Making pizza dough is a tactile experience -- you really want to feel it in your hands. This dough recipe makes four 12-inch pizzas; the dough can be made a day ahead. When you mix flour, salt, and yeast, the resulting dough is sticky, so keep hands lightly floured as you work.
Lightly flour your work surface and your hands. Slap the dough onto the counter, pulling it toward you with one hand and pushing it away from you with the other. Fold the dough back over itself. Repeat until it's easier to handle, and then knead until smooth, elastic, and soft, but a little tacky, about 10 minutes.
Use a bench scraper or a wide knife throughout the process to scrape the dough from the work surface and help shape it. The dough will still be slightly sticky when you set it to rise.
The dough will need to be covered in an oiled bowl and kept in a warm place. Once it has doubled in volume, at least 3 hours, press it with your finger to see if it's done; an indent should remain.
After the dough rises, it will be soft and malleable. Scrape it out of the bowl onto a floured surface, and cut it into 4 pieces. Shape them into balls. Flour and cover them; let rest for 20 to 30 minutes.
Once the dough has relaxed, start shaping each ball into a round. Hold the top edge of the dough in both hands, and let the bottom edge touch the work surface. Move hands around edge to form a circle, as if turning a wheel.
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