Don Valley Pizza Dough (Cold-Rise)

Norm worked his way through school delivering food for Don Valley Pizza, which closed in the 1980's.  The owner, Larry, made his own pizza dough. It was stretchy, not bread-like, thin but not crunchy. Norm always said that Larry's pizza was the best. The three things we know for certain about Larry's recipe are: he used fresh baker's cake yeast and homogenized milk, and he would cold-rise the dough. Larry mixed his dough every afternoon and refrigerated it for use the next day. The pizzas were baked at high heat in a commercial pizza oven.

This recipe is my version of Larry's pizza dough, it's very easy and I think it's very good, and Norm likes it though he says it's still not exactly right. I use instant dry yeast and often use 2% milk in the dough. I use a preheated pizza stone in an electric oven on convection setting.

I've written a lot of instructions not to complicate things but so it will be easy to get it right.

I recommend using a pizza stone and a large wooden pizza peel if you have one.

Makes two large thin-crust pizzas.

Dough (mix 24 hours before baking if you can)

• 3 cups all-purpose white flour OR white Italian-style pizza flour
• 2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp vital wheat gluten (optional)*
• 1 tsp salt
• 2-1/4 tsp (1 packet) quick-rise instant yeast or traditional dry yeast
• 1 Tbsp olive oil 
• 1-1/2 cups warm homogenized milk
• optional: cornmeal

*Adding wheat gluten makes the dough stretchy and chewy. I've used Bob's Red Mill Vital Wheat Gluten with good results. If you're using bread flour, Italian flour, or pizza flour, you probably won't need to add the gluten.

Toppings:

• pizza sauce
• shredded mozzarella cheese
• Other choices: fresh basil leaves, oregano, pepperoni, salami, mushroom, peppers, olives, onion, tomato, etc.
• ground cayenne pepper
• dried chili pepper flakes 

1. Attach the dough hook to the stand mixer.
2. Warm the large stainless steel stand mixer bowl by rinsing with hot water, then drying thoroughly.
3. In the bowl, combine: 3 cups flour (scoop flour with a dry measure and level flour with a straight edge) and 2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp vital wheat gluten (optional) and 1 tsp salt.
4. To use instant quick-rise dry yeast: stir  2-1/4 tsp yeast into the flour and salt mixture. Heat 1-1/2 cups milk to 115-120 degrees F (1 min. 15 seconds in a Pyrex measuring cup in my microwave at high power). To warm milk, add 1 Tbsp olive oil. Add liquid to flour mixture, mixing on low speed. To use traditional dry yeast: Sprinkle 2-1/4 tsp yeast on top of milk that has been warmed to 110 degrees F. Let sit 5 minutes or until mixture foams (yeast activates) then add 1 Tbsp. oil. Add liquid to flour and salt mixture on low speed.
5. Knead  dough 1 minute. Stop mixer to scrape flour from the sides of the bowl down into the dough if necessary. 
6. Increase mixer speed to 2 (medium low) and knead 3 minutes more. Dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl and start forming a ball. If it doesn't, check to make sure you are using the dough hook. Dough will not knead into a ball using the regular paddle attachment. Dough should be clumped around the hook and may stick to the bottom of the bowl but not to the sides.
7. If dough sticks to sides of the bowl, add a tablespoon more flour at a time, continue mixing.
8. If dough looks dry, floury or stiff, add a little more warm milk or water.
9. When dough forms into a ball, turn off mixer.
10. Generously flour your hands and remove the somewhat sticky, stretchy dough from the dough hook and bottom of bowl.

To Cold Rise 8 hours or overnight:

1. Divide dough in half, shape into two rounds.
2. Wipe a little olive oil on both sides of each round, or wipe a little olive oil on the bottom of 2 bowls and rub the dough rounds on both sides to grease a little.
3. With each round in a separate bowl, cover with a dampened cloth or with plastic wrap. 
4. Refrigerate dough at least 8 hours or overnight.
5. Remove dough from fridge, re-dampen cloth with warm water if necessary, re-cover dough in bowls.
6. If you need to speed the process put the dough in warm bowls, let sit on the counter about 2 hours or till room temperature, then proceed.

