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Basic Pizza Dough

(recipe, Ellen Jackson)


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Ingredients

  1. 1 cup lukewarm water
  2. 2 tsp. active dry yeast
  3. 1 Tbsp. honey
  4. 1 Tbsp. salt
  5. ¼ cup cornmeal
  6. ¼ cup whole-wheat flour
  7. 2 Tbsp. olive oil, plus more for the bowl
  8. 2 to 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more as needed

Steps

  1. Place the water in a large bowl with the yeast and honey. Stir to dissolve and let sit until foamy on top, about 5 minutes. Stir in the salt, cornmeal, whole-wheat flour, and olive oil. Gradually stir in enough unbleached all-purpose flour to form a dough that comes away from the sides of the bowl.
  2. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface or in a mixer fitted with the dough hook. It should be pliable and elastic, but not sticky. This will take 6 to 8 minutes by hand, or half that time in a mixer.
  3. Lightly oil a large clean bowl and place the dough in it. Turn it over to coat it with the oil and cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Punch it down.
  4. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces and shape each into a ball. Flatten the balls slightly so that they resemble thick pizzas. Cover and let sit until doubled in size; for a longer rise time, put the balls into the fridge, for as long as overnight. When you’re ready to use the dough, allow it to come to room temperature before stretching and rolling it out.