The Pizza Bible

You’ll need to start making the dough at least 2 days before you want to bake and eat the pizzas. That’s counting time to let the dough rise as a single mass (bulk ferment) in a bowl for 24 hours in the fridge and then shape it into balls, which will rise for another 24 hours.

A small amount of malt added to your dough will help it brown and will give it a subtle nutty-caramel sweetness in lower temperatures. If you’re planning to bake your pizza on a grill, in a wood-burning oven, or using the broiler method (see this page)—all of which can give you temperatures higher than 650°F—you should omit the malt from your dough

I always bake my Sicilians using a two-step method. First, the dough is baked blind, that is, with no toppings. Then I let it rest for at least 30 minutes before topping it and giving it a second bake. This resting period helps seal the crust so the top and bottom stay crisp during the second bake, when the sauce, cheese, and toppings are cooking.

Press down the surface of the dough with your fingertips to flatten it slightly, being careful not to press down the rim 1. Now, you’re ready to start stretching the dough. Here’s the key. You want to stretch the outside of your circle while leaving the middle alone. The middle will take care of itself as you do this. But if you stretch too much to

Every dough in this book, except Chicago Deep-Dish Dough, follows the basic sequence you’re about to go through: • Weigh out ingredients • Activate yeast in warm water • Combine flour and malt (if using) • Hydrate flour with ice water • Add yeast and water • Add starter (if using) • Add salt • Add oil or other fat (if using)

All-purpose flour typically has 10 to 12 percent gluten (also expressed, with wheat flours, as 10 to 12 percent protein). That’s okay for doughs that mature for only a short time. But since I like longer maturation, I prefer stronger, higher-protein flours with more gluten. In my restaurants, I tend to use flours with 12.5 to 13 percent protein for

I love that effect, and so do most pizzaiolos and bakers. It’s why a lot of recipes out there recommend hydration levels way up around 85 percent. But there’s a huge trade-off. The higher your hydration, the less workable your dough will be. Above 70 percent hydration, dough becomes increasingly unmanageable, especially for a home baker. It’s soft,

These peels are an awesome innovation, but maneuvering a fully loaded unbaked pizza on and off a perforated peel can be tricky because unless you work very quickly, the dough can settle into the holes, causing the pizza to grab. So for home cooks, I recommend building your pizza directly on a wooden peel. Once you get proficient, you can reward you

I always use fine sea salt in my doughs and in my cooking in general, because I like its intense, clean flavor. Its fine grind is important for making doughs because it dissolves and disperses more quickly and evenly into the dough than coarse sea or kosher salt. Whatever you do, avoid iodized salt, which has a bitter, chemical taste.