To Bake Pizza Within An Hour or Two of Mixing Dough:

1. Put the entire portion of dough in a warm, lightly-oiled bowl covered with plastic wrap (brush or spray oil on one side of plastic so risen dough doesn't stick) or a dampened cloth.
2. Let sit at room temperature for about an hour, or if the room is cool, in a 76 degree F oven until doubled. If the oven can't be set to 76 degrees, preheat the oven to 100 degrees F then turn off  the heat but keep the oven light on. Set the bowl of dough to rise inside the oven (door closed) until doubled in size. 
3. Remove dough from bowl, divide into two portions, and proceed.

Clean-up Tip: Rub your hands over the green bin to remove excess sticky dough before washing. Don't put the the mixer bowl and stand mixer hook in the sink to wash later, it's easier to wash with hot water and detergent right away, before dough hardens.

Making the Pizza

1. Prepare toppings.
2. Place pizza stone in the oven and preheat oven to 450 degrees F. convection (475 degrees F regular oven.)
3. Tear off a sheet of parchment paper slightly smaller than your pizza stone.
4. Lightly flour hands and the parchment paper. 
5. Stretch one round of dough over your knuckles into a circle. If dough resists stretching, let it rest for a minute and try again.
6. Stretch dough to a round shape (or to fit your pizza stone) on the parchment paper. Try not to overwork the dough. If necessary, use a rolling pin.
7. Slide a pizza peel under the parchment paper.
8. Spread pizza sauce on the dough round, and add other toppings (e.g. pepperoni, chopped peppers, mushrooms) as desired. 
9. Add 1 cup or more shredded mozzarella cheese.
10. Cut the parchment paper with scissors, so that there's a one inch border around the finished pizza. Remove the parchment paper scraps.
11. Take the pizza (still on the parchment paper round, on the peel) to the oven.
12. Slide the pizza on the paper, into the preheated oven, onto the hot pizza stone. Close the oven door. Set oven timer for 15 minutes.
13. Begin preparing the second dough round for baking.
14. Check the pizza in the oven: after 15 minutes or so, dough is firm and pizza looks almost done.
15. Using the pizza peel or a large spatula to lift the pizza, carefully pull the parchment paper from beneath the pizza. It will be hot. For the crunchiness of a cornmeal crust (optional): Remove the parchment paper as soon as the pizza is firm enough to lift onto the pizza peel. Sprinkle cornmeal on the hot stone, and place the pizza (without parchment) back on the cornmeal-covered stone to finish baking. 
16. Let the pizza finish baking without the parchment, directly on the hot stone, till the bottom is slightly golden.
17. Use a pizza peel or large spatula to lift pizza out of the oven, then let pizza rest a few minutes on the peel before sliding onto a cutting board to slice into wedges using a pizza cutter.
18. Return oven to temperature (preheat again if necessary) to bake the second pizza on the hot pizza stone.
19. Wrap and refrigerate left-overs.
20. Safety tip: after turning off the oven, leave the pizza stone in the oven until it has cooled.

Cornmeal Baking Option: 

1. For the crunchiness of a cornmeal crust,  remove the parchment paper as soon as the pizza is firm enough to lift onto the pizza peel. Sprinkle cornmeal on the hot stone, and place the pizza (without parchment) back on the cornmeal-covered stone to finish baking. 
2. Bake till bottom crust is slightly golden, cheese is melted and bubbling.
3. Remove cooked pizza from oven using the peel or a large spatula.

For "spicy pizza" orders:

1. Larry sprinkled baked pizzas with ground cayenne pepper. For extra-spicy, sprinkle with dried chili pepper flakes too. (Norm's idea.) 

Re-heating cold pizza:  Instead of microwaving pizza to reheat, try reheating a slice on parchment paper in a frying pan on the stove at medium heat, covered loosely with the pan lid or piece of foil.