Recipes

Jim Lahey’s No-Knead Pizza Dough

Jim Lahey

Sullivan Street Bakery, NYC

Don’t freeze the dough, but you can store it in the refrigerator, wrapped in plastic, for up to 3 days. In effect, when you’re set to use it, you have your own ready-made dough. This dough works especially well with Lahey's cauliflower pizza recipe.

From My Pizza by Jim Lahey with Rick Flaste (Clarkson Potter, 2012). 

Ingredients

500 grams all-purpose flour, 
plus more for shaping the dough
1 gram active dry yeast
16 grams fine sea salt
350 grams water

Method

In a medium bowl, thoroughly blend the flour, yeast, and salt. Add the water and, with a wooden spoon or your hands, mix thoroughly. 

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and allow it to rise at room temperature for 18 hours or until it has more than doubled. It will take longer in a chilly room and less time in a very warm one. 

Flour a work surface and scrape out the dough. Divide it into 4 equal parts and shape them: for each portion, start with the right side of the dough and pull it toward the center; then do the same with the left, then the top, then the bottom. (The order doesn’t actually matter; what you want is four folds.) Shape each portion into a round and turn it seam side down. Mold the dough into a neat circular mound. The mounds should not be sticky; if they are, dust with more flour. 

If you don’t intend to use the dough right away, wrap the balls individually in plastic and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Return to room temperature by leaving them out on the counter, covered with a damp cloth, for 2 to 3 hours before needed. 

Yield

Makes 4 balls of dough, enough for 4 pizzas