Sourdough Pizza Crust

So now you don't have time to make the Artisan Bread and you need a break from the Sandwich Bread, but you have starter that you don't want to waste...

Pizza!

Sourdough pizza crust is fairly low maintenance. There is an overnight rest period, and  a couple folds the next day.

The other cool thing about the pizza crust is that you can freeze it, and use it whenever. You can either freeze it as a dough ball, or you can roll out the shell, par-bake and then freeze.

I will include directions at the bottom.



This is my recipe, and it is still somewhat experimental. you may need to play with it a bit. (Specifically the amount of water may need to be adjusted slightly. I currently have 1 1/2 cups in the recipe, but It may actually need a bit more. Somewhere between 1.5 and 2 cups may be the correct amount, you are looking for a somewhat stiffer dough than the sourdough bread dough, but as I currently have it, you may not have quite enough moisture to properly integrate the flour.).



Sourdough Pizza Crust


Ingredients:

1 C sourdough starter
1 1/2 C warm water
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp salt
5 C flour



Directions:

Mix starter, water, oil and salt together until the starter has dissolved. It's okay if there are some strings or chunks.

Add flour and mix/knead until well combined. Cover bowl and let rest overnight.

Fold the dough by grabbing one side, lifting and folding  over the other side. Fold four times, turning the bowl 90 degrees each time.

Let the dough rest 15-30 minutes and fold a second time. rest another 15-30 minutes

Move dough to a floured surface, divide into four equal pieces and shape each into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.

Place pizza stone (if you have one) in oven and preheat to 500 degrees.

Roll/stretch the ball into a pizza shell (use flour to keep from sticking). Place the shell on your transferring implement. I believe a pizza peel is the recommended tool. Sadly, I am not the proud owner of such a tool, so I use a cutting board. I highly recommend a liberal sprinkling of cornmeal first, so as to keep your shell from sticking (this makes transferring to the oven awkward. Of course, if you aren't using a stone, you can just place the shell on  a baking sheet, and then pop it in the oven, skipping the transfer step. I'd still recommend using the cornmeal though).

Add sauce and toppings of your choice.

Transfer to pizza stone (you might want to sprinkle a little cornmeal on the stone first, to prevent sticking. 

Bake in 500 degree oven until crust is golden brown and toppings are done to your liking (12-15 minutes).


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If you wish to save your dough for use at a later date, you can either freeze as dough balls, or par bake...


Dough ball method:

Place the dough balls on a pre-chilled baking sheet and put them in the freezer for approximately 30 minutes, until the outer surface is firm and not at risk of sticking. Place the balls of dough in a freezer bag and return them to the freezer.

When ready to use, transfer the desired number of dough balls refrigerator the day before, or on short notice, throw a dough ball in the microwave for about three minutes on defrost. Then roll it out, top it and bake it. as above.


Par bake method:

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
Shape your dough ball into a shell. bake until puffy and dry on top, approximately 5 minutes.
Cool, wrap and freeze.
When ready to use, remove from freezer, top and back as before.



Par bake option II:

I haven't actually tried this yet, but it occurs to me, after you have cooled the par baked shell, you could top the shell, then wrap and freeze. Then, when your pizza craving hits, you can pull your prepared pizza out of the freezer, pop it in the oven and you're set!




As I mentioned, this is my recipe. If you find any of the directions unclear, or if you discover improvements, let me know.



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