INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

You will need a large bread bowl, a baking sheet 12 by 18 inches or
two smaller sheets.  Place water in a large bowl. Water should be  warm
but not hot to the touch. Stir in the yeast and allow to  dissolve.
Stir in 1 cup flour, stirring constantly in the same  direction. Stir
in another cup flour, then stir 100 times in the same  direction (one
minute). This helps develop the gluten. You now have a  sponge. Cover,
and let stand for half an hour or up to three hours.  When you are
ready to continue, sprinkle on salt and oil, then add  more flour,
stirring it in a half cup at a time. The dough will be  getting heavier
and harder to stir. When you can stir no longer,  flour a kneading
surface well and have more flour handy beside your  work surface. Turn
dough out and knead, adding extra flour to your  work surface as
necessary to prevent the dough from sticking.  The dough will gradually
become smooth and easy to work. Knead for 10  minutes, clean bread
bowl, oil it lightly, and place the ball of  dough into the bowl to
rise, covered with plastic wrap. Let rise  until more than doubled,
almost three hours. When the volume of the  dough has approximately
doubled, you can proceed to the next step.  Dough can be made ahead to
this point and then stored. If you wish  postpone baking, gently push
dough down, and leave covered in the  bowl to rise again. If delay will
be more than several hours, instead  store dough in a plastic bag in
the refrigerator (for not more than  five days). Bring out of the cold
and take out of the plastic bag at  least an hour before you want to
work with it.Lightly flour your work  surface and lightly oil a 12 by
18-inch baking sheet. Preheat oven to  450 degrees. Turn dough out onto
work surface and flatten with the  lightly floured palm of your hand.
Pull and stretch the dough gently  out into the rectangular shape you
need to fit your baking sheet.  Take your time and give the dough time
to rest if it is resisting  stretching. It will need to get quite thin.
When you have stretched  the dough to approximately the shape and size
you need, transfer it  to baking sheet and continue to gently press and
stretch it to fit.  Don't worry if it tears, just patch the hole with
another piece of  dough and press firmly to join the edges. If you have
extra dough  hanging over the edge, trim it off and use it to make
another small  pizza.  Dough should be of an even thinness across the
flat part of  the baking sheet and should form a slight rounded rim as
it meets the  edge (which is for many people the best part of the
pizza).  Brush top of pizza with oil, then dimple the surface all over
with  your fingers. Sprinkle on sea salt and then optional rosemary
leaves.  Place baking sheet on the bottom rack of the preheated oven
and bake  until the crust around the edge is slightly golden, 5 to 8
minutes,  depending on how thin the pizza is. Remove from oven, brush
crusts  lightly with olive oil and also the center if you wish. Cut
into  large squares and serve warm or hot. We have often made pizza
bianca  several hours ahead, then wrapped it in a clean kitchen towel
to keep  it moist until we are ready to reheat it for serving. To
reheat,  place in a dampened paper bag in a 300'F oven for about 10
minutes.  Yield: one large 12 by 18-inch pizza or two medium, or 3 or 4
small  Recipe By     : BAKER'S DOZEN SHOW #BD1A29  Posted to EAT-L
Digest  5 November 96  Date:    Wed, 6 Nov 1996 20:33:48 -0600  From:  
Jackie Bordelon <jbord@PREMIER.NET>

A Message from our Provider:

“Bibles that are falling apart are usually owned by people who aren’t.”

Nutrition (calculated from recipe ingredients)
----------------------------------------------
Calories: 2539
Calories From Fat: 294
Total Fat: 33.6g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 3723.1mg
Potassium: 801.1mg
Carbohydrates: 481.4g
Fiber: 18.8g
Sugar: 2.4g
Protein: 66.1g