Pizza Dough and Sauce

Making the Dough -

Whisk together all the dry ingredients in a large bowl (bread flour, salt, sugar, dry yeast).

Add warm water and 3-5 tbsp of olive oil. Mix with hand (or wooden spoon, but that's no fun) until combined fully.

Knead till dough gets slightly smooth.

Cover and rest for 30 minutes.

**Stretch and Folds **-

After 30 minutes, grab one side of the dough, stretch it upwards, then fold over the dough, and repeat for all 4 sides.

Cover and rest for 30 minutes.

Repeat the stretch-and-folds 2 more times, with 30 minute intervals in between each one.

After the third one, cover and let it rest for 1.5 hours. The dough will get puffy during this time.

Rest in Pan -

Coat a 12" cast-iron skillet generously with oil.

Transfer the dough into the pan, coat it with the oil and gently press it into the edges.

Place it in the oven (just turn on the light, nothing else), for another 75 minutes.

**Prep **-

Crush the tomatoes in a food processor, or with an immersion blender until mostly puréed. Chunks can be there, but try not to have them too big.

Peel an onion, and chop it into two halves. You do not need to chop it further.

Making the Sauce -

Melt butter (or vegan butter) with olive oil in a pan on low-medium heat. One melted, add garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, and cook for 3 minutes. Do not burn the garlic.

Add in the puréed tomatoes, onion halves, basil sprigs, salt and a pinch of sugar.

Once the sauce is simmering, reduce the heat to the lowest setting, and cook for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Once completed, remove the onions and basil, and transfer to a secondary container for storage/use. Do not use plastics -.-

Preparing the Base -

Remove the pan from the oven(!!!), then preheat the oven to 500°F.

Once preheated, par-bake the dough for 10 minutes. Since the dough is so thick, it would need to be par-baked before making the pizza.

Toppings -

Once par-baked, top the dough with sauce. Lightly cover the base, do not overload with sauce. The pan will sizzle, do not be scared!

Cover the sauce with mozzarella cheese (vegan or otherwise), and make sure it touches the edges (this will create the brown crust during the cook).

Add dollops of sauce on top of the cheese.

**Final Bake **-

Place in the oven for 10 minutes again, till the cheese bubbles.

Turn on the broiler for 1-2 minutes to crisp the tops.

Remove the pan from the oven, scrape the pizza off the pan and lift the pizza out of the pan.

Place on wire rack to cool for 2-5 minutes.

Post-Prep -

Top with toppings of your choice. I suggest basil chiffonade, hot honey (THIS IS SO GOOD), and some salt flakes and VEGAN parm.