Josey Baker's Pizza Dough Recipe

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   Gather your foodstuff and tools.

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   Make your sourdough pre-ferment.

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   Use starter that is sour smelling in a good way, most likely between 12 and 24 hours old.

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   Make your pre-ferment 8 to 12 hours before you want to start mixing your dough likely in the evening before you go to bed or in the morning.

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   You want it to be the consistency of thick pancake batter.

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   Put the sourdough starter, cool water and whole wheat flour into a big bowl.

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   Mix it up real good.

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   Cover with a plate or plastic wrap and leave it alone for 8 to 12 hours.

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   Mix the lukewarm water, bread flour and sea salt and then mix them into your sourdough ferment.

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    This dough will be a little difficult to mix.

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    Dont be scared; just proceed as normal, and everything will be fine.

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    Once youve mixed everything, cover your bowl with a plate or plastic wrap, and let it sit for 30 minutes to an hour.

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    This dough uses a touch more flour than regular bread dough, which leads to a pizza dough thats essentially stronger, making it much easier to shape into a pizza and also yielding a crisper crust.

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    Knead the dough.

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    After the dough sits for a while, stretch and fold itit will be sweet and gentle yet firm.

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    Once youre done, cover the dough, and let it sit for 1/2 hour.

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    Knead a few more times.

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    After 1/2 hour, stretch and fold the dough another ten times.

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    Cover the dough, and leave it alone for another 1/2 hour or so.

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    Do this another two times, at 15- to 30-minute intervals.

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    Choose your own path.

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    Now you get to choose your own adventure for the bulk rise.

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    Do what is convenient for you here.

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    If you want to shape your dough into balls in 3 to 4 hours, let it sit out somewhere in your kitchen.

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    If you want to shape your dough into balls anywhere from 12 to 48 hours later, stick it in the fridge (or just outside if its cool outabout 45 degrees F).

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    Shape the dough into balls.

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    After the dough has completed its bulk rise, flour your counter and dump out the dough.

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    Cut off a piece of dough about 8 oz/225 gitll make a ball thats about 3 in.

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    in diameter.

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    Use a little flour on your hands to shape it into a ball, and set it on a plate or in a baking pan, seam-side down.

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    Do this with all of the dough, placing the balls next to one another.

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    If you want to bake pizza within a couple of hours, cover the dough with plastic wrap and leave it on the countertop.

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    If you want to bake in 6 to 24 hours, cover the dough with plastic wrap or a plastic bag, leave it at room temperature for an hour, and then put it in the refrigerator.

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    If you do this, youll need to let the dough warm up for 30 to 45 minutes when youre ready to make pizza.

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    Prepare the toppings.

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    Were going simple with this pie: tomato, basil, and cheese (and salt).

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    Heirloom tomatoes are delicious and easy to find, but if you have a favorite tomato sauce then be my guestyoull need about 1/4 cup of sauce per pie.

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    Preheat the frying pan and broiler.

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    Once youre ready to make pizza, put your frying pan on the stovetop, pour in 1 Tbsp of olive oil, and turn that burner on high.

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    Turn on the broiler as well, and position a rack as close to the broiler as you can.

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    It will take 6 to 8 minutes for both of these to get screaming hot, and youll know the pan is ready when the oil is smoking.

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    Just open your windows and get pumped.

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    Stretch the dough and toss it in the pan.

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    Toss a tablespoons worth of flour on your countertop, and plop a dough ball onto it.

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    Sprinkle a little bit more flour on top of the dough, and get to work gently stretching it into a round shape.

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    Use your fingertips to press the dough ball into a circle.

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    Lift up the dough and gently squeeze it between your fingers and thumb, creating a lip around the outer edge.

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    Lay the dough down on the counter, and hit it with a little more flour to prevent sticking.

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    Pick up the dough, lay it across the backs of your hands, and gently stretch it out to 10 to 12 in/25 to 31 cm in diameter.

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    Once its as big as the frying pan, toss it in there.

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    Build the pie.

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    Youve got about 3 minutes until the bottom is baked, so theres no need to rush this.

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    You can do it however you want, but I like to sprinkle about 1 tsp of Maldon salt on the pizza, mostly on the outer edge of the crust, then spread the tomato slices out to within about 1 1/2 in/4 cm of the outer edge.

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    I then artfully toss on 5 or 6 big basil leaves and rip up the burrata into five or six pieces, and toss them on the pie, covering each basil leaf so the leaves dont burn.

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    Once youre done, use a fork or spatula to lift up the dough, and check the color of the bottom.

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    When it has some dark brown spots, it is ready to go in the broiler.

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    Pop it in the broiler.

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    Use an oven mitt or towel to place the frying pan in the broiler.

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    It will probably take 2 to 3 minutes to get nice and speckled, brown with some specks of black.

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    Check it after a minute, and rotate the pan if its browning unevenly.

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    Take it out, and finish the pie.

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    Be careful taking it out of the broiler, as everything is hot as hell.

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    Slide your pizza out of the frying pan and onto a cutting board.

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    Drizzle the pie with some extra-virgin olive oil and grate some Parmesan cheese on it.

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    Cut it up into slices, let it cool for a minute, and share it with someone you have a crush on.

* Per serving · 4 servings · Values may vary.

No additional tips available.