So about once a week or so, my family has homemade pizza for dinner. I make a sourdough crust, so I usually have to plan for pizza a few days ahead. Day #1, I take out my sourdough starter, add flour and water (usually a cup of flour to 3/4 cup of water, because I like my starter a little on the drier side), and let sit overnight. A few weeks ago, I stuck it in my convection oven (while it was off) to keep it warm, and then promptly forgot about it. Sadly, when I realized it a few days later, bad bacteria had taken over and I had to scrap the whole thing and start a new starter.
Now that that's done, I also had to split some off for a friend of mine. My previous starter was borrowed from a friend who uses milk in her starters. I really wanted to give some starter to a friend so she could try my pizza recipe, but her son is allergic to milk, so I couldn't use that starter, anyway. Now that I made my own from only flour and water, it's safe. So when I went to prep my starter for pizza, I also threw in an additional cup of flour and water so I could split some off for her. And now, this awesome recipe I've been talking about! :)
So as I said, Day #1 is easy. Take out your starter. Sometimes there's a dark colored liquid on the top (called houch). You can either pour it off or stir it back in. Add 1 cup of flour, 1 cup water into a glass container. Cover, place in someplace warm, and let it sit overnight.
Day #2: When you go to check on your bowl, it should be bubbly and smell like yeast (kind of a beer-type smell if you've never smelled yeast before). If it smells like vinegar, the bad bacteria has taken over and you need to throw it out. Now you'll take 1 cup of starter for the recipe, then put the rest in a jar and put back into your fridge to serve as your starter for next time. (As long as you do this fairly often, your starter will last forever. I've even gone 3 months without feeding mine before and it was fine when I pulled it out to use it again).
Now, in a separate (preferably glass) bowl, mix together 1 1/4 cups of warm water, 2 tsp of yeast, and 1 tsp of sugar. Let it sit for a few minutes so the yeast get bubbly. Then add the 1 cup of starter, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp of salt, and 2-3 cups flour. Mix together and add flour as needed until the dough is just dry enough to handle (it will still be somewhat sticky, but not so much so that you can't handle it). This usually takes me around 4 cups of freshly ground whole wheat flour. White flour may take a little less, maybe 3 1/2 cups. Then I usually turn the dough out on the counter and wash out the bowl I mixed it in. Put a little bit of oil in the bowl, place the dough in, turn it over (so both sides are oiled), cover, and put in the fridge.
Day #3: I usually take the dough out an hour or two before I'm ready to make dinner so that it can come to room temperature (and therefore be easier to work with). When you're ready to make your pizza, preheat the oven to 400 (I've actually see recommendations to go as high as your stove will go - I don't think it makes a huge difference, but it takes longer to cool back down to normal temperature the higher you preheat it). Roll our your dough (this recipe makes 2 large circular pizzas, or, what I usually do is make a 9x13 pan for the adults and an 8x8 pan for the kids, but the recipe could easily stretch to do 2 9x13 pans without the crust being too thin). Prebake crust in preheated over for 5-10 minutes. When you take it out, turn the oven down to 350. Spread a bit of olive oil on top of the crust (keeps it from getting soggy), then top with toppings. Place back in the oven for 20-30 minutes until cheese is how you like it (some like just melted, some like brown and crispy).
Tonight I made stromboli with the dough instead of regular pizzas, and it was FANTASTIC. So much so, in fact, that I had to take a bite before I could take a picture. :) Here's the ingredients list in list form to make things a little easier for you. :)
- 1 1/4 cups warm water
- 2 teaspoons yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup sourdough starter
- 3-4 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
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