One of the best decisions I made as a teenager was to save up all my precious pennies earned working at McDonald’s so that I could go on the annual Europe trip offered by my High School. Each year they selected two countries to tour in Europe – my year was Italy and Greece, jackpot!!!! To this day, my best memories would have to be the food. Gelato! Spaghetti and Meatballs! Fresh giant prawns from the Mediterranean! And the best, most life changing food of them all… Pizza!!!! I was absolutely blown away by the pizza (my hometown boasted a Pizza Hut and Boston Pizza so I was obviously very astute in my pizza knowledge…)! It was a thinner crust than I was used to, crispy with charred bits from the wood fired oven, while at the same time chewy and wildly flavourful when you bit into it. It had the freshest tasting tomato sauce, light and bright, with fresh basil scattered about and blobs of melty cheese. Salty cured pork (prosciutto) topped it all off, crispy on the edges from the heat of the oven. I had never eaten anything like it.
Ever since I started cooking, I knew that I wanted to master at home pizza so I could enjoy it any old time I like. My favourite food blogger, Smitten Kitchen, came out with a recipe that really changed my Pizza game. She also had the life changing experience of eating pizza in Italy, but was clever enough to pick up some tips to bring home and try. She introduced me to the easiest no cook tomato sauce that delivers exactly that fresh bright punch of the pizza I had in Italy. She eased my conscious about using aged (dry) mozzarella instead of the expensive fresh stuff sold in water – turns out dry cheese will spare you from soggy pizza! And the dough. I had only up to this point made your typical 2 hour or so pizza dough. Overnight dough (or at least 6 hours) is a MUST, the flavour difference is outstanding. I’ve included the recipe in the notes for you all to try if you don’t have a sourdough starter, it is a very close match!
Sourdough has stolen my heart. It elevates everything I make with this interesting complex flavour and chewy but light texture (checkout my sourdough waffles, sourdough naan, and sourdough cinnamon buns for some more sourdough recipes!). The nutritional benefits are just the cherry on top. Sourdough is easier to digest, lower in carb count, and more nutritious than quick commercial yeast risen breads. Turns out it’s also quite simple to make and maintain. You can either get a small amount of starter from a friend, purchase some online, or make you own. From there you just feed it (flour and water, nothing complicated!), either every day if you want to keep it on the counter, or once a week if you’d rather keep it in the fridge. I plan on putting together a whole post on the little tips and tricks I’ve gathered over my past few years of sourdough adventuring, so I’ll keep it short here. If you’ve been thinking about getting into sourdough, I just want to encourage you to take the plunge! It’s such a satisfying and rewarding hobby. Just ask the partakers of my pizza 🙂
One of the unique aspects of sourdough is that it a living, active, liquid (albeit quite a thick liquid!) ingredient. So whereas a conventional pizza dough with dry yeast can call for pretty universal measurements, a sourdough recipe’s exact measurements of flour and water need to be flexible to the individual. Everyone’s sourdough starter is going to be slightly different in hydration levels depending on the ratio of flour to water they feed it, the type of flour they feed it, the humidity and altitude in their kitchen, etc. Don’t fret if it seems that you frequently need to add more or less water than what is called for in sourdough recipes – it just means the hydration in your sourdough starter is more or less than the recipe author’s. Aim for getting the right feel and texture in your dough, not for using the exact same measurements of flour and water called for. This will take some trial and error, it’s all part of the learning curve of sourdough. I will always try to leave a description of the feel of the dough to aim for in my sourdough recipes to give you an idea of what you are going for!
Keep it simple. It can be tempting to pile on the toppings but this tends to result in a soggy, overdressed pizza and that beautiful artisan crust gets lost in the mix. This is one of the few times where less is really more. Don’t go overboard on sauce or cheese or veggies or meat. Use a delightfully reasonable amount of each! This will allow for the quality of the ingredients to really shine through and the beautiful flavours to be enjoyed without overwhelming each other.
Bake in as hot of an oven as your oven will perform well at. The beautiful Neapolitan pizza is cooked in a wood fired oven which reaches temperatures anywhere from 550-800F. This is obviously not attainable at home, but you will find the best results come from the hottest oven temperature you can manage. 500F works well for me, but if you are comfortable working with your oven at 550F then go ahead with that, just shorten the cook time by about two minutes between each time you flip the pans (so 4 minutes total).
