Cooking with Wine

Make the Poolish:
Put the yeast and cold water in a bowl and whisk for 30 seconds. Add the sifted flour to the bowl and use a spatula to combine. It will have the texture of a thick pancake batter. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit overnight (12-20 hours is ideal).
Make the Pizza Dough (10-15 hours later):
Refrigerate the poolish for 30 minutes before adding it to the dough recipe.
Add the yeast to a small bowl, then add the warm water and sugar. Whisk for 30 seconds and let sit for 5 minutes.
Add the flour to the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook. On low speed, add most of the ice-cold water, reserving about ½ of a cup. Next, add the yeast and water mixture. Use the reserved ice-cold water to get the rest of the yeast mixture from the bowl and add it to the flour. Mix for about a minute, then add the poolish. Mix for another minute, pulling the dough down off the hook as needed.
Add the salt and mix for another minute. Scrape the sides of the bowl and pull the dough from the hook. Add the oil and mix for another couple of minutes until the dough forms a ball around the dough hook and no longer sticks to the walls of the bowl. The dough will be sticky to the touch but should develop enough gluten to form a ball around the hook. If your dough is still sticking to the walls add 1 tablespoon of flour and continue mixing.
Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and slide the dough hook from the dough. The dough will be sticky, but do not add flour at this point. Using a bench scraper or your hands, do several stretch and folds in the bowl. Do this by picking up one side of the dough, stretching it up then folding it over the dough. Do this on all sides of the dough a few times until the dough ball is a bit more cohesive.
Using extra virgin olive oil, lightly oil a large enough bowl for the dough and transfer the dough to the new bowl. Once in the bowl, do a few more stretch and folds to completely coat in the oil. Cover with a damp tea towel and let rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
Next, remove the dough from the bowl to a clean work surface (no floured surface necessary). Divide into eight pieces (about 8.5 oz or 235g each) and make pizza dough balls with each by folding the sides into the center of each piece of dough, flip the dough ball over, then using the work surface and cupped hands, roll the ball in circles against the work surface. Lightly oil each dough ball, and either proof in a pan covered tightly with plastic wrap or individually wrap in plastic wrap tightly, and refrigerate for at least an hour (12 is optimal) before forming into pizzas and using for best results. Remove the dough from the refrigerator for about 15-30 minutes before using.
Make Pizza Crusts
Preheat a pizza stone in your oven at the hottest setting (usually 550°F) on convection if you have that setting, for at least 30 minutes. Then turn the broiler on for 5 minutes to get the stone even hotter. Turn it back to 550° right before putting the pizza in the oven.
To make the pizza crust, begin by preparing a bowl of flour (all purpose is fine here) and a bowl of semolina. Remove the dough from the plastic wrap and place it in the bowl of all purpose flour and coat with flour on all sides.
Next, sprinkle semolina onto your pizza peel and place the floured dough onto the peel. Begin by pressing dough on the center of the dough, working towards the outer edges. This will push the air to the crust to give you a nice fluffy crust around the outside of your pizza. The dough will bubble about 3-4 times the thickness of the outer edges, so push out as much of the bubbles as desired. Pick up the dough and use your knuckles while turning the dough to stretch it out to the desired size and thickness. We generally stretch these to make 10-12” pizzas. Top your pizza with whatever toppings you want, but make sure it's not too heavy or it won't slide off the pizza peel onto the pizza stone.
Cook the Pizza
Once the dough is shaped and the pizza is topped with what you want, it goes into the oven straight onto the pizza stone for about 5-6 minutes or until the crust is nice and bubbled and golden brown, then broil the pizza for another 45-60 seconds. Once done, remove from the oven and place on a wire rack for a few minutes, then transfer to a cutting board to slice and serve!