Jim Lahey's Pizza Bianca

By
Caroline Russock
Caroline Russock is a contributing writer at Serious Eats.
Caroline Russock is a writer who splits her time between Philadelphia and the Caribbean covering food, travel, leisure, lifestyle, and culture.  Her writing is featured in PhillyVoice, Eater, Eater Philly, Serious Eats, and The Tasting Table. 
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Updated April 05, 2019
Pizza Bianca
Squire Fox

Our love for Jim Lahey's pizza bianca is no secret. Remember when Ed declared that a whole pizza bianca was the ultimate dinner party bring-along?

Well, lucky for us and all fans of pizza bianca, Lahey has adapted it for My Pizza, and even better, it's another fantastic and dead simple no-knead recipe.

Beginning nine to twelve hours before you plan on baking, the dough comes together, sitting and fermenting until just about doubled in size. The super sticky dough is then divided into two portions and allowed to rise again for an hour or two. When you're ready to bake and your oven is preheated and blazing hot, the dough is shaped, dimpled with your fingertips, sprinkled with rosemary, and slid onto a pizza stone.

It immediately starts bubbling and buckling and a few minutes later you're left with a gorgeous pizza bianca that's ready to be dressed with sea salt and olive oil. It's a beautiful thing in its simplicity: crunchy and charred in some places, tender and pliant in others.

If you'd like to dress it up (we'll take ours as is, please), Lahey recommends serving it with a bowl of ricotta for spreading.

Reprinted with permission from My Pizza by Jim Lahey. Copyright © 2012. Published by Clarkson Potter. Available wherever books are sold. All rights reserved.

Recipe Details

Jim Lahey's Pizza Bianca

Active 30 mins
Total 0 mins
Serves 2 to 3 servings
Makes 2 pizzas

Ingredients

  • 200g (1 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

  • 1g (1/4 teaspoon) active dry yeast

  • 4g (1/2 teaspoon) fine sea salt

  • 4g (3/4 teaspoon) sugar

  • 175g (3/4 cup) cool water, plus more if needed

  • 20 fresh rosemary leaves

  • 4g (1/2 teaspoon) coarse sea salt

  • 30g (about 3 tablespoons) extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling, plus more for the bowl

Directions

  1. In a medium bowl, thoroughly blend flour, yeast, fine sea salt, and sugar. Add water and, using a wooden spoon or your hands, mix for at least 30 seconds, until you have a soft, loose dough. It should be slightly sticky; if it’s not, mix in more water (up to 2 tablespoons).

  2. Lightly coat the inside of a large bowl with olive oil and put dough in it. Cover the bowl with a plate or plastic wrap and let it sit for a minimum of 9 hours and up to 12 hours at room temperature (about 72°F), until doubled in size.

  3. Generously flour a work surface and scrape the dough onto it. Fold dough over itself 2 or 3 times and split it into 2 rather flat balls. Put dough in a warm, draft-free spot, covered with a very damp tea towel, and let rise until doubled in volume, 1 to 2 hours.

  4. Half an hour before the end of the second rise, place the pizza stone in a gas oven about 8 inches from the broiler. Preheat oven on bake at 500°F (260°C) for 30 minutes. Switch to broil for 10 minutes.

  5. Shape one of the balls into a disk, as with other pizzas, and place it on a floured peel. Sprinkle with half of the rosemary. With the tips of your fingers, make indentations (dimples) all over the surface.

  6. With quick, jerking motions, slide dough onto the baking stone. If it's sticking to the peel, gently lift it around the edges, adding more flour to the peel. Broil until still pale in the dimples, about 3 1/2 minutes.

  7. Slide the peel under pizza and transfer pizza to a rack. Sprinkle with half of the coarse salt, drizzle with half the oil, and allow to cool for at least a few minutes before slicing and serving.

  8. Repeat the shaping and broiling with second ball.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
361Calories
13gFat
54gCarbs
7gProtein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 2 to 3
Amount per serving
Calories361
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 13g16%
Saturated Fat 2g10%
Cholesterol 0mg0%
Sodium 1039mg45%
Total Carbohydrate 54g20%
Dietary Fiber 3g10%
Total Sugars 2g
Protein 7g
Vitamin C 1mg7%
Calcium 34mg3%
Iron 4mg20%
Potassium 119mg3%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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