Pizza night is a big deal in my house. We go overboard with topping choices, and get a little competitive about pizza beauty. Ironically, despite all my bread-baking and dough handling, my pizza invariably turns out the ugliest. Tastes amazing though!
This recipe can be multiplied and the size/number of the pizzas can be played with as you see fit. You can also change the ratio of whole grain flour to white flour. My favorite is 5 pizzas from dough balls that weigh about ~220g uncooked, and 25% whole grain durum flour. I think that for most people 220g is enough to be full, but not comatose.
As you can see from the photo above, I am enthusiastic about THE TOPPINGS. From left to right: mozzarella, tomato sauce, dried basil, fennel, onion, garlic chives, burrata cheese, artichoke, pepperoni, fresh thyme and oregano, anchovies, fresh garlic.
The Schedule
This pizza dough works well on a busy day if you prep your starter in the early a.m. or overnight.
Then I mix the dough in the morning.
I shape for the second rise after 5 p.m. and we have pizza for dinner.
You can, of course, mix the dough ahead and refrigerate it for a day or so, before bringing it up to room temperature and a full rise for a few hours.
Here are before and after pics of the bulk fermentation (top and side views).
Ingredients
600g flour (200 whole grain durum, 400g bread flour)
400g water
90g starter
14g extra virgin olive oil (1 Tbsp)
12g diastatic malt powder (2 tsp) *optional*
9g salt (1.5 tsp)
Instructions (gallery below has photos of this process)
Hand Kneading: Mix together all of the ingredients, cover and let the dough rest for 5 minutes. Flour your counter and knead the dough by hand for about 5 minutes – until it passes the windowpane test.
OR
Stand-mixer: Put all of the ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer. Using the dough hook, mix the dough for 5 minutes on medium speed – until it passes the windowpane test.
Lightly oil a bowl and place the dough inside. Cover and let ferment for about 6-10 hours, depending on room temp. You can also refrigerate the dough for about 24 hours and ferment for a shorter time at room temp the next day (3-4 hours).
Flour your countertop and scrape your dough out of the dough. Roll it into a tube and cut it into 5 pieces, approx 220-225g. This pizza size fits on a dinner plate. You, of course, can go bigger or smaller as you wish.
Shape the dough pieces into balls, and place them on a lightly oiled baking sheet and cover with plastic. You can also leave them covered on your counter.
Let then dough proof another hour or so (or refrigerate for several hours).
Preheat your oven with a pizza stone in it at 500F for 20-30 minutes. If you don’t have a pizza stone, you can use a stainless steel or aluminum baking sheet but NOT a non-stick sheet (toxic fumes). You will need a shorter preheat as these surfaces heat up faster.
Prep individual parchment paper sheets or spread cornmeal on a pizza peel.
Create a round flat shape with a dough ball, either by rotating it in the air (check out YouTube for videos if you want to see various techniques), or by spreading the dough on the parchment paper with your fingertips. Keep the edge of the circle thicker than the middle.
Put on the toppings!
Using a pizza peel or an upside-down baking sheet, slide a pizza with the parchment onto the preheated stone/sheet.
Cook for about 10 minutes – depending on the size of your pizza and the amount of toppings. Keep an eye on it!
