Make the dough at least 24 hours in advance, up to 7 days in advance:

2 1/4 cups (530 ml) warm water (110-115F)
1 tbsp sugar (12g) sugar
1 tbsp (9g) active dry yeast
2 tbsp (30 ml) olive oil
1 tbsp (18 g) kosher salt
5 cups (600g) bread flour, plus more for working the dough
additional oil for greasing the dough cornmeal, semolina flour, or coarse-ground whole wheat flour for dusting

Sauce, Pastene version:

1 28 oz (828 ml) can Pastene Kitchen ready crushed tomatoes
2-4 tbsp (30-60 ml) olive oil
1 tsp (4g) sugar
2 tsp dried oregano

Sauce, San Marzano version:

1 28-ounce can whole San Marzano tomatoes (we used Cento brand)
¼ cup olive oil
½ teaspoon sugar, or more to taste
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons tomato paste

Remove tomatoes from their canning liquid and discard the liquid (only for San Marzano version). Squish or blend the tomatoes until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and mix until smooth. Makes enough for four pizzas.

Cheese:

24-32 oz (680-910 g) whole-milk, low-moisture mozzarella (check the Co-op)
freshly grated (6-8 oz / 170-225 g per pizza) grated parmesan for dusting (maybe 10 g per pizza?)

Toppings of choice

Method:

Start the dough by combining the water, sugar and yeast in a large bowl and let sit for a few minutes. If the yeast goes foamy, it’s alive and you’re good to proceed (if it doesn’t, it’s dead and you need new yeast). Add the olive oil and salt and 5 cups (600g) of bread flour. Knead in stand mixer with dough hook. Add just enough additional flour to keep the dough workable (i.e. not too sticky) and kneed until you can stretch some of the dough into a thin sheet without it tearing. This took about 10 minutes on medium speed.

Divide the dough into four equal balls and put them in four containers (ideally glass) and lightly coat the balls and the interior of their containers with olive oil. Cover, and either rise at room temperature for two hours, or put them in the refrigerator and let them rise for 1-7 days.

When ready to bake, preheat oven on convection roast setting to 550F and let the pizza stone or steel heat for at least 1 hour.

Liberally dust a pizza peel with cornmeal (or something similar). Take the cold dough out of the fridge and dust it in flour. Stretch to the widest size and shape that will fit on your peel and stone/steel. Top with just enough sauce to lightly coat the surface. Dust the sauce layer with parmesan, then cover with the mozzarella. Transfer the pizza to the stone/steel and bake until the crust is well-browned and the cheese has browned a bit (but, ideally, has not started oozing out an orange grease layer), 6-7 minutes.