In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, yeast, and salt. Add the water and stir with a wooden spoon until a sticky dough forms. Lift the dough with your hands and spray the bottom of the bowl with cooking spray. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a towel and let it sit at room temperature for 12-18 hours or until it has doubled in size.
The next day:
Dust a work surface with flour. Punch the dough down and place it on the floured surface. Divide the dough into the number or pizzas you would like to make (two large, three medium, or four personal-size). Shape each portion of dough by pulling the right side towards the center of the mound, followed by the left side, then the top and bottom. Turn the dough over (seam side down) and shape it with your hands into a smooth circle. Dust the mounds with flourr as needed during the shaping process. The dough should not be sticky.
At this point, you can use the dough right away, or wrap the rounds individually in plastic wrap, refrigerate, and enjoy within 3 days. Place refrigerated rounds of dough on a floured work surface and cover with a towel to let them sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before using (which is a good amount of time to let your pizza stone heat up).
Making the pizza:
Preheat a pizza stone in the upper third of your oven at 550°F.
Carefully stretch the dough with your hands at a floured sheet of parchment paper to the desired size (depending on the size of your dough mound). See this video for reference on stretching. If your dough stretches out unevenly, you can use a floured rolling pin to even things out. Use a rolling pin gently and minimally though, as it presses out all the air bubbles that leaven your crust during baking.
Top each pizza with a light layer of the prepared pizza sauce. Tear a ball of fresh mozzarella with your hands and place pieces of the cheese on the sauce. Follow with the thinly sliced meatball. Place some small leaves of fresh basil on the pizza, and finish with a sprinkling of red pepper flakes and drizzle of olive oil, as desired.
Cut the parchment paper with scissors so that it just comes to the very edge of your crust (so that the edges of the paper don’t burn in the oven). Flip a baking sheet upside down and use tongs to carefully transfer the pizza to the flat side of the baking sheet. Slide the pizza from the baking sheet onto the pizza stone and cook the pizza for 4 minutes. Then, put the broiler on HIGH and cook an additional 2-4 minutes, checking the pizza and rotating it as needed to get char spots around the crust. Use tongs to slide the pizza from the oven back onto the baking sheet. Grate some Parmesan cheese on top. Slice and enjoy while hot!
If you are making more than one pizza at a time, you will need to bake them in increments. Have all the pizzas rolled and ready to go on parchment before you start baking. Bake the first pizza. Slice and enjoy the first pizza while you bake a second, third, and even fourth!
Notes
Notes:
Freeze leftover pizza sauce in portions either in small containers or in a silicone muffin pan. Pop the frozen mounds out of the muffin pan and transfer to a freezer-safe bag. Freeze up to 3 months and thaw overnight when you plan to make pizza.