Recipe: Basic Pizza Dough

Also from Jim Lahey's book My Bread, this dough works especially well in my pizza patate (potato pizza) recipe. This recipe yields enough dough for two 13-by-18-inch pies.

    • 3½ cups (500 grams) bread flour
    • 2½ tablespoons (10 grams) active dry yeast
    • ¾ teaspoons (5 grams) sugar
    • ¾ teaspoons (5 grams) salt
    • 1 ¹⁄₃ cups (300 grams) room-temperature water
    • olive oil for the baking pan

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, yeast, salt, and sugar. Add the water and, using your hands, mix thoroughly until blended, at least 30 seconds. Cover the bowl and let sit at warm room temperature (at least 70 F) until it doubles in volume, about two hours.

Oil two 13-by-18-inch rimmed baking sheets. Use a dough scraper or spatula to scrape half of the dough onto an oiled plan. Very gently pull and stretch the dough across the surface of the pan, all the way out to the sides. You can stretch it very thinly, just patch together any holes. The dough is ready to top.

To read about how Anastatia perfected a disappointing recipe with potatoes from her CSA share, click here.