Step 1

In a large bowl or a plastic container with a lid, add in the flour, salt and yeast. Do not add the yeast and salt directly on each other as this can deactivate the yeast.

Step 2

Mix all of your dry ingredients together well

Step 3

Mix the oil into the water.

Step 4

Pour the blood temperature water/oil mixture in all at once and stir with a wooden spoon or your hand, which is what I prefer so you can tell by the feel of the dough if you need more water early on. Adjust the water to your flour, do not over-wet it.

Step 5

Mix it until all of the flour is incorporated into the dough and is hydrated. You don’t want any lumps of flour left dry. You can see it will be a wet, saggy dough.

Step 6

With a spatula scrape the dough off the sides of the container to join the dough. Put the lid on the container tightly or cover your bowl with plastic wrap ensuring that no air gets into your dough as it rests. Air can cause the dough to form a skin which is not good for a dough.

Step 7

Allow the dough to sit at room temperature and ferment for about 12-18 hours at cool room temperature. Or you can proof it for about one hour to get it moving and refrigerate it until you wish to use it.

Step 8

After18 hours in a cool place, if you are not planning on baking off the dough you can refrigerate it. The dough can be kept in the fridge for up to 5 days at this stage and baked off any time. While in the fridge the flavor will deepen over that time, developing sourdough characteristics.

Step 9

The next day the dough will have more than doubled in size with lots of the bubbles on top. Also it will smell boozy and fermented. This is exactly what you want.

Step 10

Dust your hands and the surface of the dough with a little flour, just enough to prevent it from sticking to your hands. Gently turn out the dough onto a floured surface. Don’t knock out the air from the dough.

Step 11

Cut the dough into 4 pieces and using extra flour to handle if needed. If you are using it from the fridge this action will wake up the dough for you.

Step 12

Lightly knead each portion of dough just to form a ball. Allow the dough to rest on a floured board covered for 30 minutes. Your pizza dough is ready to use!

Step 13

On a flat baking tray or pizza peel, dust it with flour or semolina. With floured hands gently stretch your pizza dough to 10 inches. You can also use a rolling pin to stretch it out. If you find the dough is springing back and is hard to stretch then let it rest for 10 minutes on the board.

Step 14

Once you have gotten your desired thickness spread on your sauce and add your topping.

Step 15

Important note: Less is more. You don’t want to add too many heavy topping on your pizza otherwise you won’t be able to slide it off the baking tray onto the cast iron tray.

Step 16

Bake at 450oF (225oC) for roughly 10 minutes or until the base is crisp and golden brown

Step 17

Any dough that does not get used can be refrigerated or even frozen

Step 18

NOTE: As with all dough recipes, the amount of flour will vary depending on weather, brand of flour, etc. Use as much flour as you need to handle the dough, but keep in mind that the stickier the dough, the better the texture of your pizza crust will be.