Quality Ingredients. Since we don’t go hog wild piling on the toppings, it really makes a difference to have good quality ingredients. Look for vine ripened whole canned tomatoes as the base of your sauce (or use your own if you are a garden/canning wizard!). Fresh basil is such a treat on pizza and really compliments the bright tomato sauce. I can’t always find it in the grocery stores where I live so I’ve made my pizza many times without and it is still delicious, but I always look forward to fresh basil when I can find it! Ripe cherry tomatoes make for a very pleasing and flavourful topping, as do interesting mushrooms like crimini, porcini, shiitake, etc (much more flavourful than the white button mushrooms!). For meat, I love to use good quality Italian cured meats like prosciutto, sopressata, capocollo, etc. They deliver that salty punch and crisp up nicely under the high heat. The depth of flavour in these cured meats is much better than your typical commercially packaged “pizza” meats or pepperoni. Finally, good seasoning is essential to your pizza success. You wouldn’t cook a pan of sheet vegetables plain in the oven, neither should you throw your pizza in the oven without having seasoned your toppings. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and give a good seasoning of sea salt and fresh ground pepper to really give those veggies some good flavour as they roast on the pizza. I love to serve my pizza with fresh grated Parmesan cheese and red chilli flakes, the perfect finish in my opinion.
Are you ready to make your very best pizza? I’m really excited for you guys to try this. I’d love to know how it went for you and what you decide to top yours with so make sure to let me know in the comments below or tag me on Instagram with your creations! Talk to you soon 🙂
Sourdough Pizza
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 5 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup sourdough starter
- 1 1/2 – 2 cups water more as needed
Pizza Sauce:
- 1 28fl oz whole vine ripened tomatoes, canned
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar to taste
- 1/2 tsp unpasterized honey to taste
- 1 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- pinch red pepper flakes to taste
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Toppings:
- 8-12 ounces pizza mozzarella, grated or torn substitute a hard goat's milk cheese for dairy free
- 1 bunch fresh basil leaves optional, use dried basil if desired
- 1 pound Italian cured meat like proscuitto, soppresata, and/or cappocollo whatever meat you prefer
- 1 handful cherry tomatoes, halved optional
- 1/2 pound crimini, porcini, or shitake mushrooms, wiped clean with a damp towel and sliced optional
- 1/2 bell pepper, thinly sliced optional
- glug olive oil
- sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- freshly grated paremsan cheese optional garnish
- red chili flakes optional garnish
- 1 tbsp fine cornmeal optional, for dusting pans
Instructions
For the dough:
- The night before you want to make pizza (or minimum 6 hours ahead), mix together the ingredients for the dough (start with 1 1/2 cups of water) in a large glass or ceramic bowl. Once it starts coming together, knead the dough with your hands until it starts to form a smooth ball. Add more dribbles of water as needed (a little at a time, you don't want to add too much). I often add up to 1/2 cup more water, you may need more or less depending on the consistency of your starter. The dough is often sticky, clumpy, and hard to work with right off the hop, so once you have it relatively mixed together, you can leave it for 10-30 minutes and come back to perform some press and folds. It will be much easier to work with after it has sat for a bit. Knead using the press and fold technique – Press down into the centre of the ball with your fist, then pull from the side of the dough and fold up over top. Repeat pulling from each side of the dough. This incorporates a good amount of air into the dough which helps it rise. Your dough should feel fully hydrated and come together in a fairly smooth ball. If it feels soupy and weak and will not come together, you've added too much water. Press and fold in some more flour, a tablespoon at a time, until it comes together in a smooth ball. If your dough feel dry, rough, and heavy, it needs more water. Add more in a tablespoon at a time until it feels nicely hydrated and smooth throughout.
- Loosely cover the bowl with a lid or kitchen towel and store in a warm place (I put mine on top of my fridge) to rise overnight, at least 6 hours or up to 24 hours. If you think of it, you can perform some more press and folds over the course of rising. This is not necessary, but helps strengthen the dough and incorporates air, helping with the dough rise. If I were doing an overnight dough, I would do a press and fold in the morning after it had been rising all night, and let it continue rising again until I'm ready to use it. If I made the dough in the morning, I may do a few press and folds throughout the morning and then leave it to rise for the afternoon. However, I have made this dough countless times with no press and folds at all and it still turns out great so don't fret over it!Once your dough has doubled in size (at least 6 hours), if you want to press pause on the process, you can put it into the fridge until ready to use (it will keep for days). Take it out at least an hour before you bake it to let it come back to room temperature.
