Home Oven Sourdough Pizza
This recipe is for people who want to make NY style pizza in a home oven. For best results, a baking steel or stone is recommended to cook the pizza on, but if you don't have one don't worry, a pan will do. While the recipe seems long and involved, much of the time is idle time, waiting for things to happen. The actual work involved can easily be incorporated into a busy day.
Levain
| Ingredient | Weight |
|---|---|
| Flour | 47 g |
| Water | 47 g |
| Active Starter | 19 g |
Dough
| Ingredient | Bakers % | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 100% | 471 g |
| Water | 63% | 297 g |
| Levain | 20% | 94 g |
| Salt | 2% | 9 g |
| Diastatic Malt Powder or Honey | 2% | 9 g |
| Oil | 2% | 9 g |
Useful (but not necessary) Tools
- Baking Steel or Baking Stone
- Stand Mixer
- Bowl Scraper
- Bench Scraper
- Scale (this is pretty necessary)
Ingredient Considerations
Flour
Ideally you want to use a strong, high-protein flour for making NY style pizza. For many home cooks the easiest to find option is King Arthur Bread flour. Most NY style pizza shops use a commercial flour like General Mills All Trumps. If you have access to it, by all means use it, but make sure to buy the version without potassium bromate as it is classified as possibly carcinogenic to humans. I prefer organic flours from Central Milling such as High Mountain. Other good options include King Arthur Sir Lancelot and Pendleton Power flour.
Water
While it is by no means necessary, I like to use dechlorinated water. If you live in a place that treats water with chlorine, simply letting it off-gas in an open container overnight will eliminate most of the chlorine. Filtration and boiling will also eliminate chlorine more rapidly. If your local water is treated with Chloramine, the aforementioned methods will not work, but it can be removed with Campden Tablets (potassium metabisulfite). Use caution when handling potassium metabisulfite and ensure that it is dosed properly. If you don't want to go through the hassle of dechlorinating your water, tap water works perfectly fine.
Malt Powder
If using diastatic malt powder, it is worth noting its degrees Lintner. Most are around 60 degrees but some are >200 degrees. This is a measure of the enzymatic activity of the malt powder, and if too high can lead to faster fermentations and other problems with the crumb of the pizza. This recipe is formulated for 60 degrees Lintner malt powder.
Oil
You can use Olive Oil or a flavor neutral oil such as Corn Oil depending on your taste preference.
Salt
Any non-iodized salt should work fine, no need to get too fancy.
Schedule
Below is a mock schedule for making the dough, feel free to adjust it to your own schedule. Feel free to play around with times and temperatures to better suit it to your own needs.Day 1
9:00 am
Begin by mixing the ingredients together for the levain. Mix until there are no dry spots and everything is well incorporated. Cover and place in a warm spot, such as an oven with the light on or on top of your fridge, until doubled in volume and bubbly, 4-8 hours.
5:00 pm
Combine the flour, malt powder, oil, water, and levain in the bowl of a stand mixer. If you do not have a stand mixer, mixing by hand works great as well. Mix on low speed until there are no dry spots and a shaggy dough is formed, 1-2 minutes. Cover with a damp towel and let rest in a warm place for 20 minutes.
5:20 pm
Add salt to dough and mix on low speed for 1 minute and medium speed for 4-6 minutes until dough is smooth. If kneading by hand, knead for at least 10 minutes. Form dough into a rough ball, scrape down the bowl, cover with a damp towel, and allow to bulk ferment in a warm spot for 4 hours.
9:20 pm
Scrape dough out of the bowl and weigh it. Divide dough into 4 equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball by folding all four corners into the center, then fold any remaining dough into the center. Pinch to seal, flip over so the seam is on the bottom and round the dough out on the counter. Place balls into an oiled tray and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 19 hours or up to 2 days.
Day 2
5:00 pm
Preheat oven to its highest setting, preferably 500 degrees or more. If you have a baking steel or stone, preheat it for at least 45 minutes. While you will get fine results using a pan, a baking steel will help with browning and achieving a crispier crust.
6:00 pm
Dust a pizza peel with fine Semolina or flour. Dust your counter generously with flour. Remove a dough ball directly from the fridge and place into the flour on the counter. Shape the ball into a pizza using a technique like this. Move the stretched dough onto the peel.
Top the dough with sauce, cheese, and toppings and slide it into the oven onto your baking steel or stone. Bake for ~10 minutes, or until cheese has browned and crust is browned and bubbly.