Best Sourdough Pizza Crust

This sourdough pizza crust is perfect for rolling out or hand tossing if you are brave enough. Par baking before adding the toppings allows the crust to form enormous bubbly pockets of air and guarantee that the crust will be done before the toppings dry out and burn. It's perfectly chewy and flavorful from it's ferment overnight in the refridgerator

The day before you make the pizzas, it only takes about 15 minutes to start the dough. After the dough is started let it sit out in a warm place for 60 to 90 minutes to give the starter some time for a first rise and then punch it down, roll it back into a ball and pop it into the fridge for the night.

The next day, remove it from the refrigerator to warm up for about 4 hours before you want to make your pizzas. When it's time to start preheating the oven or grill, be sure to have a pizza stone inside so that it slowly heats up with the oven to the hottest temperature possible. If you add a pizza stone directly into a hot oven it's likely to break from the temperature changing too rapidly.

If you are planning to bake the pizza crust directly on a pizza pan, do not warm the pan first. Roll out the crust and lay it on the room temperature pizza pan then place it into the hot oven to bake. You cannot bake the crust on a pan on the grill. You will need to use a stone as shown below.

About 1 hour before cooking time, on a floured bread board, separate the dough into as many dough balls as you would like to make pizzas, place them on a sheet pan that has been sprayed with oil and let them rise covered lightly with oil sprayed plastic wrap.

When you're ready to grill, Place 2 bricks on the grill and a pizza stone on top of them. Start heating your grill or oven to its highest temperature possible. Let it heat for at least 30 minutes.

Once the oven or grill is heating up you can begin rolling out the pizza crusts. I'm crazy about the way this 2 day dough handles. It rolls out very well and I'm sure if I had the confidence I could toss it.

Place some cornmeal on a pizza peel then on a floured surface, roll out your pizza crust using plenty of flour. The pizza dough will be much less sticky now than it was the day before but you will still need plenty of flour.

Carefully pick up the pizza crust or roll it over the rolling pin like a pie crust and place it on the pizza peel.

Quickly open the BBQ grill or Oven and slide the plain pizza crust onto the hot pizza stone and close the oven. Check the crust in 3-5 minutes. It should be about 1/2 cooked with large pockets of air forming inside the crust. These bubbles will partially deflate after removing the crust from the hot oven or grill.

Remove the crust from the grill or oven using tongs and the peel, top the pizza as desired then return it to the grill or oven to finish baking. This should take 3-12 minutes depending on your toppings and the temperature of your oven or grill.

The most important thing is to have your oven or grill heated to at least 500 degrees which is tops for most ovens. Many newer grills will get you up 700 degrees and that's ideal for backyard pizza grilling. When I use my oven I like to line both the top rack and the bottom rack with a pizza stone and heat the oven for 45 minutes or more to be sure I've got the whole unit as hot as possible.

We made these pizzas for Memorial Day Weekend and had some great family fun with them. I hope you'll give this recipe a try. It's really the best textured homemade sourdough pizza crust I've had. The cold pizza the next day was great too!

Cheers!

~Melisa

Best Sourdough Pizza Crust

By Melisa Smith

Ingredients

3 cups All Purpose Flour

1 cup thin starter fed the day before

3/4 cup warm whey or water

1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar

2 tsp salt

Method

(The day before grilling)

Mix dry ingredients

Add starter, begin mixing

Slowly add up to 3/4 cups water or whey until the dough pulls away from the edges of the mixing bowl.

Continue mixing for about 5 minutes.

The dough should be somewhat sticky at this point.

Scrape the dough out onto a bread board with plenty of flour then with floured hands, knead the dough 4-5 times and form it into a ball.

Place the ball into a large bowl with 3-4 Tablespoons of Olive oil, roll the ball to cover it with oil then cover the bowl with a towel or plastic wrap. Let the dough rise for an hour or two until almost doubled then punch it down, reform it into a ball, put it back in the oiled bowl and put it in the refrigerator overnight.

To grill or bake the pizzas

About 4 hours before cooking the pizza, remove the dough from the fridge to take the chill off.

About 1 hour before cooking time, on a floured bread board, separate the dough into as many dough balls as you would like to make pizzas and place them on a sheet pan that has been sprayed with oil and let them rise covered lightly with oil sprayed plastic wrap.

To Grill the Pizza

When you're ready to grill, Place 2 bricks on the grill and a pizza stone on top of them. Start heating your grill to its highest temperature possible. Let it heat for at least 30 minutes.

To Bake the Pizza

Put a pizza stone into the oven on the center rack and start preheating the oven to 500 degrees. Be sure to place the stone inside before preheating the oven.

Continue with the instructions below for both methods of cooking

Place some cornmeal on a pizza peel then on a floured surface, roll out your pizza crust. Carefully pick it up or roll it over a rolling pin and place it on the pizza peel.

Quickly open the BBQ grill or Oven and slide the plain pizza crust onto the hot pizza stone and close the lid. Check the pizza in 3-5 minutes. It should be about 1/2 cooked with large pockets of air forming inside the crust. These will deflate some after removal from the hot oven or grill.

Remove the pizza from the grill or oven using tongs and the peel, top the pizza as desired then return it to the grill or oven to finish baking. This should take 3-12 minutes depending on your toppings and the temperature of your oven or grill.