Directions

Desired dough temperature 78 F

Autolyse (12:00 noon)

Place the autolyse ingredients in a bowl and use dough whisk or wet hands to mix until no dry bits remain. The dough will be shaggy and loose.

Use a bowl scraper to scrape down the sides of the bowl to keep all the dough in one area at the bottom. Cover the bowl and leave at room temperature.

Mix Dough (1:00 pm)

In a medium sized bowl, thoroughly mix together the slurry ingredients. Add the slurry to the above autolysed flour/water mixture. With wet hands, mix thoroughly.

Next knead the dough for about 5 minutes until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.

Transfer dough to covered bulk container.

Bulk Fermentation (1:15pm-4:15pm)

At a warm temperature, 74-76 F, bulk fermentation should take 3-4 hours.

The dough will require four sets of stretch and folds during bulk fermentation at 30-minute intervals.

Cover with damp tea towel and let rest, covered, for the remainder of bulk fermentation.

Cold Fermentation (4:15 pm - 12:15 pm)

Place covered bowl in refrigerator for 18 hours. This time frame creates amazing dough flavor and continues to strengthen the dough during this resting period.

Shaping (12:15 pm)

Lightly flour work surface. Scrape dough out of bulk container.

Divide the dough into three 300 gram pieces. (A dough scraper comes in handy.) Using floured hands, shape each dough mass into a tight ball.

Gently transfer each dough ball to its own bowl and cover with a damp tea towel for final proofing.

Final Proofing (12:30 pm - 4:30 pm)

Set covered bowls in a warm spot in your kitchen to proof for 3-4 hours.

Prepare for Bake (4:30 pm - 5:30 pm)

Place pizza stone or baking steel on upper rack in oven. The goal is to build as much heat as possible on your chosen baking vessel.

Turn oven to 550 F.

Meanwhile, 30 minutes before baking, pull one dough ball out. Flour pizza peel with Yellow Cornmeal and gently place pizza dough on top. With a gentle touch, slowly stretch out the pizza dough until it reaches 12-14 inches in diameter. If the dough is resisting this, simply let it rest for 5-10 minutes to allow the gluten strands to relax.

Once pizza dough is stretched, add your favorite toppings, remembering to lightly shake the pizza back and forth as you go, to ensure it doesn't stick to the pizza peel.

Bake (5:30 pm - 5:40 pm)

Place pizza in oven on chosen baking vessel. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden to your liking.

Pull out and let rest on pizza peel for 5-10 minutes.

Share and enjoy!

Makes three 12" pizzas

Recipe contributed by A Sourdough Story