir in remaining 1 1/4 cups of water. Knead dough until smooth.
Place in a covered oiled bowl and let rise at room temperature for an hour and a half. Punch down and roll into another ball. Place again in covered bowl and let rise for another hour and a half at room temperature -or- place in refrigerator overnight.
Divide dough into 6 equal pieces.
For storage:
Wrap dough balls first in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil and freeze. To thaw: four hours at room temperature or 8-12 hours in the refrigerator.
For pizza crust:
Place pizza stone in a oven as hot as it will go. Keep stone in hot oven for at least one hour.
Place dough on lightly floured surface. Carefully reshape dough into a mound. Pinch around dough to make a crust edge. Push down the center. Begin gently stretching dough, by hand until a window-effect is seen. (Dough will show light through it, but not so thin that you can see through it!)
On a pizza peal or an upside down sheet pan - sprinkled with cornmeal - place pizza dough. Add toppings (see additional recipes) and when it comes to toppings, remember less is more! Slide pizza onto pizza stone.
Bake approximately 5-7 minutes, depending on how hot the oven is. Crust should be golden brown and cheese bubbling. Remember time will lengthen if baking pizzas one after the other.
Yield: Enough dough for 6 individual pizzas
