Published September 1, 2008. From Cook's Illustrated.
The challenge of devising a pizza bianca recipe for the home cook was to figure out how to handle the super-hydrated dough. Forming the dough required both a 20-minute resting time and 10 minutes of machine kneading at high speed. Rather than rolling it, we pressed the dough onto a baking sheet and placed the sheet on top of a preheated pizza stone on the middle rack of a 450-degree oven. Following these steps gave us a superbly crisp, chewy crust.
Serve the pizza by itself as a snack or with soup or salad for a light meal. Once the dough has been placed in the oiled bowl, it can be transferred to the refrigerator and kept for up to 24 hours. Bring the dough to room temperature, 2 to 2 1/2 hours, before proceeding with step 4. When kneading the dough on high speed, the mixer tends to wobble and move on the counter. Place a towel or shelf liner under the mixer and watch it at all times during mixing. Handle the dough with slightly oiled hands. Resist flouring your fingers or the dough might stick. This recipe was developed using an 18- by 13-inch baking sheet. Smaller baking sheets can be used, but because the pizza will be thicker, baking times will be longer. If not using a pizza stone, increase the oven temperature to 500 degrees and set the rack to the lowest position; the cooking time might increase by 3 to 5 minutes and the exterior won’t be as crisp.
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