Sourdough pizza
The flavour of sourdough pizza, with its thin, chewy crust, is hard to beat. Keep it simple with this margherita topping, or add some of your favourite extras.
To make this recipe you’ll need an active sourdough starter (made at least 4 days in advance) that has been fed 24 hours before pizza making.
Ingredients
- 100/3½dz sourdough starter
- 500g/1lb 2oz ‘00’ flour, plus extra for dusting
- 10g/⅓oz fine sea salt
- 20ml/4 tsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing
- coarse semolina, for scattering
For the topping
- 400g tin plum tomatoes
- extra virgin olive oil
- 250g/9oz mozzarella, broken into small pieces
- 1 bunch basil, leaves only
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Add 350ml/12fl oz warm water to a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer. Add your sourdough starter (it should float if it’s in a good state for baking – if not, feed it again and wait a couple of hours until it’s doubled in size before trying again) and whisk with your hands to dissolve. Add the flour and salt and mix on a low speed, or by hand, until the dough comes together. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes.
Add the olive oil to the rested dough. If using a stand mixer, mix on a medium speed for 5–10 minutes, or until the dough passes the windowpane test (stretch a small piece until you can see through it – the gluten is developed enough if it allows you do this). If mixing by hand, knead for 10 minutes, until smooth, elastic and also passing the windowpane test. Cover and leave in a warm, draught-free place for 2 hours, or until increased in size by at least a third.
Oil a deep-sided tray. Shape the dough into six balls (roughly 160g/5¾oz each) and place on the tray. Cover with cling film or a damp tea towel and leave to rise in the fridge overnight (at least 12 hours and no more than 48). This allows the dough to ferment slowly, improving the flavour and texture.
The next day, take your dough out of the fridge 2 hours before you want to use it.
Preheat the oven to its highest setting (ideally using a fan-assisted oven) and put a large, heavy, oven-safe frying pan on the middle shelf.
For the topping, empty the tin of tomatoes into a bowl and break up the large tomatoes into smaller pieces. Season with salt, pepper and olive oil.
On a lightly floured work surface, working with one ball of dough at a time, shape the dough into a circle roughly 20cm/8in in diameter (or the size of your pan). Quickly and carefully, take the preheated pan out of the oven. Scatter a little semolina into the pan and then add the pizza base. Quickly top with a spoonful of tomato, a few pieces of mozzarella and a couple of basil leaves, then put the pan back into the oven and cook for 7–10 minutes, or until the pizza base is cooked through. Repeat with the remaining pizza dough. Serve hot.
Recipe Tips
Less is more when it comes to toppings! Use a little less topping than you would like, and avoid using toppings that release moisture, such as peppers or mushrooms, as these can make your base soggy.
To freeze for up to 6 weeks, wrap the balls of dough after their overnight proving (step 3). To defrost, transfer to the fridge 24 hours before you want to make pizza. Then continue with step 5.