Capricciosa Pizza

Directions

• Dough
• Combine the yeast, water, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes until the yeast begins to get frothy.
• Add in the oil and half the flour to the yeast/water mixture. Attach a dough hook to the mixer and turn it on setting 1 until the flour is absorbed into the water. Add the remaining flour and the salt to make a soft, slightly sticky dough. Turn the mixer up to setting 2-4 and let it knead for about 7 minutes to develop the gluten.
• Oil a large bowl and turn the dough into the oiled bowl. Cover with a damp dish towel and let it rise for 1-2 hours in a warm kitchen, until the dough has doubled in size. (A cool space could take as long as 4 hours to rise.)
• A few minutes before you turn out the risen dough, place a pizza stone in your oven and turn it on to 500 degrees. Let the stone heat for at least 20 minutes before using it.
  
  Or put your stone on the grill and heat the grill and stone up to 550 or 600 degrees.
  
  See Note 1.
• Once the dough has risen, turn it onto a floured surface. Cut the dough into 2 equal portions and shape the dough into balls. Cover the dough with the damp towel and let them rest for 15 minutes. This relaxes the gluten and makes it easier to stretch.
• While the dough rests, prep the toppings and the workspace. Use a large cutting board or something large and flat with no raised sides as a transportable workspace so you can easily move the prepped pizza to the oven. On top of this flat cutting board or other surface put a large piece of parchment paper. This will be where you place the dough.
• Take one of the dough balls and place it on a floured surface. Push down on the dough a bit to make a thick round pillow instead of a ball. With the heel of your hand, flatten the outside of the pillow, rotating the dough with the other hand as you go, until you end up with flattened edges and a bulbous center. See Note 3.
• Now you’ll place your dominant hand heel in the middle and press down while grabbing a flattened edge and pulling out gently, then down, while you slightly rotate the hand in the center the opposite direction you’re pulling the edge. Confusing? Hopefully not. It will look like this.
• Continue pulling and rotating until the dough is about 2/3 the size you want your final pizza to be.
• Now comes the hand stretching. Pick the dough up with two hands on one side and rotate your hands around the edge of the dough, letting the weight of the dough stretch it out more. If you feel like the dough is too fragile for this, or maybe there are some thin spots, skip this part and move to the next.
• Hold the dough with two fists under and on either side of the stretched dough. Gently pull out, then rotate your hands and gently pull again.
• If you want to toss it, it’s a cross of your arms, then a quick untwist and upward thrust. Catch it with one or both fists. DON’T use your fingers! If it’s your first time trying a toss, practice with a damp bar towel until you feel comfortable enough you won’t end up with dough on your floor.
• Once the dough is stretched to your desired size, place it on the parchment paper. Pinch together holes if you have any, and coax the dough into a circle if you need to.
• Top the pizza with sauce spread to 1/2 an inch from the edge. Then put on the grated mozzarella, followed by the slices of ham and the other toppings except the basil.
• Carry the cutting board with the pizza to your oven or grill. Carefully hold the board next to the stone and transfer the parchment paper with the pizza on top over to the stone. Bake for 2-3 minutes, then use a spatula to hold the pizza in place while you pull out the parchment to use for the next pizza. Try to do this step fast to maintain oven/grill heat.
• Baking time varies depending on how hot you can get your grill or oven. In the oven at 500 degrees on a stone it will take about 10 minutes. The grill method with a stone, about 7 minutes. You will know the pizza is done when the crust is golden and the toppings look bubbly and browned.