Breads (Sourdough) - Other Breads
Simple Sourdough Pizza Crust
October 14, 2020
| Recipe by Bake with Paws
Scroll to the bottom of the page for "PRINT RECIPE" ⬇
I have been trying different Sourdough Pizza Crust recipes with different hydration. The dough didn't turn out so well with the low hydration recipes. This is a medium high hydration recipe prompted by a recommendation from an Instagramer (Carlos Dalmeida) to follow Alexandra's Kitchen recipe. And true enough her recipe works! This Sourdough Pizza crust recipe is adapted from Alexandra's Kitchen with some modifications.
I finally managed to achieve the crust that we are looking for. This Simple Sourdough Pizza Crust recipe yields a good crispy outer crunch with that light and soft bouncy chewiness inside. This is as good as we can hope for out of a home oven I think.
If you have any questions regarding this recipe or any other post, please leave me a comment in the “LEAVE A COMMENT” link and I will reply you as soon as possible. Do tag me on Instagram @Bakewithpaws if you attempt on this recipe.
Recipe - Simple Sourdough Pizza Crust
Yields: 2 Pizzas (9 inch)
INGREDIENTS:
Levain (60g):
22g sourdough starter (100% hydration)
22g bread flour
22g water
Pizza Dough:
300g bread flour (I used Japanese high gluten flour)
6g salt
10g olive oil
220g water (please hold back 30 - 40g and add in later as each flour absorbs water and hydrates differently)
Pizza Topping (Margherita Pizza) for 2 pizzas
6 Tbsp pizza tomatoes sauce
50g grated pecorino/parmesan cheese (I used pecorino)
100g mozzarella cheese (recommended to use buffalo mozzarella)
6 anchovy fillets in olive oil, cut into small pieces
8 cherry tomatoes, slice
Some extra virgin olive oil
METHOD:
- Levain :-
- Mix all of the ingredients for levain. Cover and leave it to rise until tripled in size at room temperature (28C - 30C). It took about 3 - 4 hours.
- Mix the dough :-
- Dissolve levain and water in a mixing bowl. Add in olive oil, salt and flour. Stir with dough scrapper then mix until there is no more dry flour with hand. Transfer the dough into a greased bowl. Cover and rest for 30 minutes (ambient temperature @ 26C - 27C)
- Stretch and Fold (S&F):-
- S&F 1 – Fold about 6 - 8 times. Your dough will be quite weak at this time. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
- S&F 2 – Fold about 6 - 8 times. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
- S&F 3– Fold about 6 - 8 times. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
- S&F 4 – Fold about 6 - 8 times. By this time, your dough should be smooth and strong. However, if the dough is still quite extensible and spread a lot, then you will need one or two more S&F or coil folds. Cover and rest for 2 hours or until dough rise 50% - 60% in size.
- Cold Retard:-
- Then retard overnight in the fridge (4C) for 12 hours - 16 hours or can be up to few days. But, I have not tried longer than one night.
- Portion and shape:-
- Remove dough from the fridge. Transfer to a floured counter top. Dust the dough with some flour and cut into 2 equal portions with a scrapper. Shape the each portion into a rough ball on the counter top and rest for 1 hour to 1.5 hours until puffy.
- Shaping and Baking :-
- Preheat the oven together with the pizza stone / cast iron pan inside (in the upper 2/3's of the oven) to 250C (fan-forced) for at least 60 minutes before baking.
- After one to one and half hours of resting, transfer the dough onto a parchment paper (11" X 11"). Gently press the dough ball into a 9 inch round dish. Left the edges thicker than inside.
- Spread about 2 - 3 tablespoons of tomato base sauce.
- Transfer the dough onto the hot baking stone with parchment paper and bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes. Half way through baking, remove the parchment paper. This is to make sure the bottom is evenly cooked without sticking.
- Remove the pizza with a pizza scrapper from the oven. Spread the remaining toppings as desired and drizzle with some olive oil before returning into the oven.
- Further bake the pizza for another 3 minutes (without the parchment paper).
- Remove from oven and transfer to cutting board and portion the pizza into 6 pieces.
TIPS I learnt from Carlos Dalmeida:
- Set the oven to 280C/550F or the maximum your oven allows and preheat 1 - 3 hours before baking the pizza. But, I preheated oven for just 1 hour.
- The baking pan/stone should be in the top 2/3's of the oven.
- Reduce the water by 30g - 40g from 220g is called for in this recipe if you are in a humid climate. If the dough gets too dry you can always add more water later. I did not reduce as I used Japanese High Gluten Flour. Usually, higher protein flour absorbs more water than lower protein flour.
GENERAL NOTES:
Schedule:
The schedule and times provided below are just a rough guide that worked for me. Please adjust the timing according to your own schedule.
Baking:
Do also note that the baking temperature and timing provided are what works for my oven and should also be regarded as a guide only. Every oven behaves a little differently, so please adjust accordingly for your oven.
