If there is anything in life I can claim to have mastered, it's making pizza: It was the first food I learned to cook, at age 15. Since then, I've developed nine pizza recipes. I've built two outdoor pizza ovens. Heck, I even teach pizza-making classes in my free time. But mastery can turn to complacency, so I was intrigued when editor in chief Dan Souza tasked me with the following challenge: Make really good pizza from scratch in just 1 hour, start to finish.
It would be the ultimate test, as it went against the gospel I've been preaching for years, which says that for superlative pizza—a mildly yeasty, slightly tangy crust that's crisp on the outside and pleasantly chewy within—you must let the dough proof in the refrigerator for at least one day or up to three days.