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charisstomaBAKING STEEL PIZZA DOUGH: THE HOTTEST CRUST AROUND
This article made me think of the Welsh/Scottish cast iron baking thingies (don't judge, I'm having a senior moment and it's overcast and cold outside ie fall is here with resultant allergies and I'm sleepy in the middle of the day AFTER 2 mugs of coffee).
Most artisan pizza dough rests 24 hours or less before you shape and bake it. But we’re going to make a simple adjustment to the typical no-knead recipe that will change your home pizza game forever.
And what’s this simple adjustment? Extending the dough’s rest from less than 24 hours to a full 72 hours.
Why is this extended rest important? The process, called slow fermentation, is a favorite of baking professionals and experienced pizza makers. By slowing down the dough’s rise, it has time to develop wonderfully rich, complex flavor.
Do this test: Make a batch of dough, and divide it into seven pieces (as directed in the recipe below). Bake one crust after the initial 24-hour rest; then another at 48 hours, a third at 72 hours, etc. It’s a fun test and you’ll get to eat lots of pizza! The results should speak for themselves — you’ll notice a marked difference in flavor between the 24-hour crust and successive crusts.
By the way, don’t let the recipe name intimidate you. The hands-on time for this 72-hour dough is just 15 minutes — and that includes cleanup!
72-Hour Baking Steel Pizza Dough
adapted from Jim Lahey’s No-Knead Pizza Dough
8 1/4 cups (1000g) King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
2 teaspoons (16g) fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon (2g) active dry yeast or instant yeast
3 cups + 2 tablespoons (700g) cool water (filtered)
Mixing
Whisk together the dry ingredients, then add the water, mixing thoroughly.
Kneading
Knead the resulting dough for 2 to 3 minutes. The idea is to work the dough by hand until no dry patches remain. Knead until the dough forms a fairly tight ball.
Rising
Place the dough in a bowl and cover it with a damp cloth or plastic wrap.
Let the dough rest and rise for 24 hours at room temperature. This process, called bulk fermentation, enables the dough to more than double in size and become very aromatic in a clean, alcohol sort of way. This 24-hour rest also yields wonderful flavor in your crust.
Dividing
Lightly flour a work surface. Place the dough on the floured work surface. Divide it into equal portions (about 240g each).
Shaping
Working with one piece of dough at a time, fold two of its sides into the center. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and fold the sides into the center again. Repeat this process until you’ve formed a smooth ball. Place the ball, smooth side down, in your palm, and firmly pinch the bottom seam closed. If your hands feel too sticky at any time, dip your fingers in flour.
Resting
Place each piece of dough into a heavily oiled 1-pint lidded plastic container. Date the containers, and refrigerate for at least 48 hours. Each container of dough will make one 12” pizza crust.
When you’re ready to begin your pizza, remove as many pieces of dough from the fridge as you need at least 1 hour before shaping. Any dough you don’t want to shape immediately can be frozen in its plastic container for up to 3 months, if desired.
Baker’s tip: How long can you store your dough in the refrigerator? I find the dough has a “strike zone” for ideal use between days 3 and 5 (counting the day it’s made as day 1). After day 5, the dough will start to break down some, making it a little more difficult to stretch. But the flavor remains outstanding right through day 10. Dough that’s nine or 10 days old will be quite “brittle” and hard to shape, so use it for rolls, short bread sticks, or other breads that don’t require a lot of stretching.
Turn Baking Steel pizza dough into pizza!
Ready to make pizza? Let’s start with a traditional cheese pizza — with some heat.
Your first step is preheating your oven at 500°F for a good hour, with the Baking Steel on the top rack, about 7” from the broiler.
Stretch or roll your pizza dough into a 12” round, and place it on a pizza peel (or the back of a baking sheet, if you don’t have a peel).
Switch your oven to the broiler setting.
Top the crust with a generous 1/3 cup (3 ounces) tomato sauce, leaving a little crust bare around the perimeter.
Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon grated Romano cheese, then 3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded low-moisture mozzarella.
Place the pizza onto the steel, under the broiler.
After 2 minutes, rotate the pizza 180 degrees (front to back, back to front). Switch the oven back to bake mode, 500°F. Bake for 2 more minutes, until the crust is as dark as you like.
Remove the pizza from the oven. Notice those nice char marks on the underside, courtesy of the steel.
Sprinkle the pizza with 1 tablespoon dried oregano and 1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes, or to taste.
