Main Ingredients:

See below ingredients and instructions of the recipe

Cooking Preparation of the Recipe:

Dough:
1 1/2 c Warm water
1/2 ts Dry yeast
4 c Flour (approximately):
Unbleached all-purpose or
Hard white flour,
Or a 50-50 blend of white
And whole wheat
1 ts Salt
2 tb Olive oil
Topping:
2 tb Olive oil (approximately)
1 ts Fine sea salt
Leaves from 3 sprigs
Rosemary (approximately 2
Tablespoons), optional

You will need a large bread bowl, a baking sheet 12 by 18-inches or
two smaller sheets.

Place water in a large bowl. Water should be warm but not hot to the
touch. Stir in the yeast and allow to dissolve. Stir in 1 cup flour,
stirring constantly in the same direction. Stir in another cup
flour, then stir 100 times in the same direction (one minute). This
helps develop the gluten. You now have a sponge. Cover, and let
stand for half an hour or up to three hours. When you are ready to
continue, sprinkle on salt and oil, then add more flour, stirring it
in a half cup at a time. The dough will be getting heavier and harder
to stir. When you can stir no longer, flour a kneading surface well
and have more flour handy beside your work surface. Turn dough out
and knead, adding extra flour to your work surface as necessary to
prevent the dough from sticking. The dough will gradually become
smooth and easy to work. Knead for 10 minutes, clean bread bowl, oil
it lightly, and place the ball of dough into the bowl to rise,
covered with plastic wrap. Let rise until more than doubled, almost
three hours. When the volume of the dough has approximately doubled,
you can proceed to the next step.

Dough can be made ahead to this point and then stored. If you wish
postpone baking, gently push dough down, and leave covered in the
bowl to rise again. If delay will be more than several hours,
instead store dough in a plastic bag in the refrigerator (for not
more than five days). Bring out of the cold and take out of the
plastic bag at least an hour before you want to work with it. Lightly
flour your work surface and lightly oil a 12 by 18-inch baking sheet.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Turn dough out onto work surface and
flatten with the lightly floured palm of your hand. Pull and stretch
the dough gently out into the rectangular shape you need to fit your
baking sheet. Take your time and give the dough time to rest if it
is resisting stretching. It will need to get quite thin. When you
have stretched the dough to approximately the shape and size you
need, transfer it to baking sheet and continue to gently press and
stretch it to fit. Don't worry if it tears, just patch the hole with
another piece of dough and press firmly to join the edges. If you
have extra dough hanging over the edge, trim it off and use it to
make another small pizza. Dough should be of an even thinness across
the flat part of the baking sheet and should form a slight rounded
rim as it meets the edge (which is for many people the best part of
the pizza). Brush top of pizza with oil, then dimple the surface all
over with your fingers. Sprinkle on sea salt and then optional
rosemary leaves. Place baking sheet on the bottom rack of the
preheated oven and bake until the crust around the edge is slightly
golden, 5 to 8 minutes, depending on how thin the pizza is. Remove
from oven, brush crusts lightly with olive oil and also the center if
you wish. Cut into large squares and serve warm or hot. We have often
made pizza bionic several hours ahead, then wrapped it in a clean
kitchen towel to keep it moist until we are ready to reheat it for
serving. To reheat, place in a dampened paper bag in a 300'F oven for
about 10 minutes.

Yield: one large 12 by 18-inch pizza or two medium, or 3 or 4 small

BAKERS' DOZEN ALFORD AND DUGUID SHOW #BD1A29

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