Bubbly No-Knead Pizza Crust

I think my family let me have the bubbliest piece because they love me.

I ran across this recipe while browsing King Arthur Flour's blog Flourish a couple of weeks ago. The post was written by one of the KAF owner employees I met when I was there for a baking class--Julia Reed was assigned to take some pics in the Baking Education Center and she was such a warm person with a great sense of humor. At any rate, she titled this post "The Best Pizza You'll Ever Make" and it's true. I've made a LOT of pizzas in my day, and I really think this one was the best--and simplest. The crust got delightfully bubbly, crisp, and chewy, and it had a fabulous flavor all on its own. Then with the toppings...mmm. Just perfect. And the dough prep involved no kneading at all--just a little stirring, folding, and waiting. If you want to see a great tutorial with detailed pics of the process, click here. Below is how I did it, but know that I referred back to the Flourish post several times just to be sure I was on the right track.
So, if you're into pizza and want to experience an airy, bubbly homemade crust, you have to try this recipe. You just have to.


No-Knead Pizza Crust
    --adapted from Flourish/KingArthurFlour.com

Ingredients:

• 4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All Purpose Flour, plus more for dusting (Note: I used half AP and half bread flour one time and it made this pizza even better.)
• 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 cup warmish water

Instructions:
Note: This pizza turns out best if you have a baking stone, or even better, a sheet of baking steel (which I do not yet have).
Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Dough might look a little dry now, but it will turn gooey and wet over while it ferments/rises. Cover bowl and allow dough to rise 24 hours. 
When dough has risen and you're about 1 1/2 hours from wanting to eat pizza, preheat oven to 550 degrees Fahrenheit.
Turn dough out onto a heavily floured surface and cut in half. Working with one piece of dough at a time, stretch one end of the dough and fold over the middle third of the piece of dough. Then stretch the other end and fold over like a letter. Go to an unfolded side, stretch, and fold just like you did before, but with the opposite sides. Tuck all of the ends to the underside and place in a floured bowl. Cover. Repeat with the other piece of dough and allow to rise for 45-60 minutes.
Get all of your toppings ready. Line a pizza peel or underside of a baking sheet that will act as a peel.
Turn a piece of dough out onto a well-floured surface. With gentle fingertips, press and stretch dough from the center taking care not to squash the outer 1/2 to 1 inch of the circle you are forming. Then gently lift dough circle with your knuckles and allow dough to stretch with the force of gravity, gently moving your knuckles around the edge to stretch and enlarge the crust. Stretch to about a 12 inch diameter and then place on the prepared parchment. Cut the parchment in a circle about 1/2 to 1 inch larger than the crust.
I topped my pizzas with homemade pizza sauce, pepperoni, sliced mozzarella, Roma tomatoes, and fresh sliced garlic.
Slide topped pizza onto the baking stone/steel, turn oven to broil, and bake/broil for about 6 minutes. (Note: if your broiler is less than 8 inches from the pizza surface, don't do the broil, just bake at 550 degrees until bubbly and melty.)
Pizza will start to char on the top of the big, bubbly edges and cheese will be melted and probably start to brown.
Slide back onto pizza peel or inverted baking sheet, cut, and serve. Be careful not to burn you mouth.

Makes two large pizzas (approx 12-inches in diameter)

Right after mixing the dough, it's lumpy and kind of dry.

Surprising how wet the dough gets after 24 hours.

These dough balls are sitting for their second rise. See the original post on Flourish for more pics.

I've really been liking the sliced mozzarella that I've been using lately on pizza.

Can you hear the angels singing? Oh my goodness. So good.