Want to bake your own professional-style pizza at home? Check out the Baking Steel; and try Andris’ recipe above, or our recipe for:
Artisan No-Knead Pizza Crust.
YIELD two 10" to 12" pizzas
PREP - 15 mins. to 25 mins. BAKE - 4 mins. to 8 mins. TOTAL - 1 days 30 mins. to 6 days 1 hrs 33 mins.
Ingredients
2 cups + 1 tablespoon King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/8 teaspoon active dry yeast or instant yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water
Instructions
Mix the dry ingredients, then add the water. Stir until just combined.
Cover and allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 24 hours. To make dough with a longer rise, see "tips," below.
Place your oven rack on the center rung, and preheat the oven to 500°F to 550°F (if your oven goes to 550°F) with a baking steel or stone inside. The position of the rack inside the oven is especially important, particularly if you're using parchment paper — too close to the broiler (you need at least 8" clearance) and the top of your pizza (and the parchment) will burn before the bottom has had time to cook through.
Allow the oven to sit at temperature for 30 minutes before baking your pizza, in order for the steel or stone to fully preheat.
Divide the dough in half. Working with one piece of dough at a time, use a bowl scraper to transfer it to a well-floured surface. Stretch and fold it, as follows: holding onto the dough at both ends, pull one end away from the other, then fold it back onto itself. Repeat on the other side. The dough will likely be sticky — don't worry about it looking neat as you fold. Be sure to keep your hands floured as you work.
Repeat this process for the other side of the dough, so that all four corners of the dough have been stretched and folded.
Gently pull the ends towards the middle of the dough, then turn it over. Using your fingers, pull the dough under itself until the top is smooth, and the seams have been worked into the bottom of the dough.
Repeat with the second piece of dough, and place each ball seam-side down into a floured bowl.
Cover the bowls and allow the dough to proof (rise) for 45 minutes to an hour, while your oven preheats. In colder weather, place the bowls on the stove top to stay warm.
Generously flour a wooden peel, rubbing flour into the board to completely coat. If you're using a metal peel, or if this is your first attempt at homemade pizza, place a piece of parchment on your peel instead of using flour.
Scoop the proofed (risen) dough onto a well-floured work surface, using care to pool the dough in as round a shape as possible for easier stretching. If your dough feels wet, use a generous dusting of flour on top. For a dough that feels drier, use slightly less flour.
Using your fingertips, gently depress the dough, being careful not to touch the outer edge of the crust. This step is important — leaving the circumference untouched at this stage will result in a beautiful bubbly outer crust, post-bake.
Again, using care to not touch the outermost edge of the crust, lift the pizza from the work surface and use your knuckles to gently stretch the dough. If the dough is at all sticky, use more flour. Use two hands at once to gently move the dough in a circle, allowing gravity to perform the stretch. Gravity is your friend! Let it do most of the work for you, as pulling will stretch the center more than the edges. If you find your dough is difficult to stretch, set it down on a floured surface for 5 to 10 minutes to allow the gluten to relax.
Stretch the dough until it's approximately 10" to 12" in diameter. Move it to your well-floured peel (or floured sheet of parchment) and adjust the dough to fit the surface. Remember — if the dough is sticky when you put it on the peel, it will stick to the peel! Make sure it's well-floured.
If you're using parchment, trim the excess around the dough to prevent it from burning. We generally leave an inch around the dough, but to be safe we recommend trimming the paper flush with the dough, especially if your parchment's heat rating is below 500°F, as many are.
Lightly sauce the dough, then top with the cheese of your choice. Add the rest of your toppings.
Turn on the top broiler in your preheated oven, and transfer the pie to your preheated steel or stone. If you only have a bottom broiler (in a drawer underneath the oven), don't use it — there's not enough clearance (see "tips" below). But no worries; without using a broiler you may need to bake your pie for a few minutes longer, but with a steel or stone, it will still turn out just fine.
If you're using a wooden peel, jiggle the uncooked pizza back and forth until it moves easily on the peel before quickly transferring it to the steel. If you're using parchment, gently slide pizza and parchment onto the steel or stone. The parchment will blacken around the edges, but remain intact under the pizza.
Bake the pizza for approximately 6 minutes on the steel, 7 minutes on the stone (give or take), until bubbly and charred on the edges. Remove the pizza from the oven, and top it with freshly grated Parmesan, if desired.
