New York-style pizza

Serves 4
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Directions

  1. 1Bloom the yeast in a stand mixer bowl with a teaspoon of sugar and a quarter cup of warm water and wait five minutes
  2. 2Put in two more cups of warm water, a tablespoon more sugar, a tablespoon of salt, a glug of olive oil, and five cups of bread flour to start with
  3. 3Knead in the mixer with the dough hook attachment
  4. 4Wait until it comes together into a reasonably smooth solid mass and poke it; if it is really sticky add more flour
  5. 5Knead until you can stretch out a little chunk of it so thin that you can see light through it
  6. 6Rip the dough into four chunks
  7. 7Roll each of those chunks into a smooth, even ball
  8. 8Rise each ball in its own oiled container
  9. 9Toss the ball around in the oil and then use it to grease up the sides of the bowl or the tupperware
  10. 10Cover them up and put them in the refrigerator; a long slow rise in the fridge is what gets you the best flavor and texture; 24 hours is the bare minimum
  11. 11Fish the whole tomatoes out into a bowl and throw away the liquid; you could just squish them with your hand but I like a smooth texture so I use my stick blender
  12. 12Put in a pinch of sugar, a glug of olive oil, and a lot of dried oregano and then two or three tablespoons of tomato paste
  13. 13Stir it up and add more tomato paste until it looks just thick enough to you, and then put it in the refrigerator
  14. 14Place pizza stone on upper middle rack position in the oven
  15. 15Preheat to the highest temperature that your oven's got, let it sit and preheat for one full hour
  16. 16Chop the string cheese in small pieces and grate some parmesan
  17. 17Dust the pizza peel with coarse ground whole wheat flour
  18. 18Stretch out the dough with your hands to see light through it
  19. 19Lay it down on your peel and work fast
  20. 20Put your sauce on and then the parmesan layer, then put on your mozzarella
  21. 21Pick up the peel and shake it back and forth to make sure that the pizza is going to release when you take it to the oven
  22. 22Bake in the oven for five or six minutes
  23. 23Pull the pizza out with a pair of tongs right onto a cooling rack
  24. 24Transfer pizza to your cutting board
  25. 25Cut the pizza into quarters

Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 0.25 cup warm water
  • 2 cups warm water
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 0.25 cup olive oil
  • 5 cups bread flour
  • 28 ounce whole San Marzano tomatoes
  • 0.25 cup olive oil
  • 0.5 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 6 ounces whole-milk, low-moisture mozzarella
  • grated parmesan

Equipment

stand mixerdough hookbowlstupperwarecan openerstick blenderovenpizza stonepizza peeltongscooling rackknifecutting board

Tips

  • Aging dough in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours or up to a week
  • Preheating the pizza stone on middle rack with maximum temperature for one hour
  • Resting the pizza on the rack helps keep it crispy.