The feature paramount to all other components of the fabled pizza pie is the crust. Without the flavor and texture given birth by a well-crafted crust, the pizza amounts to nothing. This is why so many pizzas fail at tasting good at all and why the overly-spiced sauces and salty, gummy cheeses are employed to make some attempt at forcing the consumer to taste at least a little something (namely cheap salt) while their stomachs are geting filled.

The base flavor of the pizza is the crust. Which is why it should, and does, take time to prepare. Flavor in bread is not an aspect that is automatically generated. Rather, flavor in bread is grown. Like a good garden, bread texture and flavor take time, dedication, and care to be fruitful. I haven’t reached the point at which I can continually have a naturally leavened yeast starter at my disposal to create what is probably the ultimate flavor and texture, but I try to do my best by employing the sponge and the following method:

Step 2: The Dough

Dough Following the last step, I allowed my sponge to relax and hang out more for several more hours, giving it more time to develop it’s strong flavor. I began the construction of the dough by mixing four cups of flour, yeast, olive oil, honey, and 1 1/2 cups of bottled spring water until it formed a mass and clung to my dough hook. This took about 4 minutes. I then allowed the dough to rest for twenty minutes, covering the mixing bowl with saran wrap to keep the inside reasonably moist.

After the 20 minutes, I added a tablespoon of sea salt and half of the sponge (remember, I made a double batch and can only make one batch of dough at a time with the size of my mixer). I mixed all the ingredients again for about 8 minutes (adding flour if the dough was too sticky and was not forming properly on the hook). After the 8 minutes or so, the gluten should be developed well enough to be stretchy. It is highly important to develop the gluten so as to allow for a thin crust when forming the pie. Otherwise, it will tear or the crust will not rise and bubble as it should during the baking process. At this point I removed the dough to a well-floured surface to hand-knead for a minute or so and to finally form the dough into a ball. The ball (as shown in the photo) is then place in a large bowl lined with about a tablespoon of olive oil and covered with plastic wrap.

I’ve recently taken to slow fermentation in the refrigerator. I prefer it to rising the bread at room temperature because, practically, it doesn’t need as much care and, gastronomically, the slow fermentation process in a chilled environment, again, develops a more rich flavor and a texture that I can’t beat otherwise.

At this point, the balls of dough go into the refrigerator for about 19 or 20 hours. I will be removing the dough from the refrigerator (to relax them) about an hour before I form them each into three individual balls for the pies themselves and begin second fermentation.