For the Pizza Sauce:
- Drain tomatoes in a colander with a bowl underneath to catch the juice. Let it sit for several minutes, and move your hands through the tomatoes to make sure they are thoroughly drained. You don't want a watery pizza sauce, which can cause your dough to be soggy as it bakes. Store reserved tomato juice in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer for another use (soup, stew, pasta sauce, etc.).
- Combine the drained whole tomatoes with the other sauce ingredients in the bowl of a food processor until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired. Store in a glass jar in the fridge until ready to use – will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for a few days. If you'd like to have more for another time, double the sauce recipe and freeze half!
For the toppings:
- Grate your mozzarella cheese using the grating attachment on a food processor (or you can grate or tear it up by hand). I like to grate the entire block of cheese and freeze whatever I don't use on the pizza, it is so handy to have on hand for topping casseroles and pizza in the future. Store grated cheese in the fridge until ready to use, this can be done up to several days in advance if desired.
- Wash and chop whatever veggies you will be using. All vegetables except the tomatoes can be prepped ahead and stored in the fridge. Tomatoes should be stored at room temperature and chopped just before using (or they get mushy).
To assemble:
- Preheat oven to 500F.
- Line your pans with parchment paper. Sprinkle with fine cornmeal if desired (not necessary, but gives a nice crunchy texture and helps prevent sticking). Divide dough into two balls. Stretch each ball using your hands and turning as you go, into the shape of pan you will be using. I use two 9×13" rectangular sheet pans. Once you are close in size, you can throw the dough on the pan and press and shape it out to fit the size of the pan. At this point you can cover the pans with a kitchen towel up to an hour or two ahead or continue assembling if ready to bake.
- Spoon pizza sauce over the dough, be careful not to use too much or it can make the dough soggy. Keep remaining sauce in the fridge or freezer to add to soup, pasta sauce, or naan pizzas later in the week. It also freezes well.
- Scatter fresh basil leaves or dried basil over the sauce if using.
- Add a layer of proscuitto or whatever meat you prefer, if using.
- Add a layer of mozzarella, sometimes we can be tempted to add too much, but I do find that less is more and your pizza will turn out better if not overloaded with cheese.
- Top with whatever veggies you are using and scatter a few more pieces of meat on top of the pizzas.
- Drizzle with dash of olive oil, sea salt, and freshly ground pepper.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes, then rotate the pans and bake for another 8-10 minutes until the toppings are bubbling and the crust is nicely browned. If your toppings have not browned sufficiently, you can do a broil on high for a minute or two to finish them off (watch closely, broil can burn things quickly!). Let the pizza sit for a few minutes before slicing to let everything cool down and set a bit, and it should be perfect by then.
- Serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese and red chili flakes for garnishing, if desired.
Notes
Featured in This Post:
This post includes affiliate links, meaning I made a small commission at no extra cost to you, should you decide to click through the links and purchase anything. These are my honest opinions and I would never recommend anything to you I didn’t absolutely love and use on a regular basis. Hope you find these lists helpful!
San Francisco Sourdough Starter (dehydrated) – If starting your own sourdough starter feels too daunting, you can always purchase a dehydrated starter that is tried and true, ready to go. This is the one recommended by Cultures for Health, which is one of the most reputable resources for sourdough out there.
Organic Whole Peeled Tomatoes – These tomatoes are organic, vine ripened from California (did you know Cook’s Illustrated did a test on the best whole canned tomatoes and decided USA tomatoes were the winner?!) and the can has a non BPA lining. They have excellent reviews for taste and quality on Amazon!
KitchenAid 11 Cup Food Processor – I have an older model of this (I’ve had it for about 10 years now!!!) and I absolutely love it. The grating attachment is so handy for grating a block of cheese for pizza, and then I can pop in the regular blade and whiz up my tomato sauce. I use it for making hummus, lara bars, almond flour, and slicing scalloped potatoes in a matter of seconds! I love the large capacity, would not want it any smaller.
Pizza has become a weekly meal at our house. Loving this dough!
Thats so great to hear!! Sounds like you’ve got a well fed crew 🙂
Cover and leave to rest for at least an hour until the dough has doubled in size. This may take up to 4 hours. It s safe to leave the dough out for up to eight hours until you are ready to bake.