Sourdough Pizza Recipes are quite a hit at the moment and there are so many interesting recipes out there that if you have never tried making a sourdough pizza then the recipes are worth the try.
There are techniques, guidelines, and proper ingredients that involve cooking a sourdough pizza compared to the regular dough.
See, we all know that yeast is activated in a regular dough to make it rise while it is resting. With sourdough, you will need much more than that.
Sourdough uses rye and a starter dough in order to make the dough rise. A starter dough has a combination of natural and wild yeast.
When the sourdough is resting, it activates the bacteria called lactobacilli. This bacteria is from the starter dough which is basically a concentrated dough.
The starter dough contains millions of yeast and bacteria in just one teaspoon. This is what gives the sourdough its sour taste.
Baking sourdough
Just like the aforementioned ingredients and processes, there are complicated steps to make a sourdough rise when baking.
See, a sourdough does not contain much water so it has a hard time rising when it is exposed to heat. Therefore, you will need to let it rise longer than regular dough.
Proofing a sourdough or letting it rise involves 2 steps. First, you need to let it rise at room temperature for at least 12 hours to be sure that the dough has risen.
Then, you will have a second rising procedure under low heat. While it may sound simple, there is this thing called over rising that you should avoid.
Over rising is when the sourdough has extracted all the rising power of the yeast inside it and it will no longer taste as good as you might have anticipated.
When it comes to baking, you will need to properly preheat your oven as well as the baking stone that you are going to use.
This is to make sure that the dough rises properly with the help of the oven spring. Oven spring is when your bread rises almost instantly when it reaches a certain temperature.
The heat will activate the sourdough, therefore, making it rise rapidly and will make the sourdough pop up like a spring, hence the oven spring.
One last note is that sourdough requires more time to be cooked than regular dough. It usually takes approximately 20 minutes to cook inside an oven with 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
That is for bread, but for a thinner crust like pizza, you can cook sourdough crusts in the same time length as regular bread at 10 minutes or sometimes less.
Best Sourdough Recipes
First, let us start with a simple Margherita
Ingredients
-500 grams of All-purpose Flour
-375 grams of Water
-100 grams of Starter Dough
-10 grams of Salt
Toppings as many as you desire
-Tomato sauce
-Olive oil
-Mozzarella cheese
-Parmesan cheese
-Sea salt
-Fresh basil leaves
Procedure
Step 1. Mix the water, starter dough, and salt in a bowl and whisk until the water is murky and the ingredients have dissolved evenly.
Step2. Add the all-purpose flour to the mix and stir well until all the ingredients have combined.
Step3. You can either transfer it to another bowl or leave it covered in the same bowl for at least twelve hours. This is the ideal time for the sourdough to rise double its original size.
Step 4. Place the sourdough on a working table and then cut it into 4 equal portions. One portion will be enough for cooking one 10-inch or a 12-inch pizza.
Step 5. Ball up the doughs and then place them in a closed container. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours. When the sourdoughs are in a fridge, they can last for up to 3 days.
Step 6. Let the sourdough rest for at least an hour before baking by letting it sit on a floured working table. This time, you may preheat your oven and your pizza stone at 550 degrees Fahrenheit.
Step 7. When the sourdough is warm and soft enough to be kneaded, spread it to a circle preserving all the air bubbles that you can.
Step 8. Put the toppings on the sourdough except for the fresh basil leaves.
Step 9. Bake the pizza in 550 degrees Fahrenheit oven and let it bake for at least 6 minutes or when you see that the sourdough has a rich golden brown color.
Step 10. Get it out of the oven and then top it off with the fresh basil leaves and serve. Enjoy!
A Healthy Sourdough Pizza
Ingredients
-3 ½ cups of 00 flour
-1 and ⅔ cups of water
-1 cup of sourdough starter
-1 tablespoon of olive oil
-2 teaspoons of salt
-½ cup of whole-grain flour
Toppings
-Mushrooms
-Black olives
-Onions
-Fresh basil leaves
-Tomato sauce or marinara
-Mozzarella and parmesan cheese
Procedure
Step 1. Prepare your sourdough by mixing 40 grams of sourdough starter, 40 grams of water, and 40 grams of flour in a jar.
Step 2. Cover the jar with a cloth and wrap a rubber band around the jar to hold the cover in place. Let it rest for at least four hours.
Step 3. Mix all the other ingredients in a bowl including the sourdough starter until they are all incorporated. You can do this by hand or with a mixer.