Repeat with the remaining dough and toppings.
This article made me think of the Welsh/Scottish cast iron baking thingies (don't judge, I'm having a senior moment and it's overcast and cold outside ie fall is here with resultant allergies and I'm sleepy in the middle of the day AFTER 2 mugs of coffee).
Most artisan pizza dough rests 24 hours or less before you shape and bake it. But we’re going to make a simple adjustment to the typical no-knead recipe that will change your home pizza game forever.
And what’s this simple adjustment? Extending the dough’s rest from less than 24 hours to a full 72 hours.
Why is this extended rest important? The process, called slow fermentation, is a favorite of baking professionals and experienced pizza makers. By slowing down the dough’s rise, it has time to develop wonderfully rich, complex flavor.
Do this test: Make a batch of dough, and divide it into seven pieces (as directed in the recipe below). Bake one crust after the initial 24-hour rest; then another at 48 hours, a third at 72 hours, etc. It’s a fun test and you’ll get to eat lots of pizza! The results should speak for themselves — you’ll notice a marked difference in flavor between the 24-hour crust and successive crusts.
By the way, don’t let the recipe name intimidate you. The hands-on time for this 72-hour dough is just 15 minutes — and that includes cleanup!
72-Hour Baking Steel Pizza Dough
adapted from Jim Lahey’s No-Knead Pizza Dough
8 1/4 cups (1000g) King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
2 teaspoons (16g) fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon (2g) active dry yeast or instant yeast
3 cups + 2 tablespoons (700g) cool water (filtered)
Mixing
Whisk together the dry ingredients, then add the water, mixing thoroughly.
Kneading
Knead the resulting dough for 2 to 3 minutes. The idea is to work the dough by hand until no dry patches remain. Knead until the dough forms a fairly tight ball.
Rising
Place the dough in a bowl and cover it with a damp cloth or plastic wrap.
Let the dough rest and rise for 24 hours at room temperature. This process, called bulk fermentation, enables the dough to more than double in size and become very aromatic in a clean, alcohol sort of way. This 24-hour rest also yields wonderful flavor in your crust.
Dividing
Lightly flour a work surface. Place the dough on the floured work surface. Divide it into equal portions (about 240g each).
Shaping
Working with one piece of dough at a time, fold two of its sides into the center. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and fold the sides into the center again. Repeat this process until you’ve formed a smooth ball. Place the ball, smooth side down, in your palm, and firmly pinch the bottom seam closed. If your hands feel too sticky at any time, dip your fingers in flour.
Resting
Place each piece of dough into a heavily oiled 1-pint lidded plastic container. Date the containers, and refrigerate for at least 48 hours. Each container of dough will make one 12” pizza crust.
When you’re ready to begin your pizza, remove as many pieces of dough from the fridge as you need at least 1 hour before shaping. Any dough you don’t want to shape immediately can be frozen in its plastic container for up to 3 months, if desired.
Baker’s tip: How long can you store your dough in the refrigerator? I find the dough has a “strike zone” for ideal use between days 3 and 5 (counting the day it’s made as day 1). After day 5, the dough will start to break down some, making it a little more difficult to stretch. But the flavor remains outstanding right through day 10. Dough that’s nine or 10 days old will be quite “brittle” and hard to shape, so use it for rolls, short bread sticks, or other breads that don’t require a lot of stretching.
Turn Baking Steel pizza dough into pizza!
Ready to make pizza? Let’s start with a traditional cheese pizza — with some heat.
Your first step is preheating your oven at 500°F for a good hour, with the Baking Steel on the top rack, about 7” from the broiler.
Stretch or roll your pizza dough into a 12” round, and place it on a pizza peel (or the back of a baking sheet, if you don’t have a peel).
Switch your oven to the broiler setting.
Top the crust with a generous 1/3 cup (3 ounces) tomato sauce, leaving a little crust bare around the perimeter.
Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon grated Romano cheese, then 3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded low-moisture mozzarella.
Place the pizza onto the steel, under the broiler.
After 2 minutes, rotate the pizza 180 degrees (front to back, back to front). Switch the oven back to bake mode, 500°F. Bake for 2 more minutes, until the crust is as dark as you like.
Remove the pizza from the oven. Notice those nice char marks on the underside, courtesy of the steel.
Sprinkle the pizza with 1 tablespoon dried oregano and 1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes, or to taste.
