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Italian Style Pizza made with Sourdough Discard

Christina
This is a recipe I developed using sourdough discard and a tiny amount of yeast that bakes three small Italian style, thin crust pizzas. The flavor of the pizza dough is the best I have tasted!
5 from 7 votes
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Resting Time 10 hours
Total Time 10 hours 55 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine American, Italian
Servings 3 Pizzas
Calories 1058 kcal

Equipment

  • 2 L Food Container (or bowl)
  • Cover for container (or plastic wrap)
  • Digital Scale for metric measurement
  • Sheet Pan
  • Parchment Paper
  • Plastic Wrap
  • Bench Scraper (or knife)
  • Pizza Peel (or flat cookie sheet)
  • Cast Iron Skillet (or baking stone)

Ingredients
  

Pizza Dough (for 3 crusts)

  • 300 grams Warm Water 75-85 F Degrees
  • 10 grams Sea Salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon Instant Yeast
  • 100 grams Rye Sourdough Starter Discard
  • 380 grams White Bread Flour min. 12% protein

Pizza Toppings (for 3 pizzas)

  • 300 grams Pizza Sauce
  • 450 grams Shredded, Skim, Low Moisture Mozzarella
  • 45 grams Corn Meal

Instructions
 

Scale

  • Measure pizza dough ingredients with a digital scale.

Mix

  • Mix water, salt, and yeast until dissolved.
  • Add sourdough starter discard to the water/salt/yeast mixture and mix vigorously to break it up and create a slurry.
  • Add white bread flour and mix until there is a rough dough with no dry flour remaining.
    Rough Dough Mixed together
  • Cover and set aside for 45 minutes.
  • Uncover and scrape dough out onto a floured work surface.
  • Knead dough for 30 seconds - 1 minute to create a smooth dough and form it into a ball.
  • Place ball in greased container and cover to rise.

Bulk Fermentation

  • Set container with ball in it to rise for 2 hours at room temperature. Dough should not grow more than double in volume.
    Dough rising in covered container.

Folding (sometimes called punching)

  • Prepare a sheet pan with parchment paper sprayed with oil. Set aside.
  • Gently dump dough out onto a floured work surface.
  • This will deflate the dough.
  • Loosely fold the dough into an oval shape about the size of a letter envelope, turn over so folds are on the bottom.

Dividing

  • Using a bench scraper or a sharp knife, cut the dough into 3 equal pieces (flour the line where you intend to cut, it prevents the dough from sticking). Do not saw at the dough as this breaks the structure.
  • Weigh the dough balls on a digital scale to ensure they are about even in weight.

Pre-shaping or Rounding

  • Flatten the first piece of dough with the cut side facing up.
  • Pull the sides of the dough and fold into the center, 4-6 times, pinch together if need be.
    Pull sides of dough to center of round
  • Flip the dough over so the folds are underneath.
  • Form a tight round ball by dragging and and turning the ball along a flat work surface.
    A loose ball of dough

Bench Proofing or Resting

  • Repeat Pre-shaping or Rounding step two more times for three equal dough balls spread at least 3" apart (8 cm) on the parchment paper. Cover tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to rest at room temperature for 10 minutes.
    Covered dough balls ready for proofing

Proofing (second rise)

  • Place sheet pan into refrigerator, ensure it is level so the dough does not slide or rise unevenly.
    Hint: If you read my post 12 Steps of Producing Yeast Breads you might notice that I have switched these two steps. When making pizza dough, you will allow the dough to proof before the Makeup and Panning step when normally the reverse is true.
  • Allow to retard in the refrigerator (slow second rise) for 8-10 hours.

Makeup and Panning (Preparing the final pizza for the oven)

  • Place the cast iron skillet or baking stone into oven. Preheat oven to 550 F degrees.
  • Scale the topping ingredients.
  • Generously spray one sheet of parchment paper with spray oil in a large circle in the center, about 12" (30 cm) wide.
  • Sprinkle 1/3 of the corn meal over the sprayed circle.
  • Remove one of the three dough rounds from the refrigerator (leave other two there).
  • Stretch the dough round into a 12" (30 cm) round circle and lay it on the prepared parchment paper. Stretch again to an evenly round shape.
    Hint: if you put a hole in the dough, just stretch and pinch it together, or if it's a large hole, don't worry! It's not ruined. Simply pull a bit of dough from the edge and patch the hole. Roll the edge over slightly to conceal where you pulled a piece of dough off.
  • Pour 1/3 of the pizza sauce into the center of the flattened pizza dough. Using the back of a soup spoon spread the sauce in a circular motion until it is evenly distributed to just shy of the edge.
  • Spread 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese evenly on top of the sauce.
  • Add additional toppings (if desired).
    Hint: If using raw meat toppings, they must be fully cooked before being added as a topping; raw vegetables and deli meats can be added without precooking.

Baking

  • Slide pizza peel or flat cookie sheet underneath parchment paper with the prepared pizza on top.
  • Slide parchment with pizza onto the preheated skillet or stone.
  • Bake for 8-10 minutes until the toppings are bubbly and the edge is brown and crispy.
  • While first pizza is baking, repeat Makeup and Panning Step from #3 with the last two dough rounds.
  • When buzzer chimes, check underside to ensure it has dark brown spots and is fully cooked. Remove pizza carefully from the oven, throw parchment away and set pizza on a cooling rack.
  • Cooling
  • Cool pizza to desired eating temperature, slice and enjoy. - Caution! Cheese and toppings will be very hot when it is first removed.
    Sliced Sourdough Pizza
  • Cool any leftovers completely and cut into individual pieces for storing.

Storing

  • Place leftovers on a dinner plate and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for up to 7 days. Reheat thoroughly before eating.
  • Freeze leftovers in a freezer proof, plastic, food storage bag for up to 3 months. Reheat thoroughly before eating.

Notes

Troubleshooting (cause let's face it, making the perfect pizza is not easy but after a little practice you will be saying "Mama Mia - Mangia!!")
Wet Dough - This dough is fairly slack when mixed, it should be a bit sticky but not impossible to work with.  If it is very wet, add a little more flour during the kneading stage to get a slack but not overly wet or sticky dough that will not form into a loose ball.
Dry Dough - Every flour, depending on the brand, the season, or the production date, can have a different protein content. This dough should be fairly slack when mixed.  If dough is dry (difficulty to hydrate all the flour), add a little more water during the Mixing Step until flour is well hydrated and you have a slack dough (see Wet Dough note above).
Doubled Quickly - If dough has doubled quicker than the two hours during Bulk Fermentation Step, the starter may have been over active or you added too much yeast.  Adjust next time you make the dough.  This time, if it doubles before the two hours is up, just continue on with the rest of the instructions, it will be fine. 
Did Not Double - During the Bulk Fermentation Step, the dough did not double in the two hours.  Move to a warm location and allow to continue until doubled in volume.  
Bottom of Pizza Uncooked - Ensure the pan/stone is thoroughly preheated to a very hot temperature before placing pizza on the pan/stone to bake.  Place pan/stone back into oven to preheat for 5 minutes in between baking pizzas.
Oven Does Not Heat to 550 F Degrees - You can bake this pizza at 475 F or 500 F degrees - it will just take longer, adjust time accordingly.  I do not recommend baking at under 475 F degrees. 
Toppings Did Not Cook - Layer toppings sparingly to ensure even cooking.  If toppings are not done but crust is done, place under the broiler for one minute (or more as required) to finish browning the toppings.  If using raw meat (including bacon) precook separately before placing it on the pizza to bake.
Keyword neapolitan styel pizza, Pizza, sourdough, Sourdough discard, thin crust pizza