Pizza With Sourdough

[ness]

I'm really happy with the results I got making bread from the sourdough culture, so I thought I'd incorporate some sourdough starter into my tried-and-true pizza crust recipe. I figured I'd share the steps too.

I've developed my crust recipe over time to get the type of pizza we like here. It's a thin crust, with a puffy edge that's more chewy than crunchy. Sort of a New York style.

To get the flavor, texture and rise I like, I go with a pretty wet dough.

I weigh all the ingredients and use baker's percentages to get the right proportions. I use grams because the math is easier. (Also, because I hear we're switching over to the metric system soon). Since a cup of flour can be packed, loose and vary pretty significantly, weighing it is more precise. I also weigh the water, salt and yeast.

For 680g of flour I use 510g of water to get a 75% hydration (510/680=0.75). The only other ingredients are 14g of salt and 4g yeast. There's a big difference in the amount of 'salt' in kosher and table salt, due to the size of the grain (kosher ~ ½ the salt as table). So, weighing that helps as well. The yeast is a very small amount, maybe a quarter or half teaspoon. I tare after each ingredient.

Where I wasn't so scientific was with the sourdough. The starter was pretty active at this point. I dumped in a quarter cup or so, then mixed it all in the stand mixer for about 10 minutes with the dough hook. It was too wet (the starter is 100% hydration, so I wasn't surprised), so I added enough flour to get it to where it felt right. Maybe a quarter cup.

Then I balled it up -- rolling it in my hands and pulling the sides down and under so that a nice skin formed:

Then I placed it in a large bowl that was sprayed with cooking spray, and covered it with some plastic wrap that was also sprayed. It went straight into the fridge on Friday night. By today (Sunday) it looked like this:

This is a larger rise than I usually get, so I know the sourdough was actually doing a lot of leavening. You can see some big blisters on there -- that usually doesn't happen with yeast.

Next I divided it and balled it up, using the same technique to get a tight skin, then put them in covered plastic containers on the counter to rest and rise for a couple hours. I do this about 2 hours

About an hour before we want to eat, I start to preheat the oven and baking stone at 500 degrees. Stone is on the top rack -- I want as much radiant heat from the top of the oven as possible.

Then I go on to make the sauce. I use whole San Marzano tomatoes. I dump them into a large bowl and squeeze them with my hands until they're broken up pretty good. I would use them this way, but my family doesn't like lumps so I hit it with a stick blender to make it smooth. Then I add salt, extra virgin olive oil, a little sugar and some red pepper flakes (small amount, sauce is not hot). Nope, no herbs. If it's just me, the sauce will get a splash of white wine too. I simmer this for about a half hour to tighten it up.

Next comes the shaping of the crust. It's fairly tricky, and didn't take pics, but here's the quick-and-dirty: Dump out a dough ball onto the lightly floured counter. Handle it gently, pressing down in the center and working your way out to the edge. I want to maintain the puffy edge, so I'm pretty careful to not crush it. Then, I pick it up and drape to over the back of my hands and work it around, trying to keep it circular. Most of the stretching is done by gravity, though I help it along some by separating my hands. When it gets to the right size (about 10 inches in my case), I flip it over onto a dusted peel. I do any final adjustments to size or shape at this point. I need to work pretty quickly once the skin is on the peel. I go pretty light on the toppings, and once they're on I check to make sure the crust isn't sticking by sliding it around on the peel. If it's sticking, I'll lift up that section and toss a little flour under there. You really want this to slide off the peel the first try, or you'll end up with a mess. Also, you don't want to over do it on the flour, because it will burn and mess up the flavor.

For this pizza, it used a little sauce and fresh mozzarella. It cooked for about 8 minutes. After it comes out, I sprinkle sliced basil on top, hit the pizza with a little extra virgin olive oil, and a pinch of salt over it all. Cover with foil for a minute or two to soften the basil and let the pizza set, and here's what I got:

 

It had nice big holes, which means the crust is a little crunchy, not so much doughy:

I've gotta say, the flavor was outstanding. Not sour, just really good. I could not be happier with this crust! This is definitely going into my future pizza making.

On the downside, the edge is wider than I want on that one -- should have been less of the total pizza than it was.

[jpb2187]

Looks great, nice bubbles in the crust.

[Chief Grey Bear]

You go Alton Brown!!!

[rps]

Very well executed, especially for a first attempt with sour dough. Your crust preference differs from ours - a thin and crisp crust with little puffiness at the edge. But I recognize skill when I see it. Bravo.

[rps]

BTW, search Marcella Hazen sauce and read about her method for sauce. I encourage you to try it.

[bfishn]

Where's the beef? It needs more cowbell!

Seriously man, that's an awesome post. I could even follow those directions. Attaboy!

(you gotta do the pancakes, man... all I remember was about 50/50 starter to new, then cut to be a bit thinner than your normal batter. Some of my best batches were 100% starter. Mom always had another jar next week.)

[ness]

Alright, one more that came out a little better looks-wise:

On 10/12/2014 at 5:42 PM, rps said:

BTW, search Marcella Hazen sauce and read about her method for sauce. I encourage you to try it.

Hmmm. I had never heard of her -- and that's the kind of person I would usually know about! Looked a little -- she sounds pretty interesting. I saw butter in the tomato sauce -- is that the one you're talking about?

On 10/12/2014 at 6:15 PM, bfishn said:

Where's the beef? It needs more cowbell!

Seriously man, that's an awesome post. I could even follow those directions. Attaboy!

(you gotta do the pancakes, man... all I remember was about 50/50 starter to new, then cut to be a bit thinner than your normal batter. Some of my best batches were 100% starter. Mom always had another jar next week.)

Ha! I know. I also did a pepperoni, a cheese and a hamburger/mushroom/black olive too. Everybody gets their choice when I fire the process up. I guess you can tell by the pictures what my favorite is

I definitely want to give the sourdough pancakes a try. Almost did it this morning, but decided against it.

[rps]

Marcella has written/published two very good cookbooks on real Italian for Americans. Her sauce has tomatoes, butter, onion, salt and pepper. At the end, you discard the onion. Simple and very very good, especially if you start with the San Marzano. I add garli and a touch of red pepper flakes then use the sauce as a base for whatever else I plan.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Looks good Ness. I'm a die hard scale man also. I don't bake anything I can't use the scale for. I don't use it for salt or yeast though.

[ness]

Marcella has written/published two very good cookbooks on real Italian for Americans. Her sauce has tomatoes, butter, onion, salt and pepper. At the end, you discard the onion. Simple and very very good, especially if you start with the San Marzano. I add garli and a touch of red pepper flakes then use the sauce as a base for whatever else I plan.

That is a really unique take on a tomato sauce. I wouldn't have though to put butter in there. I've got some leftover sauce--I may add a little butter just to get a feel for it.