Neo-Neapolitan Pizza Dough

American Pie—Peter Reinhart. The dough to use for making New-Haven-style pizza and/or pizzas in the style of Lombardi’s, Totonno’s, or Grimaldi’s. Makes a “thin, crisp crust with airy pockets in the crown”. Slightly sticky and may be tricky to work with. Requires high-gluten flour.

• Ready In: 45 mins
• Yields: 4 10 ounce dough balls

Ingredients

• 5  cups  unbleached gluten flour or 5  cups bread flour
• 1  tablespoon sugar or 1  tablespoon honey
• 3 1⁄2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1  teaspoon instant yeast
• 2  tablespoons olive oil
• 1 3⁄4 cups  room-temperature water, plus
• 1  tablespoon  room-temperature water

Directions

1. With a big metal spoon, stir together all the ingredients in a 4-quart bowl or the bowl of an electric stand mixer until combined.
2. Fit mixer with dough hook; mix on low speed for about 4 minutes, or until all the flour gathers to form a coarse ball.
3. Let dough rest for 5 minutes, then mix again on med-low speed for 2 more minutes, or until the dough clears the sides of the bowl and sticks just a little to the bottom.
4. *If the dough is too soft and sticky to hold its shape, mix in more flour by the tablespoonful; if it is too stiff or dry, mix in more water by the tablespoonful.
5. The dough should pass the windowpane test—snip off a piece of dough and gently tugging and turning it, stretching it out until it forms a paper-thin, translucent membrane somewhere near the center; if dough does not form this membrane, it probably needs another minute or two of mixing).
6. Immediately divided the dough into 4-equal portions; round each piece into a ball and brush or rub each ball with olive oil.
7. Place each ball inside its own zip-lock freezer bag; let the balls sit at room temperature for 15 minutes, then put them in the refrigerator overnight or freeze any pieces you will not be using the next day.
8. The next day, remove the balls from the refrigerator 2 hours before you plan to roll them out to take the chill off.
9. Makes four 10 ounce dough balls.