Pizza! A More Advanced Dough

We started baking pizzas on half-sheet pans ten years ago.

The website contains recipes for two different doughs and a simple red sauce recipe.

The recipe below uses bread flour, rice flour, soy flour, a sourdough

levain/leaven, instant yeast, salt, water and extra virgin olive oil. The other dough recipe uses all-purpose flour, active dry yeast, salt, water and extra virgin olive oil.

This recipe is very similar in ingredients to our Pinsa Romana recipe. It is simpler to make from the perspective that the dough is worked by hand and will be cooked on a half-sheet pan.

Yield: one tray pizza

Ingredients

The Leaven:

• 40 grams King Arthur bread flour

• 40 grams water

• 20 grams of starter culture

The Dough:

• 400 grams King Arthur bread flour (80%)

• 75 grams rice flour (15%)

• 25 grams soy flour (5%)

• 300-325 ml/grams warm water (60%)

• 2 grams of SAF instant yeast (red bag)

• 9 grams of salt (2%)

• 18-20 grams olive oil (2%)

• 100 grams sourdough levain/leaven (from above)

Create the leaven in the evening, assemble the dough the following morning.

Day 1 - Create the leaven (8 hour fermentation)

1. Mix together the bread flour, water and starter culture.

2. Cover for the night, leave out at room temperature.

Day 2 - Assemble the dough

1. Add the leaven to the 300 grams of warm water. Mix with a fork to combine then add the olive oil.

2. Blend the flours, instant yeast and salt together in a large workbowl.

3. Pour the liquid mix into the flour then combine. Finish mixing/combining by hand until well combined.

4. Cover the bowl and set aside at room temperature for 60 minutes.

5. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface.

6. Knead until soft & supple, about 5-10 minutes.

7. Place the dough into a work bowl or plastic container. Cover and set aside at room temperature for 1-2 hours.

8. Refrigerate the dough for 24-48 hours.

Day 3 (or 4): Baking:

1. Take the dough out of the refrigerator about two hours before cooking.

2. Form into a ball.

3. Cover then set aside at room temperature for about two hours.

4. Preheat oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

5. Pour about 50 grams of olive oil into a standard half-sheet pan. Coat the inside of the pan with the oil.

6. Gently stretch and press the dough to flatten it into an oval.

7. Add sauce, toppings, cheeses.

8. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the bottom and sides have browned.

Notes:

To scale up the recipe to 4-6 tray pizzas, use this set of ingredients and follow the same method above for creating the leaven, assembling the dough, and baking:

• The Leaven: 83 grams King Arthur bread flour, 83 grams water, 25-30 grams of starter culture

• The Dough: 800 grams King Arthur bread flour, 150 grams rice flour, 50 grams soy flour, 600 ml/grams warm water, 4 grams of SAF instant yeast, 18 grams of salt, 35 grams olive oil, all of the leaven.