Want to bake your own professional-style pizza at home? Check out the Baking Steel; and try Andris’ recipe above, or our recipe for:
Artisan No-Knead Pizza Crust.
YIELD two 10" to 12" pizzas
PREP - 15 mins. to 25 mins. BAKE - 4 mins. to 8 mins. TOTAL - 1 days 30 mins. to 6 days 1 hrs 33 mins.
Ingredients
2 cups + 1 tablespoon King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/8 teaspoon active dry yeast or instant yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water
Instructions
Mix the dry ingredients, then add the water. Stir until just combined.
Cover and allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 24 hours. To make dough with a longer rise, see "tips," below.
Place your oven rack on the center rung, and preheat the oven to 500°F to 550°F (if your oven goes to 550°F) with a baking steel or stone inside. The position of the rack inside the oven is especially important, particularly if you're using parchment paper — too close to the broiler (you need at least 8" clearance) and the top of your pizza (and the parchment) will burn before the bottom has had time to cook through.
Allow the oven to sit at temperature for 30 minutes before baking your pizza, in order for the steel or stone to fully preheat.
Divide the dough in half. Working with one piece of dough at a time, use a bowl scraper to transfer it to a well-floured surface. Stretch and fold it, as follows: holding onto the dough at both ends, pull one end away from the other, then fold it back onto itself. Repeat on the other side. The dough will likely be sticky — don't worry about it looking neat as you fold. Be sure to keep your hands floured as you work.
Repeat this process for the other side of the dough, so that all four corners of the dough have been stretched and folded.
Gently pull the ends towards the middle of the dough, then turn it over. Using your fingers, pull the dough under itself until the top is smooth, and the seams have been worked into the bottom of the dough.
Repeat with the second piece of dough, and place each ball seam-side down into a floured bowl.
Cover the bowls and allow the dough to proof (rise) for 45 minutes to an hour, while your oven preheats. In colder weather, place the bowls on the stove top to stay warm.
Generously flour a wooden peel, rubbing flour into the board to completely coat. If you're using a metal peel, or if this is your first attempt at homemade pizza, place a piece of parchment on your peel instead of using flour.
Scoop the proofed (risen) dough onto a well-floured work surface, using care to pool the dough in as round a shape as possible for easier stretching. If your dough feels wet, use a generous dusting of flour on top. For a dough that feels drier, use slightly less flour.
Using your fingertips, gently depress the dough, being careful not to touch the outer edge of the crust. This step is important — leaving the circumference untouched at this stage will result in a beautiful bubbly outer crust, post-bake.
Again, using care to not touch the outermost edge of the crust, lift the pizza from the work surface and use your knuckles to gently stretch the dough. If the dough is at all sticky, use more flour. Use two hands at once to gently move the dough in a circle, allowing gravity to perform the stretch. Gravity is your friend! Let it do most of the work for you, as pulling will stretch the center more than the edges. If you find your dough is difficult to stretch, set it down on a floured surface for 5 to 10 minutes to allow the gluten to relax.
Stretch the dough until it's approximately 10" to 12" in diameter. Move it to your well-floured peel (or floured sheet of parchment) and adjust the dough to fit the surface. Remember — if the dough is sticky when you put it on the peel, it will stick to the peel! Make sure it's well-floured.
If you're using parchment, trim the excess around the dough to prevent it from burning. We generally leave an inch around the dough, but to be safe we recommend trimming the paper flush with the dough, especially if your parchment's heat rating is below 500°F, as many are.
Lightly sauce the dough, then top with the cheese of your choice. Add the rest of your toppings.
Turn on the top broiler in your preheated oven, and transfer the pie to your preheated steel or stone. If you only have a bottom broiler (in a drawer underneath the oven), don't use it — there's not enough clearance (see "tips" below). But no worries; without using a broiler you may need to bake your pie for a few minutes longer, but with a steel or stone, it will still turn out just fine.
If you're using a wooden peel, jiggle the uncooked pizza back and forth until it moves easily on the peel before quickly transferring it to the steel. If you're using parchment, gently slide pizza and parchment onto the steel or stone. The parchment will blacken around the edges, but remain intact under the pizza.
Bake the pizza for approximately 6 minutes on the steel, 7 minutes on the stone (give or take), until bubbly and charred on the edges. Remove the pizza from the oven, and top it with freshly grated Parmesan, if desired.
Repeat with the remaining dough and toppings.
