Pizza

Steps

1. mix3 min
   by hand or low speed
   flour + salt + instant yeast whisked dry, then + warm water + olive oil until no dry flour remains — mix the salt through the flour before the water goes in so it never sits in direct contact with concentrated yeast, and keep the water near 100 F: hot tap water above roughly 120 F kills the culture and the dough will never rise
2. knead8 min
   lightly floured surface, until smooth and tacky
   the shaggy mass, pushing and folding until it stops tearing and pulls back when stretched — you are aligning gluten, and the finish line is feel, not a clock: the dough should be tacky enough to cling briefly to your palm but release cleanly. Flouring it into a dry, stiff ball is the most common failure, because a dry dough will not stretch to 12 inches without tearing in the middle
3. proof90 min
   covered, warm room, until doubled
   the kneaded ball in an oiled bowl — fermentation is doing two jobs, inflating the crumb and relaxing the gluten so the dough will open by hand. Underproofed dough springs back and shrinks on the peel; grossly overproofed dough goes slack and loses its rim
4. prep60 min
   oven at its maximum, 500–550 F
   stone, steel, or an inverted heavy sheet pan on an upper rack, heated a full hour — the oven's air hits temperature in 15 minutes but the surface does not. Stored heat in that slab is what sets the bottom crust before the toppings can steam it, and a short preheat is the single biggest cause of pale, floppy home pizza
5. mix2 min
   no cooking
   crushed tomatoes + grated garlic + a pinch of salt (+ oregano, + sugar if the tomatoes are sharp) = sauce — leave it raw. It cooks in under 10 minutes on the pizza, and a pre-simmered sauce turns dull and jammy by the time the crust is done
6. rest20 min
   divided, covered, seam side down
   the risen dough cut into 2 balls, tucked into tight rounds and left to relax — cutting and shaping tightens gluten again, and 20 minutes of rest is what lets the ball open without fighting you
7. prep5 min
   hands only, on a semolina-dusted peel
   one ball pressed from the center outward to a 10- to 12-inch round, leaving the outer inch untouched = the rim — never use a rolling pin, which crushes out the gas that becomes the puffed cornicione. Semolina on the peel acts as ball bearings; check that the round still slides before you top it
8. top2 min
   restrained
   dough + a thin skim of sauce (about 1/3 cup) + torn mozzarella scattered, not blanketed (+ parmesan) — drain wet fresh mozzarella first. Excess sauce and cheese release water faster than the stone can drive it off, and the center goes gummy no matter how hot the oven is
9. bake8 min
   500–550 F, on the preheated surface
   the pizza slid straight onto the stone with one confident forward jerk of the peel, until the rim is blistered and the cheese is bubbling with a few brown spots — 5 minutes in a searing oven, up to 12 in a weaker one, judged by color. Finish with basil after it comes out, since fresh leaves scorch bitter at these temperatures, then bake the second pie once the surface has recovered