Sourdough Pizza

This recipe is from alexandracooks.com and by clicking that link, you can find her original recipe with her pictures and instructions. You may find it helpful for some of the steps I outlined below. Her food blog is also my go-to for most of my bread recipes. Her pasta and vegetable dishes are amazing too! She is a trained chef and grew up baking bread with her mom.

Sourdough Pizza

Ingredients

• 375 grams non-chlorinated water
• 100 grams active sourdough starter
• 10 grams Celtic sea salt (course sea salt)
• 500 grams all-purpose flour (bread flour works too)
• Optional topping ideas:
  • marinara sauce with optional meat, veggies and cheese topping
  • sour cream base with prosciutto, dates, basil, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese (pictured above)

Directions

Add sourdough starter and water to a straight sided vessel or bowl.

Mix well.

Add flour and salt and mix well until a shaggy dough forms.

Cover with a cloth and let sit for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Perform 3-4 stretch and folds in 15-30 minute increments. (To do a stretch and fold, pull on one side of the dough and then let it rest back onto the dough. This will start to shape it more into a ball shape. Rotate the ball and do the same thing with the next part of dough. Do this until all sides of the dough have been pulled and placed back into a ball shape. Repeat this process 3-4 times, but let the dough sit for 15-30 minutes between each stretch and fold process.)

After the stretch and folds, let the dough sit on your room temperature counter for bulk fermentation. This will take anywhere from 8-12 hours. Mine normally takes about 8-10. The dough will be done when it has risen to about double its’ original size.

Once doubled, turn dough onto a floured, wooden cutting board. Shape into a rough ball and divide into 3 equal portions with a bench scraper or a sharp knife. Shape each one into a ball by pinching the dough under the dough ball and rotating it into a ball. Either place into a plastic container and put in fridge for at least 6 hours or up to 3 days. Or, freeze for up to a week. If frozen, let thaw completely before proceeding with recipe. Alternatively, try leaving it on the counter covered with a light towel for an hour and then proceed with baking.

To Bake:

Remove dough from fridge and place on floured surface. Gently shape into a ball without popping any bubbles. Let come to room temperature for 1-3 hours. The original recipe says one hour, but I waited 3-4 hours last time and it worked great too.

Preheat pizza steel in the top third of oven for 1 hour at 550 degrees.

Flour 3 pieces of parchment paper (you will bake your pizza on these pieces). Gently shape dough into 8-10 inch rounds. Do not use a rolling pin because you will lose the bubbles! Pull the dough out as you shape it into a circle. This is the hardest part, in my opinion!

Top each pizza with desired toppings.

Place parchment paper and pizza on a pizza peel or a flat cookie sheet and slide parchment paper and pizza on top of the pizza steel in the oven.

Bake each pizza for 5-8 minutes or until the bottom crust is done and slightly crispy.

Let cool on a cookie rack without the parchment paper. This allows air to get under the pizza and prevents a soggy crust.

Slice and enjoy!