Step 4. Grab the mixture out of the bowl and then oil a separate bowl.
Step 5. Knead the dough for at least 3 minutes by adding a little bit of flour to make it manageable.
Step 6. Rub a little bit of oil on the sourdough and then place it in the oiled bowl.
Step 7. Let the dough rise until it has doubled in size at room temperature. This will take a few hours.
Step 8. Refrigerate the sourdough for at least a day or until it has risen fully.
Step 9. After the fermentation process. Take the sourdough out of the fridge and let it rest for at least 30 minutes at room temperature.
Step 10. Cut the sourdough into 4 or 5 equal parts, make a ball out of the doughs to prevent the air from escaping, and then place them in separate bowls.
Step 11. Grab one dough and then place it on oiled working space. You can cook this in a pan and if you choose to do so, you can oil the pan by this time as well.
Step 12. Stretch the dough to the desired size and press the air pockets out.
Step 13. Put the sauce, cheese, and all the toppings except for the fresh basil leaves.
Step 14. Place the pizza in the oiled pan.
Step 15. Cook in an oven for 10 minutes with 500 degrees Fahrenheit temperature.
Step 16. Lift the pan out of the oven and then let it rest for 5 to 6 minutes on your counter.
Step 17. While the pizza is still hot, place the fresh basil leaves on top to make sure that it is cooked but not overcooked.
Step 18. Slice the pizza, serve, and enjoy!
For the meat lovers
Ingredients
-1 cup of sourdough starter
-Half cup of warm water
-2 ½ cup of All-purpose flour
-1 teaspoon of salt
-½ teaspoon of instant or active dry yeast
Toppings
Sauce of your liking
Mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese
Bacon
Italian sausage
Pepperoni
Fresh basil leaves
Procedure
Step 1. Make sure that you remove any liquid on top of the sourdough starter before measuring a cup of it.
Step 2. Mix all the sourdough ingredients in a bowl and knead it for at least 7 minutes or until the ingredients are mixed evenly.
Step 3. Place the sourdough in an oiled container and cover. Let it rise until it has doubled in size. This will take around 3 to 4 hours depending on the vitality of your starter.
Step 4. After rising, cut the sourdough into two equal pieces. Each piece will be enough for a 12-inch pizza.
Step 5. Drizzle olive oil at the bottom of the pizza dough and stretch it in a pan. Cover the pan and let the dough rest for another 15 minutes.
Step 6. Open the pan and then stretch the dough up to the edges of the pan. If the dough stretches right back in the middle, let it rest more.
Step 7. Let the dough rise until it reaches the desired thickness and then preheat your oven at 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
Step 8. Fry the meat toppings on a pan until they are halfway cooked.
Step 9. Put the sauce and the toppings on the dough. Make sure to leave out the cheese and the fresh basil leaves.
Step 10. Reserve the other dough for later. If refrigerated properly, the dough can last up to five days.
Step 11. Cook the pizza in the oven for 5 minutes if it has a thin crust. For thicker crusts, you can let it cook for at least 10 minutes or until the crust has a rich golden brown color.
Step 12. Remove the pizza from the oven and then add the cheese. Put it back int he oven and let it cook for another 5 minutes.
Step 13. Take the pizza out of the oven, place it on your countertop, and add the fresh basil leaves.
Step 14. Carefully scrape the sides of the pizza with a wooden ladle and then lift it out of the pan.
Step 15. Slice, serve, and enjoy!
Conclusion
Sourdough pizza takes a lot of practice before you can perfect it. So do not get frustrated if you did not succeed in your first few tries.
The sourdough is a complicated recipe and will take a little bit of patience since you will need to let it rise twice before you can use it.
Remember to use starter dough as it is the one that contains the bacteria and the amount of yeast that is needed for the sourdough to rise.
Cooking a sourdough pizza is not that different from regular crust pizzas.
All you need is a little practice to know if your pizza is cooked.
The toppings of a sourdough pizza can be altered and whatever you choose, the sourdough crust will make it taste better.
Just remember to let the sourdough rest for the required time to make sure that you get the best out of it.
The sourdough gives a lot more flavor than regular dough so keep the process in mind.
The most common way of countering the sour taste of the dough is to place toppings with a little bit of flavor and that is why the sourdough crust is often topped with Margherita pizza.
However, you can experiment all you want and put any topping of your liking. The sourdough will make them better so you do not have to worry.
Follow the recipes above and let us know how well they turn out. Always remember that it is possible if you did not perfect it on the first try, just keep cooking!
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