Recipe
Emergency Pizza Dough
Time: 30 minutes to usable raw dough
Yield: 2 10-to-12-inch pies
| 390 grams bread flour (about 2¾ cups) ¼ ounce active dry yeast (about 2½ teaspoons or 8 grams) 2 teaspoons sea salt |
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil 1 cup warm water |
Combine the flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl and mix. Add the oil and mix. Add the water slowly, mixing to create a dough. It will be sticky, especially at first.
Flour a clean work surface, move the dough to the surface, and begin to knead it. Don’t tear it, Just push it back and forth and over itself again and again. Keep kneading it until it’s soft, smooth, and firm. As you’re kneading it, moisture will rise to the surface and it will get stickier at times; use a bit of flour to keep it soft and pliable, but don’t go overboard.
Lay a piece of plastic wrap about 12 inches long on a clean work surface (alternatively, use a proofing tub in lieu of plastic wrap). Use your hands to press the dough into a rectangle on the plastic, about 8 inches long and 6 inches wide. Press your fingers into the top of the dough all over it, making indentations as though it were a focaccia. Fold the left third of the dough over and repeat the finger indentations on this folded section. Fold the right third over (as you would a letter) and use your fingers to make the indentations again.
Cover the folded dough with plastic wrap and let rise for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, cut the dough in half and form each piece into a neat ball (each ball will make a 10- to 12-inch-round pizza). You can use the dough right away.
Notes
This is “emergency dough”, and it lacks any real flavor. It truly becomes just a vehicle for sauce, cheese, and toppings--and will do only in a pinch.
For better results, freeze the dough balls. Freezing retards the yeast’s activity—allowing for the flavor to continue and develop in the dough as it thaws, without letting it rise and become bready.
After dividing the dough into 2 balls, wrap each ball tightly in plastic wrap and freeze immediately after wrapping. The morning of the day you plan to make pizza, take it out of the freezer and put it in the fridge to slowly thaw. Twenty to thirty minutes before making the pizza, pull the dough out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature while you prepare the toppings.
Adapted from Truly Madly Pizza by Suzanne Lenzer