72-hour pizza dough

From South Shore Living magazine, March 2018 issue, "Baking with Steel" article about Andris Langsdin, founder of The Baking Steel Company.

One of my favorite pizza dough recipes is Jim Lahey's no knead dough, on which this recipe is based. It's simple, doesn't require any equipment and doesn't make a big mess. (My wife disagrees about the mess I have a talent for covering the kitchen and flour.) I make this dough at least once a week, sometimes quintupling the recipe and saving the extra balls of dough to use later for the pizza classes I teach.

Through the years I have adapted Jim's original to make it my own. One change is that I use bread flour instead of all purpose flour, which adds the perfect heft to your crust when the dough is baked and high heat in a home environment. And somewhat ironically, I actually need the no knead dough. After I incorporate all the ingredients, I wet my hands and knead the batch for 2 to 3 minutes. Without this step I've ended up with dry clumps of flour in the dough. There are worse things in life, but we're seekers of pizza perfection.

This dough is simple and foolproof, but you do need time. Not hands-on or working time, but 24 hours for rising and then 48 hours for the cold for fermentation. That's 72 hours total, in case you don't have a calculator.

The first 24 hours allows the dough to bulk ferment (or rise as one unit) before being divided into individual dough portions at room temperature. Just park the dough someplace where it won't be disturbed. The dough will release a pleasant aroma that will make your kitchen smell like a bakery.

Next, you will portion out the dough, ball it up, and store the balls in the refrigerator for a minimum of one day and up to 10. This is when the dough will develop some kick ass flavor. The process is called cold fermentation, and it slows down the activity of the yeast to produce amazing flavors in your dough. The strike zone for the dough, in terms of optimal texture and flavor, is from day 3 through day 5 or 48 to 96 hours after the bulk fermentation that occurs in step 4 below. You can take the dough out of the fridge and make pizza earlier, but the full 72-hour method is what gives it a truly memorable taste and texture.

     This dough recipe makes four 10" pies, three 12" - 14" inch pies, or one 18" by 13" in Sicilian pie.

Ingredients

• 500 grams (3 3/4 cups) bread flour 
• 16 grams (1 tablespoon) fine sea salt 
• 1 gram (1/4 teapoon) active dry yeast 
• 1 1/2 cups water, at room temperature

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the bread flour, salt, and yeast.
2. Slowly add the water and mix with a wooden spoon just to combine. Once the mixture is moistened, lightly flour a counter top or large cutting board and remove the dough from the bowl with lightly oiled or wet hands to discourage sticking. Knead for 2 to 3 minutes to remove clumps; the dough won't become elastic but should easily form a loose ball.
3. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a damp, clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out.  
4. Place the bowl on the counter and lit it sit 24 hours at room temperature.  It will double in size and you may see bubbles forming on the surface.
5. Lightly flour a large cutting board or your kitchen counter top and place the dough on it.  Wet or lightly oil your hands again.
6. Divide dough into 4 equal portions for 10" pies, or 3 portions if you'r making slightly larger pies.  With wet or oiled hands, make each portion into a dough ball.
7. Place the dough balls into oiled, cylindrical, airtight containers (deli takeaway containers are ideal), date them, and place in the fridge for 48 - 96 hours.
8. Remove from refrigerator at least 1 hour before use to allow the dough to come to room temperature.  This lets the gluten relax and makes the dough malleable.