My new go-to recipe for pizza dough, the flavor and texture are both amazing. I don’t know why I can’t get my bread to turn out like this, but this dough turns into a soft, stretchy, bubbly piece of art that yields the prefect crispy, chewy crust. Seriously, I used to not be a crust eater, now I am…unless it is burnt.One thing that helps a lot is having a freshly fed starter to work with. This means, the night before, feed your starter and it will be ready to use in the morning. I use 1/2 cup starter and feed it 1 cup spelt flour, and 1 cup water. See how incredibly bubbly it is!
If you don’t have sourdough starter you can still do this recipe with just adding a pinch of yeast (less than ¼ teaspoon) when you mix the dough, then still let it rise all day. It will develop good flavor and improve digestibility, however, sourdough is even better on both accounts.
1 cup water
2 cups freshly fed sour dough starter
1/3 cup honey
1 tablespoon salt
3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3 cups spelt flour
2 cup white flour
Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl, reserving 1 cup white flour. Knead 5 minutes, while kneading, add more white flour to achieve a smooth dough that sticks to itself more than to the bowl. Transfer to an oiled bowl and cover. Let dough rise for 6-8 hours on counter. Heat oven with pizza stone for 30 minutes at the highest heat (mine is 550 convection if you have it). Divide dough in fourths, roll out on a floured surface, transfer to parchment paper. Top and bake on a preheated pizza stone for 6 minutes or until crust is crisp. Let cool 5 minutes for cheese to set before cutting.
This post is part of Whole Foods for the Holiday's, Real Food Wednesday's and Pennywise Platter Thursday.
No soaking needed???
ReplyDeleteThe rise time is the "soaking" the sourdough is the acid. The same process for traditional sourdough bread.
ReplyDeleteyumm can't wait to try this one.
ReplyDeletehow do i increase my starter? i only have about 1/4 cup. do i just feed it - wait till it's bubbly, then feed it again and keep repeating that cycle until i have 2 cups?
also, does it affect the starter if you feed it with different flours? i think the one you gave me was a rye starter, but i've been using wheat. i didn't know if that'd throw it off.
also, do you know if this process would break down the gluten (like soaking does)?
This looks great- had a failed attempt at pizza (Fresh and Easy whole wheat dough) tonight and thought of you, then caught the last half of Food Inc. on PBS tonight and really thought of you- I think it scared me straight (a little) So much of what they talked about I had heard hinted at here, I am ready to take some of your classes, and start buying better food! The meat industry is horrifying. http://www.pbs.org/pov/foodinc/
ReplyDeleteYou can do two feedings or feed it 1.5 cups water and 1.5 cups flour (you always want to save some) and it will be ready to use in 12 hours. Optimum feeding is using 1 part starter, 1 part flour and 1 part water fermenting for 8 hours.
ReplyDeleteYou can use any flour you like, just don't keep changing it every time you feed it.
That is awesome that they are showing Food Inc. on PBS! And even more awesome to hear people watching it and standing up for a change!
If you like to do pizza at home, you need a pizza stone. Pizza gets too soggy on a pan. Look forward to seeing you at class!
This looks great! Thanks for the recips. Since it divides into fourths, does it make 4 small size pizzas?
ReplyDeleteYou can really divide it into how ever many you want. I do 4 medium pizzas, but it also depends on how thin you roll the dough.
ReplyDeleteThis is coming from someone who has never made bread or anything in my life, but can but can you explain the starter to me? Is that something I can just buy at the store? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteCheck out the link to the right for "Cultures for Health" They sell starters and with them send directions on how to use and feed them.
ReplyDeleteI have the Alaskan starter, but they have little descriptions of each one so that you can decide what is the best fit for you. It might be just the thing for you to make your first batch of bread!
I really like this recipe. The other crust is fabulous, but this one is easier for me. I think it will yield more consistent results.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm glad to know about not feeding different flours each time to the starter, not that I have consistently done that, but I have switched it up a bit sometimes.
And I made my own starter. My VitaMix cookbook had a recipe, and it's not hard, it just takes some time.
Good for you, making your own starter!
ReplyDeleteGood luck on your class tomorrow!
I'm trying this today. I'm excited! Do you think I could set aside half of the final dough product and freeze?
ReplyDeleteYes! It freezes perfectly, I do it all the time.
ReplyDeleteIs the dough supposed to rise a lot during the day? I haven't played with sourdough much and mine hasn't really risen so I'm wondering if maybe I need a better start?
ReplyDeleteYour freshly fed starter should be nice and bubbly and it will rise more than double. If yours is not rising you will need to get your start going again by feeding it a number of times. You can add yeast to save your dough. Just throw it in your mixer with a little yeast and water...add more flour if it gets too sticky.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kara, my dough was flat but the taste was fantastic. I'll be working on my starter this week.
ReplyDeleteSo I love your blog - Im kinda new to all this kind of food - planning ahead, Nourishing Traditions, etc. Having gone to Culinary School - its weired to see how we were taught the un-healthy way of cooking! (stocks are a few of the good things I did learn in school) Im going to make this tonight - I fed my starter this morning - at 7and Im gonna make the dough about at about 11. Is that right?
ReplyDeleteLove all the ideas! thanks
I usually let my starter rest 6-8 hours after I feed it, but as long as it is nice and bubbly, you should be good. I have never been through culinary school, I am sure the methods used in school are far from traditional as is everything industrialized. I am sure there is a lot I could learn with making stock though.
ReplyDeletehi
ReplyDeleteyou say transfer to parchment paper? do i bake it on the parchment paper? In your picture it looked like you didnt bake yours on parchment paper.
thanks
Yes, you bake it on the parchment paper. I often will slide mine out and rotate the pizza halfway through the cooking time to get the crust darker and crisper.
ReplyDeletehave you done this pizza with only whole grains? i want to try it but would like to use all whole grains because i'm going to let my son have it, and i'm afraid to give him white flour because of the gluten. i feel good about trying sourdough spelt, so i was wondering what other flours might work in place of the white flour.
ReplyDeleteThis can definitely go whole grain spelt. Spelt still has nearly as much gluten as wheat, but is the better grain. You will have a denser crust with a lot of flavor. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteI finally got around to saving some dough to try to use as "Non-naan" (as my hubby named it), and it was great with your saag. Thanks for the idea. My nieces and nephews almost didn't eat the rest of their meal because they liked the bread so much. :)
ReplyDeleteCan you put the dough in the fridge overnight instead of rising 8 hours on the counter? Thanks!
ReplyDelete