This is the definitive recipe and it really works. You need this much oil in it in order to make it elastic and resilant to stretching. Click here for pizza sauces.
2 large (16") pizzas plus a bit more (maybe 2 6" pizzas)
| 2 tbsp | rapid-rise dry yeast |
| 2 cups | warm water (microwave on high for 90 seconds) |
| ½ cup | corn meal |
| ½ cup | vegetable oil |
| 4 tbsp | olive oil |
| 2 tsp | Kosher salt (1 of table salt if you prefer) |
| 5½ cups | all purpose flour |
1. Dissolve yeast and corn meal in warm water and let stand for a few minutes, while adding all the oil, the salt and half of the flour. Mix for a few minutes, then add in the rest of the flour. I use the dough hook right from the start. The resulting dough will be reasonably moist making this process (kneading) difficult to do by hand.
2. Make a ball and place dough underneath a large bowl on the countertop. Allow to double, punch down, allow to double again, then punch back down. With as much yeast as the recipe calls for, doubling doesn’t take very long to achieve—an hour tops depending on ambient temperature.
3. Using a bench knife or scraper, part off a bit less than half the dough. Taking care not to awaken the gluten, roll out roughly round, pick it up with your knuckles and carefully stretch it out until it reaches 16".
If baking on stone, sprinkle corn meal liberally on wooden peel.
4. Brush liberally with olive oil, then with pizza sauce. If using pesto sauce, there is no need to brush with olive oil.