The easiest no-knead pizza dough by Jim Lahey for thin-crust pizzas. This amount makes enough for 2 big eaters, but for us this amount makes enough for 3 people. I usually save 1/3 of the dough for a weekend brunch.
Place flour in a medium-size mixing bowl. Whisk in the salt. Then whisk in the yeast.
Add in the water at one go and stir to form a dough - the dough may be sticky but it's okay. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and set aside to rise for 12 to 18 hours at room temperature or until the dough has more than doubled in size.
If it has more than doubled in size but you still have 4 to 6 hours to go before you prepare your dinner, you can punch down the dough lightly then let it rise again.
Make ahead: Once the dough has risen, punch it down slightly, wrap the bowl with clingfilm and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Let it come to room temperature for 1 to 2 hours before shaping the dough.
I usually make the dough the night before to prepare it for next day's dinner.
Divide and Rest
Flour the counter top with all-purpose flour and scrape out the dough. Divide into 2 or 3 portions and shape each portion into a ball. Flour them lightly and rest for 30 minutes to allow the gluten to relax.
Preheat the Oven
Place a baking sheet in the lowest rack in the oven and preheat the oven (and the baking sheet together) for at least 30 minutes prior to baking. Use the pizza function if you have it (top broiler + bottom heating element + fan), but if you don't, just turn the oven to the maximum temperature (mine goes up to 230C/445F) (top and bottom heating element + fan).
Shape the Pizza
By hand: Stretch out the dough by hand into a circle. Check out the video on how to shape the dough by hand on SeriousEats. Once the dough is shaped, place it on a piece of parchment paper.
With a rolling pin: Place the dough on a large piece of parchment paper - no need to flour the parchment paper as it will help the dough to stick which will release during baking. Flour the top of the dough and your rolling pin and roll out the dough until it's 1/4-inch thick.
Top with whatever sauce and filling you like! Cook any raw meat before topping them onto the pizza.
Baking the Pizza (Without Pizza Stone)
Wearing your oven gloves, take out the preheated baking sheet from the oven and slide the pizza with the parchment paper onto the baking sheet. Quickly place the pizza into the lowest rack in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the crust is crisp, the cheese has melted and the top is golden.
Slide the pizza with the parchment paper onto a serving board. Serve immediately.
NOTES
Everyone's oven is different - if you find that baking at the lowest rack resulted in your pizza base to hard by the time the top is browned, consider shifting the tray up one rack and experiment from there.