Simon's Pastrami Pizza

To make the dough:

1. Make the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and instant yeast. Add the water. Using a rubber spatula, mix until the liquid is absorbed and the ingredients form a sticky dough ball. Rub the surface of the dough lightly with olive oil. If your bowl has a lid, cover the bowl. Alternatively, transfer the dough to a vessel with a lid or cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap to ensure the dough doesn’t dry out in the fridge. 
2. Transfer dough to the fridge for at least 18 hours but ideally longer: 24 to 48 hours. Longer is fine, too: I’ve kept the dough in the fridge for 3 days before proceeding. 

3. Prepare the pizza for baking: 

   1. Remove the dough from the fridge and use lightly oiled hands to release it from the sides of the bowl. Then, again with oiled hands, grab an edge of dough and pull up and to the center. Turn the bowl slightly and repeat until you’ve shaped the dough into a rough ball. 
   2. Place the dough ball in the pan and turn to coat. (Note: You do not need to cover the dough here. The coating of oil should be sufficient to prevent the dough from drying out.) Let rest for 3 hours. With lightly oiled hands, stretch the dough to fit the pan — tent your hands, and use your fingers to dimple and stretch. You will likely not be able to get the dough to stretch all the way to the edges. When the dough resists, let it rest again for 30 minutes; then stretch it again using the same technique. 
   3. At this point, the dough can hang out in the pan for a couple of hours (if your kitchen is on the cool side). I’ve baked it 30 minutes after this point, and I’ve baked it two hours later. If the dough is going to hang out for a while, cover it with a sheet of plastic wrap.

   Bake and Top the Pizza:

   1. If you have a Baking Steel or pizza stone, place it on a rack in the middle or lower third of your oven, and heat your oven to 500ºF. 
   2. Using oiled hand, dimple the dough one last time with the exception of the perimeter — this is important. It will help the dough bake more evenly. 
   3. Transfer pan to the oven and place on heated Baking Steel or pizza stone for about 10 to 11 minutes or until evenly golden. 
   4. Remove pan from oven and lower the oven to 475ºF. (Note: my oven doesn’t change temperature so quickly, so I actually turn the oven off during this period. Just before I return the pan to the oven, I turn the oven back on to 475ºF. Also: You can do this par bake hours ahead of time or even a day ahead of time.)
   5. Spread the sauce evenly over the dough. Add Toppings as Pictured
   6. Transfer pan to the oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the cheese is melted and just beginning to brown in spots.
   7. Remove the pan from the oven and let the pizza rest for 5 minutes in the pan.
   8. Run a knife or spatula around the pan’s edges. Then, carefully remove the entire pizza from the pan, transferring it to a cutting board. I like to use a serrated knife to cut this pizza. You can cut the pizza into however many pieces you wish.