No Knead Pizza

Apparently, Halloween is like the unofficial “everyone order a pizza day”, but pizza is so expensive for what it is. Though the ingredients are not very expensive, yet a single small one-topping pizza can be as much $15. That seems really excessive to me, especially since I can make two 14 inch “specials” for less than $12 including the pans! Despite the cost, most people would rather purchase than make them. I think a lot of people are put off by the whole kneading and then flipping the dough around business, myself included. This recipe requires that you do a little planning ahead, but certainly needs no muscle or special dough flipping skills.

Ingredients

Dough

• 2 1/2c/400g White Bread Flour
• 2 tsp/10g Kosher Salt
• 1/2 tsp/4g instant yeast
• 1c + 3 TBSP/275g Water
• 2 tsp/8g olive oil

Sauce

• 1 x 8oz/170g can of tomato paste
• 6 fl oz/180ml water
• 1 tsp Italian seasonings
• 1 tsp dry oregano
• 1 tsp dry basil
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder

Toppings

• 2 cups/225g low moisture – part skim mozzarella
• Your favorite pizza toppings (see notes for what I used in the photos)

NOTE: You need to start this between 12 and 24 hours before you want to eat it!

Instructions

In a large bowl (very large, like the size of a cake carrier) combine all the dough ingredients and stir them just until completely mixed, moist and no dry pockets of flour remain.

Run a bit of olive oil over the top of the bowl and then seal it well with plastic wrap.

Place the bowl in a warm, draft-free spot (I use my water heater closet) and let it sit for at least 8 hours but up to 24 (24 hours makes a nicer tasting dough).

After the dough has risen for 8 to 24 hours, it should be much bigger, softer and spongy looking.

About a few hours before you want to eat, cover the pizza pans with kitchen foil and oil them with a thin coating of olive oil.

Oil up your hands with olive oil and divide the dough in half in the bowl, it will be very sticky! Place one half of the dough on each of the prepared pizza pans. Flatten the out the dough the best you can to fill the pan. Don’t knock yourself out, it will never actually fill the pan at this stage. You just want to give the dough its best chance to rise evenly and fill the pan once it’s proved. Also, don’t be afraid to oil up your hands several times during this process. I find my Misto works great for this.

Oil up some plastic wrap and cover the dough completely but very loosely so it has room to rise.

Let rest in a warm place for 2 hours. With all the olive oil on them, I don’t bother to wrap them up but if you want/need to then be sure to oil the plastic wrap and only cover them loosely.

After two hours, the dough should be considerably bigger. With oiled hands, gently push and apply pressure to make the dough fill the pans evenly and to the edge.

Place the oven rack in the lower part of the oven and then preheat the oven to 450f/230c while you finish preparing the pizzas.

Whisk all the sauce ingredients together and divide equally between the two pizzas, making a pile in the middle of the dough. Using the back of a spoon, use a light circular motion to evenly spread the sauce to about 1/3 of an inch (a little less than a cm) to the edge. We like our pizzas saucy, you might want to use a little less if you don’t.

Sprinkle each pizza with 3/4 cup of the grated cheese, add your favorite toppings (or just add all the cheese for cheese pizza) then add the other 1/4 cup of cheese on top of the toppings.

Bake in the bottom of the preheated oven for 15 to 18 minutes, or until the cheese is completely melted and the bottom of the pizzas are browned and crunchy.

Let the pizzas cool on the pan for a few minutes, then remove them to a large cutting board before slicing (to save your pans). They may stick to the foil a little but it shouldn’t be hard to peel off completely.

I like to remove the foil and place the sliced pizzas back onto their pans before serving.

Makes 2 x 14-inch pies (about enough for 4 to 6 people)

Notes

• I like sliced green pepper, mushrooms, finely diced shallot, diced fresh tomato, sliced black olives, turkey pepperoni, and a little-grated parmesan and a tiny bit of grated cheddar on my pizza… that is what is on the pizzas in the photos. Except, the one on the left, it was “hold the olives”.
• I use two round pizza pans from the dollar store, I’ve used them many many times and they still look brand new. I’m guessing because I always cover them in foil and I never cut on them.
• I got the dough recipe from J. Kenji Lopez over at Serious Eats. Though it is exactly the same dough recipe, he prepares the pizzas in a completely different way. To see the original recipe click HERE.