Delayed gratification pizza worth the wait

Over the past 10 years I have written seven columns featuring recipes for homemade pizza crust.

Welcome to my eighth.

Pizza is a regular dinner at my house. Between Damgoode

Pies delivery and our homemade pies, my husband and I eat pizza at least a couple of times a month.

Today’s recipe is a departure from previous recipes in that it is for deep dish pizza. It is also a delayed gratification pizza, as in you’ll need 18 hours to 3 days between when you start the dough and when you plan to serve the pie.

Deep Dish Double Pep Pizza

10 ounces (about 2 cups PLUS 2 ½ tablespoons) unbleached bread flour, plus more as needed

1 teaspoon kosher salt (I use Diamond Crystal; use less if using Morton) Heaping ½ teaspoon active dry yeast or instant yeast (see note)

1 cup room temperature water

1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more as needed

8 ounces part-skim milk mozzarella cheese, cut into cubes

½ cup favorite pizza sauce

2 ounces pepperoni

¼ cup or more sliced pepperoncini peppers

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt and yeast. Mix well. Add the water and mix on slow speed for 30 seconds or stir with a wooden spoon to form a coarse, shaggy dough. Add the oil and mix on medium speed or with your hands, for 1 minute or until a wet, coarse, sticky dough forms. The dough will be quite wet. Let rest for 5 minutes. Mix dough on medium-high or by hand for 1 minute or until dough is soft and supple, but tacky to the touch. If dough is too wet, sprinkle in a tablespoon or less of flour and continue mixing.

Use about 1 teaspoon of olive oil to make 15-inch diameter oil slick on the work surface and generously oil your hands. Transfer the dough to the oiled work surface. Stretch and fold the dough. Shape dough into rough rectangle and fold one end to the center, then the other end, as if

folding a letter. Then fold the wide ends together the same way to create a rough ball. Let dough rest for 2 to 5 minutes. Repeat stretching and folding and resting 3 times. The dough will have firmed up a bit, but still be quite soft. Transfer the dough to a clean, lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 12 to 72 hours.

About 5 hours before you plan to bake the pizza, remove the dough from the refrigerator.

Line a 9-by-13-inch metal baking pan with parchment paper. Add about 1 tablespoon olive oil to the parchment-lined pan. Transfer dough to pan, turn to dough to coat in oil. Using your fingertips, dimple the dough and gently press it toward (but not to) the corners of the pan, expanding it in all directions. Cover with loosely with plastic wrap and let dough relax at room temperature for 20 minutes. Repeat dimpling and gently pressing the dough every 20 minutes until the dough reaches the corners of the pan — usually three or four dimpling sessions. Top dough with half of the cheese cubes and gently press them into the dough. Let the cheese-covered dough rise for 4 hours. The dough will bubble up around the cheese and rise significantly.

About 20 minutes before baking, heat oven to 500 degrees (450 degrees for convection or “quick bake”). Spread a thin coat of pizza sauce over the dough and then cover with half of the pepperoni slices. Top with the remaining cheese cubes, then top with the remaining pepperoni and the pepperoncini peppers.

Bake on center rack for 8 minutes. Rotate pan 180 degrees and bake 7 to 9 minutes more.

Using an offset spatula (or the overhang of the parchment paper), carefully remove the pizza from the pan to a cutting board. Let pizza stand for 1 to 2 minutes, then cut into squares.

Makes 1 pizza.