NY STYLE PIZZA - updated with new protocol

Dough Recipe for 1 12 inch pizza
Gold Medal Bread Flour 194 grams
Sea Salt 4.3 grams
Red Star instant yeast 1.5 grams
Kansas City tap water 122 grams

Preparing the Dough
1) Stir water and salt with spoon/whisk until dissolved in stand mixer bowl.
2) Add approximately half the flour first, then the yeast. Fit stand mixer with hook attachment.
3) Mix 60 seconds on stir to incorporate yeast.
4) Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit 20 minutes.
5) Mix on stir speed for 5 minutes, adding in remaining flour gradually over the 5 minute mix.
6) Mix on 2/3 for 5 minutes.
7) Check dough temperature with digital thermometer; it should be 80 degrees at the hook.
8) Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit 15 more minutes.
9) Remove dough from bowl and hand knead for 2 minutes on lightly floured prep area.
10) Place dough into a bowl tightly covered with plastic wrap. Put in fridge for 72 hours.
11) After 72 hours, remove dough from fridge and carefully transfer to a well floured couche, cover with plastic wrap and allow to warm for ~2 hours.

Prepare the oven after the dough has been on the counter for 1 hour.

Preparing the Oven
1) Place a baking stone on the lowest rack in the oven.
2) Place another baking stone (or some unglazed quarry tiles) on a rack 3 notches above the first. Notches vary from oven to oven so shoot for 7.5 inches.
3) Turn the oven to the highest possible heat and preheat for 1 hour.
4) While the oven is preheating you will hear the gas turn off. When this happens open the door until the gas kicks back on.

Sauce

Let 4 plum tomatoes sit on the counter for a few days ripening.

Preheat the broiler. Take the tomatoes and wash them and put them on a cookie sheet. Broil the tomatoes under the broiler for a few minutes, turning occasionally, so that the skin blackens a bit on all sides. There are usually a few spots of skin that stay red. After the tomatoes cool, peel most of the blackened skin off, leaving a little behind. Run the tomatoes through a food mill to grind them into a thick chunky sauce.

Add a teaspoon of sea salt to the ground tomatoes along with 1/4 t freshly ground black pepper and a scant 1/4 t very finely ground fennel seed. After stirring for a while taste the sauce. The flavor that you will be adjusting for will be the saltiness. BE VERY CAREFUL. You don't want the salt to be too overpowering. Add just a little at a time.

Dough Shaping Steps
1) Place dough ball in flour bowl. Dust both sides well. Dust prep area with flour.
2) Flatten ball into a thick pancake-like shape with palm of hand, ~ 2" thick. Keep well dusted. Rest 5 minutes.
3) Press fingertips into center and working toward the rim until skin is ~7 inches round. Keep well dusted and rest 5 minutes.
4) Place hands palm down inside rim and stretch outward while turning. Stretch to ~9 inches round. Rest 5 minutes.
5) Place skin over knuckles (1st time dough is lifted off bench) and stretch to 12 inches.
6) Pat excess flour off skin. Place on floured peel and dress with favorite toppings.
7) Just before sliding off the peel and into the oven, run a piece of dental floss under the dough. That will help the pizza slide off easier.