Sourdough Pizza Crust
Sourdough pizza crust? Well, why not? For one thing, this crust can go from quite sour to "can't even tell it's sourdough," depending on how recently you've fed your starter. And even if you want very little (or no) tang, the vigor of the starter enhances the pizza dough's rise. Even the merest hint of tang comes across as rich flavor, which marries beautifully with the usual pizza toppings of tomato, cheese, veggies, and meat.
We've been looking for ways to use the "extra" cup of starter, the one you're directed to discard with each feeding; this is another good solution for you thrifty bakers who hate to throw anything away.
Read our blog about this pizza crust, with additional photos, at Baker' Banter.
- 1 cup sourdough starter, unfed (straight from the fridge)
- 1/2 cup hot tap water
- 2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
- 4 teaspoons Pizza Dough Flavor, optional but delicious
Directions
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1) Stir any liquid into the sourdough starter, and spoon 1 cup starter into a mixing bowl. |
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2) Add the hot water, flour, salt, yeast, and Pizza Dough Flavor. Mix to combine, then knead till smooth and slightly sticky, about 7 minutes at medium speed using a stand mixer with dough hook. Place the kneaded dough in a lightly greased container, and allow it to rise till it's just about doubled in bulk. This might take 2 to 4 hours; it might take more. A lot depends on how vigorous your starter is. For a faster rise, place the dough somewhere warm (or increase the yeast). To slow it down, put it somewhere cool. |
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3) For two thinner-crust pizzas, divide the dough in half, shaping each half into a flattened disk. Drizzle two 12" round pizza pans with olive oil, tilting the pans to coat the bottom. Place half the dough in each pan. Cover, and let rest for 15 minutes. Gently press the dough towards the edges of the pans; when it starts to shrink back, cover it, and let it rest again, for about 15 minutes. Finish pressing the dough to the edges of the pans. |
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4) For a thicker-crust pizza, drizzle olive oil into a jelly roll pan (10" x 15") or half-sheet pan (18" x 13"), or similar sized pan; or a 14" round pizza pan, tilting the pan to coat with the oil. Shape the dough into a flattened disk or oval. Place it in the pan, cover it, and let it rest for 15 minutes. Push the dough towards the edges of the pan; when it starts to fight back, cover it and let it rest for 15 minutes. Finish pushing it to the edges of the pan. |
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5) Cover the pan, and let the dough rise till it's as thick as you like. For thin-crust pizza made from fairly fresh starter, this may only be an hour or so. For thick-crust, using an old, little-used starter, this may take most of the day. There are no hard-and-fast rules here; it all depends on the vigor of your starter, and how you like your crust. Once you make it a couple of times, you'll figure out what time frame works for you. |
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6) Towards the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 450°F. |
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7) For a thicker crust, pre-bake the crust for about 8 minutes before topping. Top, then bake till toppings are hot and cheese is melted and bubbly, about 10 minutes. For thin crusts, bake for 4 to 5 minutes, then top and bake for an additional 8 to 10 minutes, or till toppings are as done as you like. |
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8) Remove from the oven, and loosen the edges of the pizza with a table knife or heatproof spatula. Carefully lift it onto a cooling rack; you can serve it right from the pan, if desired, but a cooling rack helps keep its bottom crisp. Serve hot. |
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Yield: one 14" round, or rectangular thick-crust pizza; or two 12" round thin-crust pizzas. |
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Be aware of some sourdough dynamics here. The less-used your starter, the more liquid on top, the more sour it's likely to be; using a starter that hasn't been fed for weeks will yield a pizza crust that rises slowly, and tastes quite tangy. This type of crust is handy when you want to make dough in the morning, and have pizza ready for dinner. On the other hand, a starter that's fed regularly will yield a less-sour crust, one that will rise much more quickly. This is a great "weekend" crust, as you can shape it at 8 a.m., and have pizza for lunch. |
Recipe summary
- Hands-on time:
- 10 mins. to 15 mins.
