Pizza Dough

This comes from, I believe, Artisan Baking. It's a simple recipe, for the most part. The friend who sent it to me annotated it extensively, and then so did I, so hopefully it has not become confusing.

You need:

3 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
1/4 tsp instant yeast
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups water

• Mix the flour, yeast and salt together in a large mixing bowl.
• Add the water and mix until the dough is shaggy and most of the water has been absorbed.
• Turn the dough out of the bowl and knead, without adding extra flour, until it is just blended but not too smooth.
• Cover the dough with a bowl and let it rest for 10 to 15 min. to allow the yeast to fully hydrate.
  
• Knead the dough for 5 to 10 minutes, until it is fairly smooth, using a dough scraper if it is difficult to handle.(The firm dough should feel sticky at first, and then soft but dry to the touch. Adjust the dough's consistency with extra water or flour only if it is excessively sticky (add 1 tbsp flour at a time) or stiff (add 1 tbsp water at a time))

• On a lightly floured work surface, cut the dough into 4 equal pieces, each 7 oz.
• Shape each piece of dough into a tight ball: Roll the dough up like a carpet, turn the roll around, position it seam side up, and roll the cylinder up again. Roll the cylinder perpendicular to itself a third time.
  
• Turn the dough so that the seam is on the bottom and round the dough under your palm into a tight ball.
• Roll each rounded piece in flour and arrange each on a floured tray.
• Cover the tray tightly with plastic wrap.
• Let the balls of dough proof at room temperature until they are soft and puffy but still springy, 5 to 6 hours. Or refrigerate the dough, after shaping it, for up to 36 hours. Remove it from the refrigerator and let it finish proofing at room tempature for 7 to 8 hours. [The dough tends to get sticky if refrigerated]

• At least one hour before baking the pizzas [possibly longer so the oven gets super hot], arrange a rack on the oven's second-to-top shelf and place a baking stone on it.
• Clear away all racks above the one being used.
• Preheat the oven to its highest-possible temperature setting.
• Hopefully this will be between broil and clean -- you are trying for 750 degrees, but 550 degrees or even 500 degrees will still work.

• Flour your work surface well and place a fully proofed dough ball on it. Flatten the ball with your hands and press it into a disk. The easiest way I have found to shape the dough is to just pull it out gently between your hands, rotating the disk as each side is pulled.
• To perfect the shape, place one hand on the center of the dough (to prevent it from getting too thin, which it hass a tendency to do) and gently tug around the edges until the dough is about 1/8 in thick in the center and about 1/4 inch at the very edge ["whatever", says my buddy E.].

• Place the shaped dough on a sheet of parchment paper or, if you are more confident, directly on a lightly floured peel, which could be any lightweight, rimless baking sheet.
• Spread about 1/4 c. sauce on the dough and scatter with 2 oz cheese.
• Peel the pizza onto the baking stone or slide it, still on the paper, on to the hot stone.
• Bake until the crust has colored slightly, burning in spots and staying pale in other areas, and the cheese has melted.
• The baking time should be around 4 minutes if your oven is hot enough, up to 6 if it is cooler. Do not overbake the pizza.
• To serve, drizzle on a little olive oil and arrange 4 basil leaves decoratively on top.
• Shape, top, and bake the remaining dough balls one at a time but eat the hot pizza right away.

So here's where I really start to deviate from the recipe. I don't have a pizza stone, and I'm not planning to buy one. I tried heating my oven as hot as possible and putting the pizza on a sheet pan with cornmeal on it, and while still tasty, I ended up having to chisel the pizza off the pan. I have an indoor, countertop grill (open-faced, not like a george foreman) and I heat that up, then shape the pizzas. I brush olive oil on one side, and slap that side on the grill, then brush oil on the other side. When side one is baked, I flip it over, top the other side with sauce, veggies and cheese, then put a large lid over the whole thing because that helps the cheese melt.