1. Sift the flour into a large bowl, pour the water (minus 2 Tbsp) over the flour and loosely mix. 2. Sprinkle the salt over this loose dough. This will begin the process of hydrating the flour.

2. In a small bowl add the remaining 2 Tbsp of warm water and sprinkle the yeast over top and leave for 30 minutes to activate the yeast. It should become foamy during this time (note: if there’s no change in the yeast it’s likely that your water was too hot, or that your yeast has expired. You won’t get a rise if you don’t have active yeast).

3. Pour the yeast water over the flour and water resting in the bowl. Mix until everything is combined. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and let rest for about an hour.

4. Wet your hands (I keep a bowl of “hand water” on the counter for this process), grab small handfuls from underneath and pull over the top. Continue pulling and stretching the dough from bottom to top to form a ball and develop the gluten bonds.

5. Transfer the dough ball to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and let rise in a cool place for at least five hours (the longer, the better- I’ve let the rise go overnight and it just gets better). 

6. Dump the dough ball onto a lightly floured surface, cut the ball into quarters. Stretch each small dough ball with the heel of your hand, rotating as you go and pulling the outer edge back over the top. Continue until the dough becomes tighter and forms a nice ball.

7. Let the dough balls rest for about an hour, and you can preheat (250C/480F) the oven during this time. The important thing at this time is to preheat the oven with the cooking surface inside. Whether you use a pizza stone, pizza steel, or just a cooking sheet, make sure you let it get hot in the oven so your pizza bottom gets a jumpstart on cooking as soon as it hits that surface. I use a large baking tray because I’ve found it gets hot faster than a pizza stone.

8. Lay down a large square of parchment on your counter top, sprinkle with semolina or flour. 10. Roll out your dough to your desired thickness (for me, one ball makes a pizza that’s between 10-12” in diameter- I’ll admit, the roundness is definitely not my specialty but it all tastes the same).

9. Top with all of your favourites, slide a pizza paddle under the whole thing (parchment included) and slide it all into the oven onto that preheated surface.

10. Let cook until crust begins to brown and cheese is bubbling.

11. Remove from the oven using the pizza paddle, top with fresh basil, slice and enjoy!