The best pizza

From the March 2012 Bon Appetit

No-Knead Pizza Dough

7 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

4 tsp. sea salt

1/2 tsp. active dry yeast

whisk dry ingredients and gradually add 3 cups water; stir well until well incorporated. Mix dough gently with your hands to bring it together and form into a rough ball. Transfer to a large clean bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let dough rise at room temperature in a draft free area until surface is covered with tiny bubbles and dough has more than doubled in size, about 18 hours.

Transfer dough to a floured surface Gently shape dough into a rough triangle. Divide into 6 equal portions. Working with 1 portion at a time, gather 4 corners to center to create 4 folds. Turn seam side down and mold gently into a ball. Dust dough with flour; set aside onwork surface or a floured baking sheet. Repeat with remaining portions. Let dough rest, covered with plastic until soft and pliable, about 1 hour.

To make the pizzas during the last hour of dough’s resting, prepare oven. If you use a pizza stone, make sure you check and see how hot it can get-ours broke in half because it go too hot! Preheat oven to hottest setting for 1 hour (500-550 degrees). Using one portion at a time, dust dough generously with flour and gently shape dough into a 10-12 inch disc. You can use the fist and toss maneuver like they do in the pizzerias to stretch the dough a bit.  Then put toppings on. You can put the pizza directly onto the stone-it’s difficult to maneuver, and bake under the broiler 5-7 minutes, rotating half-way through. Or cook it on a cookie sheet for 10 minutes on bake at 500-550 degrees. Bake each pizza seperately. You can refrigerate the dough up to 3 days. Take it out and let it rest until it gets to room temp, then form as usual.

suggested toppings:  stewed canned tomatoes, soft cheeses like fresh mozzarella, goat cheese, and also a hard cheese like parmesan, carmelized onions, garlic, rep pepper flakes, sea salt, artichoke hearts, pepperoni or bacon.