Week 2- Baking/Dessert: Pizza Crust

I'm a pizza snob. It's not my fault. I grew up outside of Philadelphia and lived in New York City. When I go home or visit NYC, I always go for the pizza and bagels immediately (and of course for cheesesteaks and soft pretzels in Philly). Living in NC and Brazil, I just had to figure out how to make pizza that I could eat regularly. I had a recipe that went with my breadmaker that I used to make in NC that was pretty good. I did not take the breadmaker to Brazil, so I had to start making my dough with the standing mixer, and that actually worked really well, though without a pizza stone there, making the pizza was tough. I decided to try out the recipe from Baking Illustrated this week, and I got my pizza stone back out for the occasion.  I didn't make any changes to the recipe, though I think it was a little short on salt. This is probably because I used kosher salt rather than regular old iodized salt.  I'll definitely use this recipe again, though I think the real advantage to this recipe (over others I have tried) is the technique for cooking it rather than the ingredients.

Pizza Dough
** from Baking Illustrated pages 153-155

1/2 cup water (about 110 degrees)
1 envelope instant yeast (about 2 1/4 tsp)
1 1/4 cup room temperature water
2 T extra-virgin olive oil
4 cups (22 oz) bread flour, plus more for dusting work surface)
1 1/2 tsp salt
Olive oil or nonstick cooking spray for oiling the bowl

Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Sprinkle the yeast and let stand until the yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes. Add the room temperature water and oil and stir to combine.
Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Briefly combine the dry ingredients at low speed. Slowly add the liquid ingredients and continue to mix on low speed until a cohesive mass forms. Stop the mixer and replace the paddle with the dough hook attachment. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, put it in a deep oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise for  1 1/2 to 2 hours, until doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees and place a pizza stone on a rack in the lower third of the oven.  Allow to heat for at least 30 minutes. Divide the dough in thirds, forming each third into a smooth round ball. Cover the balls with a damp cloth and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
Baking Illustrated recommends using your hands to "stretch" the dough into shape rather than using a rolling pin. Once the dough is formed into a round crust, transfer it to a pizza peel lightly dusted with cornmeal and then top. (The cookbook recommends ~ 1 cup of sauce and ~ 1 cup of cheese for each pizza, but I thought that amount of sauce was a little much so I cut back on the second & third pizzas.) Transfer to the pizza stone in the oven and cook for 8-12 minutes.

It's not Ray's but it's better than a delivery chain for sure!