All parts of a pizza deserve “respect and admiration,” but the foundation of a great pie is its crust, said Jim Lahey in My Pizza (Clarkson Potter). Fortunately, a “transcendent” crust is well within everyone’s reach.
Several years ago, after opening Sullivan Street Bakery in New York, I developed a no-knead approach to bread-making, the key to which is allowing the yeast ample time to ferment. I use the same technique for pizza dough, and urge you to try it too.
The ingredients aren’t as important as how the dough is handled. When it’s time to shape the dough into a disk, “go easy as you stretch it” so that “not all of the gas is smashed out.” The dough should retain a bit of its bumpiness, or “blistering.”
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I see a pizza crust as a blank canvas—and I don’t always start with a tomato sauce.
Recipe of the week
‘Popeye’ pizza
3¾ cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp active dry yeast
2 tsp fine sea salt, plus more for finishing
1½ cups water
1 medium garlic clove, grated
1 oz pecorino fresco, cut into 1-inch cubes and slightly flattened
¹⁄³ cup finely grated Gruyère cheese
1¾ oz fresh mozzarella, pulled into shreds
2 pinches of fresh ground black pepper
4¼ oz fresh spinach
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
For pizza dough
In a medium bowl, blend flour, yeast, and salt. Add water and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon or your hands. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and allow dough to rise at room temperature for 18 hours or until more than doubled.
Flour work surface and scrape out dough. Divide into 4 equal parts. For each portion, start with the side of the dough and fold it toward center, then repeat with three other sides. Shape each portion into a round and turn the seam side down. Mold dough into a circular mound. Mounds should not be sticky; if they are, dust them with flour. Cover with a damp kitchen towel if they’ll be sitting more than a few minutes.
For pizza
Place a pizza stone on middle rack of oven. Preheat oven to 500 degrees for 30 minutes. Switch from bake to broil for 10 minutes and then back to bake at 500 degrees.
Generously flour a ball of dough, a work surface, and your hands. Press the ball down and gently stretch it to 6 or 8 inches in diameter. Dough can be lifted and rotated on your knuckles to stretch it to 10 or 12 inches; otherwise, gently stretch it on the table top using your palms and fingers. Flour a pizza peel and place stretched dough on top.
Sprinkle dough’s surface evenly with garlic, cheeses, and pepper. With a quick, jerking motion, slide the pie onto the stone. Bake for 2 minutes.
Pull rack partially out of oven. Quickly add spinach in a big mound (the spinach will reduce when cooked). Sprinkle evenly with sea salt. Return pie to oven for 3½ to 4 minutes until crust is charred in spots. Using peel, transfer pizza to serving platter. Drizzle with oil. Slice and serve immediately.
