Holey Chewy Pizza

I'm all for thin crust Neapolitan pizza with "leopard spotting," but sometimes I want a pie with some heft and some chew. And I always love big bubbles.

(Tangent: When I used to work at a pizza place we had a five foot long two prong fork to pop the bubbles. I never used the thing. Although it had the nice effect of making it look like a vampire had attacked the pizza. Which was hilarious if it was a garlic pizza. Oh no! vampires are developing garlic resistance! its the MRSA of the food world! )

There are three million recipes for pizza dough out there, but this is the one I like for chewy crust because :
-you make it in one afternoon.
-you don't need bread flour.

it's on the sticky end of the spectrum, but not a Jim-Lahey-style ball of goo that's unmanageable.

Ingredients: flour, water, yeast, salt. fin. *


Helpfully, I have bolded the parts which I think are important or interesting. If you have made pizza before, you probably only need to read the bold parts.

1. Mix: 1 1/2 c flour, 1 1/2 c warm water , 2 teasp yeast, 2 teasp salt (in the bowl of a standing mixer if you've got one.)

2. Let stand for as long as you can bear it. At least 20 min. The warm water helps quick rising if your apartment is as cold as mine.

3. Using mixer or sturdy spoon, add flour until the dough starts to pull away from the bowl, about 1 1/2 cups. Knead/mix until you are bored, try to stay unbored for at least 5 min.

4. Let stand again for 30 min or so (leave it in the bowl. No need to oil the bowl, just scrape the dough out if it sticks.) Start preheating pizza stone, if you have one. This is also a great time to assemble your toppings.

5. Scrape dough out of bowl. Divide into two pieces. Gently fold into ball shape (this is important if you want your pizza to be round. The dough "remembers" the shape it rests in, so if you let it rest in a whacked out quadrilateral shape, you will get a whacked-out quadrilateral pizza). Let rest for a few minutes.

6. Roll or stretch dough into a circle. Put some flour or cornmeal on a peel or an upside down cookie sheet. Place dough on the peel/sheet , add sauce, cheese toppings. Don't press down your toppings or the dough will stick to the peel/ sheet.

(I use whole canned tomatoes instead of sauce. I've always been contrary)

7. Your pizza stone is hot now. Don't have a pizza stone? get out your cast iron skillet. put it on the stovetop on high for five minutes or until you smell smoke. Viola- instant preheated "pizza stone" Put it in the oven, crank the oven as high as it can go.

8. Scootch the pizza from the peel/sheet onto the stone/skillet. Ten minutes later, eat pizza.

(mushroom / potato-rosemary pie. Go try a potato pizza right now. It will change your life)

*fin means end in French. don't get excited. this is not another ingredient.