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5 from 1 vote

Sourdough Pizza

Once you've had sourdough pizza you will never go back! The flavours in the crust are incredible. I top it with the most delicious no cook tomato sauce and simple, quality ingredients to make an unforgettable pizza. If you don't have sourdough starter, see the recipe notes to make a faux version that is equally delicious. *recipe updated April 20, 2020
Prep Time20 mins
Cook Time20 mins
Course: Main Course
Keyword: pizza, Sourdough
Servings: 2 large pizzas (feeds 8-10)
Author: Garnish at Home, adapted from Smitten Kitchen and Life From the Ground Up

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 9x13" 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

*To make a faux sourdough crust (without starter), up the water to 2 1/2 cups,  and swap 1/4 tsp instant yeast instead of the sourdough starter. Knead until it forms a smooth ball, adding more drips of water as necessary. Let rise on counter overnight, about 22 hours total before baking pizza.