Rachie's kitchen: Pizza

Every now and then I try a new pizza dough recipe, using my pizza stones in an attempt to make the perfect pizza.

This recipe is Ken Forkish's pizza dough and I have had the best success so far with this recipe, I have a few adjustments to make, but overall it was a great pizza and we loved it.

This is a dough that you start the night before to give the dough a chance to develop flavours.

Ingredients to make 5 pizzas

700g warm water (weighed to be more accurate)

1/4 tsp dried yeast

1000g white bread flour (I'm using Wrights)

20g salt

Take about 3 tbls of the water out of the water and set aside.
Autolyse the dough: mix the remaining water and the flour to form a dough and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
Activate the yeast in the 3 tbsp of water that was set aside.
Mix the yeast water and the salt the the dough and knead for a few minutes, if doing this by hand you will need to wet your hands to prevent the dough from sticking and do several stretch and folds until the salt and yeast are combined. If you have machine kneaded the dough after 30 minutes rest give it 2 stretch and folds.
Transfer the dough into a large bowl (I used a large cake box), cover, and leave the dough to triple in size (about 12 hours)

The next morning divide the dough into 5 equal pieces, I did it by eye but if you are unsure you can weigh the dough and each portion should be about 340g. I used olive oil to stop the dough sticking to the bench and my hands.
Shape the dough pieces into balls and pull the dough around to the back of the dough ball a few times to create surface tension. Place the dough balls into something (I used a roasting tray) that is big enough to hold the dough with room for expansion. I oiled the tray and rolled each dough ball around in the oil to stop the dough sticking to each other and the tray. Cover with a plastic bag or cling film and put in the fridge for at least 6 hours.
To roll out the dough place each piece onto grease proof paper that has been sprinkled with semolina for that traditional Italian flavour. Dip your fingers in oil and push and stretch the dough out into a circle but don't squash and deflate the crust.
Cover with your favourite toppings, making sure your tomato sauce is cold so it doesn't kill the yeast in the dough.

Place your pizza onto your pre-heated pizza stone (probably as hot as your oven will go 250-300 degrees C) I used a pizza peel but you can use an upside down baking tray.