Slo-Mo Sourdough Pizza

Quattro stagioni, Dello chef, Funghi, Tonno, Mare e monti…#brotokoll!

There is always the right moment for pizza! Just give your dough a big portion of extra-time and you will be rewarded with a crunchy-airy 100% naturally leavened Neapolitan pizza heaven…hence, our #brotokoll pizza motto: Slo-Mo!

#brotokoll Slo-Mo Pizza

Here they are! My pizza recipes, that had actually been going around for a very long time yet. Due to your numerous requests, I finally had to publish it (thanks so much for your patience)! So here we go with a recipe double feature: sourdough or wild yeastwater – the choice is yours!

Sourdough Pizza

Have you ever tried to make sourdough pizza but ended up with a…let’s say acidic fail? Well let me show you the way to an italotastic result with fluffiness and awesome flavor.

The crucial points for a pizza leavened with sourdough are: the sourdough’s activity, the appropriate sourdough amount and the right fermentation time (not too short but even not too long!). And the goal ist to adjust those parameters along with the flour we are going to use. Impossible? Well, that’s why you are here, right?

In my #brotokoll workshops, the #brotokoll Slo-Mo Sourdough Pizza has always been the highlight for our lunch breaks – and even dinners: just like end of November 2019 at the event „Kochen im Schaufenster“ („cooking behind the store window“) hosted by Vienna’s No. 1 radio channel  „Radio Wien“ at Stilarena Vienna.

Just in time for the upcoming holiday season we rocked the evening with a XMAS style pizza: mashed pumpkin ( flavored with cinnamon, cloves, tonka bean and cardamom), dried plums, goat cheese and thyme. Yes…it was beginning to taste a lot like Christmas!

Pizza oven*

Some like it hot – especially our pizzas are begging for heat. I have to admit – our appartment is already suffering from a „bakery-equipment-overload“. But what about a „tiny“ but real pizza oven? Who could say no to that!

Well, not me (of course) and so I have been using Gozney’s Roccbox for about a year now: Small and portable pizza power with firebrick and rolling flame that heats up to 400 degrees Celsius in just 35 minutes. Wait for your dough – not for your pizza (that will be ready within 110 seconds!).

So, no matter what’s your favorite topping: ham, cheese, vegetables or even the so often discussed pineapple – I wish you a lot of fun and buon appetito with the #brotokoll Slo-Mo Sourdough Pizza!

Yeastwater Pizza

As already mentioned: this is a double feature recipe: HERE is your way to the wild yeastwater variant of the #brotokoll Slo-Mo Pizza.

Tag your  results #brotokoll on Instagram & Facebook. I can’t wait to see your results!

For even more tipps, tricks and recipes, join me in one of my upcoming workshops! Check out my #brotokoll workshops overview.

Happy baking!

* Mentioning Gozney’s Roccbox is an unsponsored and unpaid content.

Print recipe

Slo-Mo Sourdough Pizza

TA (Hydration) 167 (67%)

Ingredients

• 280 g Pizza flour available at bongu.de
• 25 g Levain 3-4 times fed, as described in the recipe below
• 185 g Water
• 7 g Salt

TA (Hydration) 167 (67%) Ingredients 280 g Pizza flour available at bongu.de 25 g Levain 3-4 times fed, as described in the recipe below 185 g Water 7 g Salt

Instructions

Levain

3-4 times fed - for the last feeding (to build your levain) apply a ratio of 1:2:2 (Starter: Flour : Water). The calculation is easy – you just need to end up with the total levain amount, as needed in the recipe (in this case 25g – so you need 5g starter, 10g flour and 10g water; Makes sense, right?) Use your levain at peak at an age of 4 to 5 hours (let it rise at an ambient temperature of 25-27 degrees Celsius). This time frame is just an inidcation and depending of the activity of your sourdough culture. I highly recommend using the same flour for building the levain, as you are using it for your usual sourdough feeding. Check out my sample feeding-schedule below in the recipe notes or in the recipes "Lime story" or "Moulin Ruch".

Autolyse

280g Pizza flour (alternative: breadflour)
155g Water

Mix all the flour and the indicated amount of water and let the dough rest well covered for 2 hours at room-temperature (Autolyse).

Main dough

Autolyse
25g Levain
7g Salt
30g Water (cold)

Add the levain to the autolysed dough and start kneading with your kitchen machine on lowest speed level, until the dough releases from the bowl. Continue kneading with a higher speed level for 4-5 minutes and add the remaining water step by step. Add the salt together with the very last part of the water. Stop kneading once all gluten are perfectly developed (dough temperature must not exceed 25-27 degrees Celsius). Put the dough into a greased container and let it ferment well covered for 45 minutes at 25 degrees Celsius room temperature.

Bulk fermentation | Lamination | Stretch & folds

Moisten your working surface with water, release the dough onto the surface and laminate the dough (follow the instruction-video in the basics-section: Basics | Open Crumb - Sourdough Series | Lamination). Return the dough into the greased container and let it rest for 45 minutes. Give the dough a light fold and let it rest until the initial volume has increased by roughly 40%. After another light fold let the dough rest well covered in the fridge for 48 hours (5 degrees Celsius).

Final proof

On the day you gonna bake the pizzas, let the dough acclimatize for 45 minutes, release it onto the moistened working surface and divide it into 2 equal pieces (245g each). Now shape them with tension (but without degassing) into balls and let them covered (sealed side down) well covered for 3-4 hours.

Bake

Preheat your oven and your baking stone at highest temperatuire possible for 1 hour. In order to shape the pizzas, sprinkle flour onto your working surface and the dough balls and place them onto the floured surface. At next start pressing all the air with your fingertips form the center outward. Once all the air is inside the edges, flour the outside of your hands and place the dough on your knuckles. Now gently stretch the pizza into the desired size. The only thing which is missing is your desired topping – then your pizzas are ready to get baked (5-12 minutes depending on your oven temperature - If you have a pizza oven, reaching at least 400 degrees Celsius, your pizzas will be baked within 90-120 seconds).

Recipe Notes

The indicated recipe quantities are for 2 pizzas of 245g each.

Depending on the pizza-flour you are using, you may increase the dough's hydration (the used amount of water in the main dough) and the bulk fermentation time in your fridge.

Do you have specific questions or issues? Contact me via the contact form. I am happy to help you.

Levain buidling timetable - Example:

As most of you are maintaining your starters in the fridge for a couple of days during the week, it is extremely important that your sourdough is fed 3-4 times, before builidng the levain (the last feeding) for your planned bake. Those feedings will reduce the acid load and will increase your starter's activity level. Have a look at the  Tutorial-Video. 

For the feedings, just work with very small quantities of flour and the according ratios of starter (the sourdough you have stored, or the amount resulting from the stages of the timetable-example shown below) flour and water. All produced discards can be perfectly used for making flavorful Fleur de Levain. HERE is the instruction guide.

Friday morning: 1:3:3 (2g starter: 10g flour: 10g water)

Friday noon/afternoon: 1:5:5 (2g from previous stage: 10g flour: 10g water)

Friday evening: 1:10:10 (2g from previous stage : 20g flour : 20g water)

Saturday morning: LEVAIN: 1:2:2 (previous stage : flour: water) - you should end up with the total amount as indicated in the recipe

This example shall show you the way how you may plan your feedings. Observe your sourdough - and try to estimate the time it needs to rise until it's peak at a certain feeding ratio. On your baking day, you'll use your levain on the young side (4-5 hours young at its peak). This favors both, open crumb and ovenspring.