Recipe

Step 1: In a medium bowl, thoroughly blend the flour, yeast and salt. Add the water and, with a wooden spoon or your hands, mix thoroughly.

Step 2: Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and allow it to rise at room temperature (about 72°F) for 18 hours or until it has more than doubled. It will take longer in a chilly room and less time in a very warm one.

Step 3: Flour a work surface and scrape out the dough. Divide it into 4 equal parts and shape them**: For each portion, start with the right side of the dough and pull it toward the centre; then do the same with the left, then the top, then the bottom. (The order doesn’t actually matter; what you want is four folds.) Shape each portion into a round and turn seam side down. Mold the dough into a neat circular mound. The mounds should not be sticky; if they are, dust with more flour.

Step 4: If you don’t intend to use the dough right away, wrap the balls individually in plastic and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Return to room temperature by leaving them out on the counter, covered in a damp cloth, for 2-3 hours before needed.

Step 5: Learn Jim’s tomato sauce recipe here, plus how to bake his famous pizzas.

** I offer you two approaches for shaping. The simpler one, executed completely on the work surface, is slower than the second, where you lift the disk in the air and stretch it by rotating it on your knuckles. Lifting it into the air to shape it is more fun, too.

Makes 4 balls of dough, enough for 4 pizzas

See more recipes from Jim Lahey.

Reprinted with permission from Jim Lahey’s My Pizza (2012 Clarkson Potter).