Step-by-Step Sourdough Margherita Pizza Crust Recipe
Simple ingredients make for the best pizza. Easy to put together this pizza crust is fluffy and soft in the inside and so crispy on the outside. Enjoy!
Ingredients
Pizza Crust Ingredients:
- 70 g sourdough starter active
- 290 g water distilled or filtered
- 400 g bread flour
- 25 g whole wheat
- 10 g olive oil
- 5 g kosher or sea salt
Pizza Sauce (amounts are enough for all 3 crusts):
- 1 can Cento San Marzano Tomatoes chopped
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 2-3 fresh garlic cloves minced
- Mozzarella fresh(sliced) or shredded
- 5-6 fresh basil leaves chopped or ripped
- Cornmeal for the bottom to prevent sticking
Instructions
Instructions to the Step-by-Step Sourdough Margherita Pizza Crust Recipe
- In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, with a gram scale, measure out the sourdough starter, water, and mix with a Danish dough hook or by hand.
- Next weigh out the flours, and olive oil and mix until you have a shaggy dough.
- Let autolyse (rest) for 30 minutes and then add the salt and knead by hand or with the dough hook on the stand mixer for 7 minutes.
- After the knead, transfer to a lightly oiled bowl. Let rest for 30 minutes and then perform a coil fold; do 3 total coil folds with 30-minute rests in-between.
How to do a Coil Fold:
- Using both hands start in the center of the bread and pull the dough up. Be careful not to rip the dough. Once it won’t stretch any more set it down. Turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat until you have done that around the whole bowl.
- After the coil folds are complete cover the bowl with plastic wrap and transfer to the fridge.
- To get the best result you want to do a minimum of 16 hours for the cold ferment. It is good for up to 5 days. This bulk fermentation is very important in getting those great results.
- When you are ready to make the sourdough pizza take the dough out of the fridge and transfer to a clean work surface.
- You want to be sure to be gentle with the dough as you don’t want to deflate it.
- Gently divide the pizza dough into 3 equal pieces with a bench scraper or sharp knife.
- Gently take and form three balls from the crust.
- If you aren’t making all three crusts, you can place the ones you aren’t using in a shallow container-like a baking sheet with a little oil on the bottom. Place the balls about 4 inches apart and in the fridge. When you are ready to make it, you will divide the dough again and continue with the recipe.
The Pizza Sauce:
- To make the pizza sauce open the can of tomatoes and put in a glass container. With your hands, take and rip the tomatoes into smaller pieces.
- Add the salt and garlic and stir together.
Making the Pizza:
- Preheat your oven to 550 degrees or 500 degrees if it doesn’t go that high. Make sure your baking stone is preheating at the same time.
- Prepare a pizza peel or a baking sheet with no edges (you can also use the back of a baking sheet) that has been generously sprinkled with cornmeal. Don’t be afraid to use plenty of cornmeal. That is what will help the pizza crust slide nicely onto the baking stone/steel.
- Taking a ball of dough, place it on the cornmeal and gently push on the dough starting in the center and pushing the air to the edges/crust (don’t stretch). Be careful not to deflate the bubbles.
- Once you have it about 10 inches in diameter take and place your sauce, then basil and cheese on top.
- At this point if you would like the pizza a little bigger you can take an edge at a time and gently stretch the pizza a little bigger.
- Once the oven is preheated, gently slide the pizza onto the pizza stone or steel. If it seems to be sticking some then place a little bit more cornmeal under the pizza crust in the spot that is sticking. You can test if it will slide well by shifting the baking sheet/pizza peel before opening the oven.
- Bake for 10-11 minutes until browning and bubbly.
- Remove from the oven with the pizza peel or baking sheet cool slightly, drizzle with olive oil if desired, cut and enjoy!