Partially Sourdough Pizza Dough from "Incredible (Partially) Sourdough Pizza Crust". This can also be made into focaccia that I describe in "Crisis-Arverted Focaccia."
This dough is based closely on Peter Reinhart's "Sourdough Pizza Dough" recipe in Artisan Breads Every Day
(Reinhart 69-71). Fair warning: this takes a long time and I had to plan three days in advance. However, I have never had homemade pizza that tastes like this. Here goes:
Sourdough starter:
57g Whole Wheat 100% hydration starter
100g unbleached bread flour (or substitute 50g whole wheat flour, 50g unbleached flour)
69g room-temperature water
Mix the starter together in a bowl. Cover in plastic wrap and let sit for 6-8 hours before using or refrigerating. According to Reinhart, it can last for up to 4 days. I used it the next day. If you refrigerated the starter overnight (like I did), let it sit out for 2 hours before using it in the dough.
Dough:
226g of sourdough starter (all of it)
460g unbleached bread flour (any portion of this can be swapped for fancy grind durum flour-- I suggest about half-- or a portion up to to 200g can be exchanged for semolina)
50g whole wheat flour
340g lukewarm water (pour in 300, use the last 40 to hydrate the dry active yeast)
1 teaspoon dry active yeast
14g salt
1.5 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons olive oil
Mix the flour, water, and starter together in a bowl with a dough whisk. Then add the hydrated dry active yeast, salt, honey, and olive oil. Mix again until well blended. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.
Knead the dough for about three minutes until it begins to feel more like dough than a sticky lumpy mass. Then use the stretch-and-fold technique in the bowl or on an oiled surface: stretch the dough and fold the end closest to you up to meet the top of the dough. Then stretch the top of the dough and fold it back toward you (in half again). Then stretch and fold the left side in so it divides the dough into thirds and stretch and fold the right side in on top of it. Turn the dough over and let sit for 10 minutes and repeat the process. After this second time, repeat the process two more times. The whole process should take 40 minutes. Split the dough into 5-6 equal pieces and place them in sealable plastic baggies. If you want the pizzas to be large, break it into 3-4 and use larger freezer bags. The put the dough in the refrigerator overnight. They can stay there for up to four days.
The next day, take the dough out of the refrigerator 90 minutes before you plan to bake. Spray oil on a cookie sheet. With lightly oiled hands, remove any dough you want to use from the bags and roll each piece into a separate ball. Place on the cookie sheet and lightly cover with plastic wrap.
Prepare any toppings that you plan to use. 30 minutes before baking, heat the oven and baking stone (on the lowest possible rack) to as high as it will go (mine goes to 500 degrees F). Make sure you baking stone is on the bottom-most rack of the oven. This will ensure that your bottom crust is crispy rather than soggy.
Just before you are ready to bake, lightly flour your hands. Use your fingers to make an indentation trough about 2cm from the edge of the dough. When the trough goes all the way around use the length of your fingers to pass the dough back and forth from hand to hand. Turn the dough about 90 degrees as you do this. This will begin to stretch the dough out into the pizzas. Any final stretching to make the dough thin can be achieved by using your knuckles to gently stretch the dough.
Top the pizzas with whatever you want.
On the peel.
With homemade sauce.
With mozzarella and basil
Load the pizza onto the stone in your oven with the pizza peel. The pizza will need to cook for 7-8.5 minutes.Then your pizza is ready to eat
Out of the oven after 8 minutes. Amazing.