Hydration:
The liquid measurement given is also a guide. It is advisable to always reserve some liquid and not add it all in one go. This would give you the opportunity to adjust if necessary. If dough is too dry, add the reserve liquid one tablespoon at a time until the right consistency. This is because each flour absorbs water and hydrates differently.
SOURDOUGH STARTER
Please click this link for "How To Make Sourdough Starter" and "Sourdough Maintenance"
A healthy starter is very crucial as advised by Baking with Gina. It is advisable to feed your starter regularly if you want your bread to rise nicely and to use the starter (levain) at its peak. A starter that is fed regularly will be more active in general. If the mother starter is not strong, the bread dough will not rise a lot even though the starter is used at its peak.
HYDRATION
The liquid measurement given is also a guide. It is advisable to always reserve some liquid and not add it all in one go. This would give you the opportunity to adjust if necessary. If dough is too dry, add the reserve liquid one tablespoon at a time until the right consistency. This is because each flour absorbs water and hydrates differently.
Labels:
Breads (Sourdough) - Other Breads,
👌🏻Thank you
ReplyDeleteHi, I can keep the dough in the fridge for how long after the S&F 4? Thanks
ReplyDeleteHi, I let the dough ferment after S&F 4 for 8 - 12 hours first then only I portioned and shaped the dough before storing in the fridge.
DeleteTo be honest, I use it after several hours and never store for more than one day. But, according to Alexandra's Kitchen can store up to 3 days.
Cheers :)
Hi, is the dough supposed to rise during the 1 hour on the kitchen table after I remove it from the fridge? And how many does this recipe serve? I’m looking to make for a big family, thanks!
ReplyDeleteHi thanks for reading this recipe and your questions. The dough will rise just a little bit. Please refer to the diagram 13 and 14.
DeleteThis recipe yields 2 Pizzas (9 inch) as mentioned on the above recipe. You may double up the recipe.
Cheers :)
Hi YL! Would like to ask can I freeze the pizza dough if I’m keeping it for more than 3 days? Also, if I were to keep the dough in the fridge, do I still need to leave it on the counter for 1 hour after portion and shape before keeping it into the fridge? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHi, thanks for reading this post.
DeleteTo be honest I never tried freezing the unbaked sourdough bread dough. I am not too sure how it will work. But, you can retard the dough in the fridge for up to 2 days or maybe 3 days.
Cheers :)
Hi Paws,
ReplyDeleteI really, really like all your recipes. They have been such a tremendous help to me. Thank you so very much! I need to buy your book but I can't seem to find the link. I also have a question with regards to the sourdough pizza. Is there a way of using the mixer for the Stretch and Fold. It would be so helpful when making more than 2 pizzas. Thanks a million! You are just wonderful!
Hi Petra,
DeleteThanks for following my recipes. The "Low Sugar Bakes and Cake" Cook Book is only available at Popular and Kinokuniya Bookstore in Malaysia and Singapore only.
I think you can, but you may get the big crumb like this. To be honest I have not tried to using kneading with mixture.
You are most welcome:)
Stay safe and happy baking...
I would like to print off some of your recipes please can you do a link for printing off just the ingredients and instructions? I would also like to buy your book. I live in Thailand, is it possible to order it and have it sent? Many thanks
ReplyDeleteHi, thanks for asking. I would love to create a link that can only print the recipe. But, due to the platform that I am using it doesn't allow. I am still trying to figure out how to do it. I am so sorry for the inconveniences.
DeleteThe book is published by Popular Bookstore and it can only available at Popular Bookstore in Malaysia and Singapore. However, most of the recipes can be obtain from my website here. The recipes in my blog are the most updated. I don't have sourdough bread in the book.
By the way, thank you very much for your interest:)
Cheers and Happy New Year!
How wet should the dough be?
ReplyDeleteHi, thanks for your interest in this recipe. The is no fast rule on how wet the dough should be. It is very hard for me to explain. I use all the 220g of water for the bread flour (12% protein) that I used. You may want to see the above diagram (No. 4) of the dough. Over the time, the gluten will develop and the dough will become less sticky.
DeleteCheers :)
Hi again, many thanks for replying to my questions. I made your sourdough pizza yesterday and put it in the fridge but as I was out today, its was in the fridge for 24 hours so I expected it to be ruined by we have just eaten it and it was amazing. Thank you so much for your recipe and advice. Much appreciated. Jaki
DeleteHi, you are most welcome:) Some people tried left in the fridge more than one day and it works too. I am glad that you like it.
DeleteThank you again for trying and Happy New Year:)
Yours is the best recipe. I always follow this and it never fails. Thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteHi, thank you for trying this recipe and your kind feedback. I am so happy to hear this and it means a lot to me.
DeleteCheers :)
My dear friend
ReplyDeleteI did not understand
Levin 20 20 20 =60
300 grams of flour is already 360
And at first you wrote 300 +30
can you explain to me
Hi, thank you for your interest in this recipe.
DeleteI would suggest that you ignore this part
" Total flour: 300g + 30g (from levain) = 330g and Total hydration: 75.7%"
It is not part of the ingredients. It is baker's calculation. I have deleted it to avoid any confusion.
Cheers :)