- Baking time:
- 16 mins. to 18 mins.
- Total time:
- 4 hrs 56 mins. to 5 hrs 33 mins.
- Yield:
- one 14" round, or large rectangular thick-crust pizza; or two 12" round thin-crust pizzas.
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- Recipe comments (12) »
Reviews
07/17/2010
Fantastic, Fantastic, Fantastic...Finally a recipe that is worth keeping and worthy of passing along to friends and family. Wonderful artisian flare to a simple recipe.
07/12/2010
I also prepared this in a bread machine (1.5lb dough mode) and it turned out awesome. I rolled it into two l elongated pizza and let it rise for about an hour to get nice and fluffed up. When I did the initial bake I had lots of steam in the oven and after five mins my pizza were giant fluff balls, like four inches! After adding the ingredients they toned down but in the end they were still super fluffy and delicious. Awesome!
06/08/2010
Work well with bread machine. You only need to put all the ingredients in the bread machine on dough cycle, walk away for an hour and came back to shape the pizza crust and let it rise. I added only half amount of salt and it worked well! :D
03/31/2010
Makes great thick crust pizza! I used very active starter and my dough was ready much sooner than recipe advised. Time really depends on your starter!
03/20/2010
I've made this pizza crust several times. My husband and I like a thick crust, and this recipe makes it delicious and chewy. My son and his girlfriend prefer thin crust, and it's great for that, as well. I have pre-baked crusts and frozen them, a couple of times--great for fast meals. The last few times I've made pizza dough I've used KAF Italian-style Flour, which provides a great light texture. This recipe is a perfect solution for using that excess cup of starter--as are crumpets, pancakes, or waffles. It's a shame to throw it out, when using it is so quick, easy, and tasty!
02/18/2010
We really enjoy making Pizza with this recipe. A concern is having a pizza bake uneven even when the dough is pressed thin,it rises to all different heights. It's tastes great, but makes it harder to top. Our favorite topping is BBQ chicken, pineapple, mushrooms, red onions and cheese.
Decided to use a prebaked crust for a tuna melt, but being baked up uneven, flipped it upsidedown before adding toppings. It worked great. Now have to try making a pizza that way.
Delicious variations! If you'd like to work through the even pizza baking, call our Baker's Hotline at 802-649-3717. Irene @ KAF
01/30/2010
I've made this pizza crust a couple times now. The crusts can be par-baked and refrigerated (like ready made pizza crusts) until ready to make pizza. One of our favorite toppings is made from baked pumpkin (or butternut squash) mixed with grated cheese, an egg, and sage. Elegant and fabulous. I imagine I will always have a couple of pizza crusts ready and waiting. (Can't help it, I just can't throw away that starter!)
01/29/2010
I just tried this recipe and love it! I put all the ingredients in the bread pan of my Zo and set it on the basic dough setting, when it was done, I refrigerated the dough until about 2 hours before dinner, took it out and used it according to the recipe. My husband said it was my best sourdough yet!
01/16/2010
Well, I used it for my "throw away" sourdough starter today. I added 2T of olive oil tothe dough as we like crispy thin pizza crust. It was fabulous! I only let it rise for an hour as I was short of time, next time I will start earlier. Sibce there are only tewo of us I made 1 round pizza with 1/2 the dough and froze the othert half. I will thaw that and make another one next week! We had mushrooms,mozzerello cheese, Parmesana Reggiano and one half with pepperoni and one half with Kalmata olives...soooo good!
12/27/2009
My 1st ever sourdough pizza crust came out simply delicious!!! I've made 7 sourdough bread batches, 3 sourdough english muffin batches and many sourdough pancakes all in the past 3 weeks. Yes, I'm on a sourdough kick. I found that I needed more like 1 cup of water (instead of 0.5 cups) for this recipe. My starter had been fed about 4 days prior and I make it 50/50 by weight. Can't wait to try it again.
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