Edible Memphis

My New & Improved 8-hour, Not-So-Secret Beer-Spiked Pizza Crust Recipe

By Justin Fox Burks

Special equipment: stand mixer, 3 rubber bands, 3 seven-inch round plastic containers
3 cups bread flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon honey
½ teaspoon Fleishman’s active dry yeast
9–12 ounces Ghost River Pale Ale
olive oil

1.    Pour beer into a microwave safe glass and heat for 1 minute until temperature is between 108° and 118°.
2.    Bloom the yeast in a few tablespoons of the warm beer.
3.    Place flour, salt, and honey into a stand mixer, turn it on low, and add the bloomed yeast.
4.    Slowly add the beer a little bit at a time until all the dry flour has been incorporated. (You will have some beer left over.)
5.    Mix for 5 minutes till dough looks smooth.
6.    On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a nine-inch log; cut the log into three equal three-inch pieces.
7.    Roll each piece into a ball, place each in its own round airtight container, and secure the lid with a rubber band. This will keep the top from popping off as the dough rises.
8.    Set containers out on the countertop. Leave the dough alone for 8 hours.
9.    Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 500°. (You will need to preheat for at least 45 minutes.)
10.    Turn the dough ball out on to a lightly floured pizza peel (or baking sheet). Begin to dimple the dough using three fingers. Leave a half-inch on the outside undisturbed—this will become the crust. Turn dough over and repeat the process.
11.    Pick up the dough and let it stretch over your fists until it is about 12 inches in diameter, or toss it in the air like a pro—your call.
12.    Make sure your have enough flour on the peel so that the pizza can slide around and into the oven.
13.    Spread about 1⁄3 cup of tomato sauce over the crust, and then top with ½ – 1½ cups of cheese. Add any other topping that you like at this point.
14.    Using the pizza peel, slide the raw pizza onto the hot stone and let it cook for about 7 minutes.
15.    Remove the pizza once the top starts bubbling and it begins  to brown around the edges.
16.     The best part: cut and serve.