01 March 2009

No-Knead Pizza Crust


Everyone is on the No-Knead bread wagon right?  You know, the bread making technique made famous in the NY Times?  It creates flavorful, crusty breads letting time do the work for you.  So when the King Arthur Flour blog posted a No-Knead Pizza Crust, it went to the top of my "must make" recipe list.

This recipe did not disappoint.  It did indeed take time, but it created the best homemade pizza crust I've ever made.  It was firm but had great texture and taste.  Don't let the "time factor" steer you off of this recipe.  There was probably only about 5-7 minutes of hands on time.  The rest of the time was waiting while the little yeast workhorses did their thing.

No-Knead Pizza Crust adapted from King Arthur Flour blog

Ingredients:

3 cups bread flour
1/4 tsp. instant yeast
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 - 2 c. warmish water

Directions:

1.  The night before you want to make pizza, mix together all of the ingredients, stirring just to combine.  The mixture will resemble cottage cheese.  
2.  Cover the bowl with Saran Wrap and let it rest overnight until right before you are ready to bake the crust.
3.  When ready to bake the crust, pre-heat your oven with a pizza stone inside to 450 degrees F.  Heavily flour your counter and scrape the "dough" out onto the counter.  Heavily flour the top and use a dough scraper to fold the dough over a few times.  It will be very, very wet and soupy.
4.  Place a square of parchment onto a pizza peel or the back of a cookie sheet.  
5.  Pat the dough out onto the parchment into a circular shape until it is about 1/4 inch thick.
6.  When your oven is pre-heated, slide the dough, parchment and all, onto the pizza stone.  Spray the crusts and the inside walls of your oven with water to create steam and shut the door quickly.  Bake the crust for about 16 minutes.
7.  Remove the crust from the oven and put your pre-cooked toppings on top.  I used tomato paste, mozzarella cheese and pepperoni slices.
8.  Slide the pizza back into the oven for another 8 minutes until the toppings are hot and the cheese is bubbly and starting to brown.


17 comments:

Donna-FFW said...

Oh thank you, something homemade and doughy that doesnt have to be kneaded, and pizza to top it off, you are the BEST! I so have to try this!! THANK you!

Wandering Coyote said...

THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I am so going to make this the next time we have family pizza night!

La Cuisine d'Helene said...

Beautiful! I need to try this one.

Cathy said...

Looks great! Will have to do this next time I want pizza.

Anonymous said...

Great recipe! That is something I could definitely use.

Chef E said...

Yum, you know i love my pizza! You also just inspired me to make bread, so gotta go...

Anonymous said...

This is now on my "must make" list :)

Reeni said...

I love it! I am having such a craving for pizza, that is sizzling delicious!

Anonymous said...

thank you so much!
sounds delicious :)

Meg said...

What a fabulous crust recipe!

Sam said...

Great! I'll try this next time I make pizza

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

I've made the no-knead bread numerous times but haven't seen the no-knead pizza crust. Thanks for introducing it - I'll have to give it a try.
Sam

Tangled Noodle said...

Great! This will add variety to Pizza Night Thursdays!

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Sounds like a dream.
I just used P Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice pizza recipe last night, it is excellent.
This looks very interesting and very much worth a go. I always learn something new with every recipe.

Lori said...

Planning to make pizza this Friday. I may give this a try. Yours looks great! I have to admit I do love to knead - worked in a bread store for several years. However, this is a great recipe for when I'm in a hurry. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Nice recipe. The best pizza doughs definitely take a bit of time to make :)

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a winner! I will HAVE to try that one of these weeks!

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