Makes 4 individual 8 inch pizza bases
Ingredients
- 120g sourdough starter, fed 8-10 hours beforehand
- 350ml tepid water
- 480g strong white flour
- 40g plain wholemeal flour or spelt flour
- 1 teaspoon (7g) salt
Example timeline for lunchtime pizza
DAY 1
- 8am – Feed the sourdough starter
- 6pm – Make the dough
- 10pm – Knead the dough and put in the fridge (or leave out during winter months)
DAY 2
- 10am – Get the dough out of the fridge, cut into 4 pieces and leave on a board to get to room temperature
- 12.30pm – Make the pizzas
You can leave the dough in the fridge for up to 2 days if you want to make the pizza at a different time of day. You just need to make sure you take it out of the fridge 2.5 hours before you want to start making it (less if it’s a warm day). Alternatively, you can freeze it individual portions.
Method
Making the dough
- Put all the ingredients in a mixer and mix with a dough hook for 5 minutes on slow.
- Leave the dough in the mixing bowl or put it in a fresh bowl if you need to use the mixer for something else. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and leave it in a warm place for approximately 4 hours until it has doubled in size.
- Knead the dough by hand on a floured surface for 2 minutes, or using the mixer with the dough hook for 2 minutes.
- Cover with the tea towel and leave in the fridge overnight.
Baking the pizzas
- 2 to 3 hours before you want to start cooking the pizzas, take the dough out of the fridge, turn it out onto a floured board and cut it into 4 equal pieces.
- Form each piece into a round loaf shape. Place the 4 pieces on a floured board with space in between to allow them to expand. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave in a warm place for at least an hour to get back to room temperature.
- Preheat your oven to 220 degrees C.
- Meanwhile, shape each piece of dough into a circle, approx 8 inches/ 20cm in diameter. As the dough it quite sticky, it’s easier to do this on the baking tray you’ll be using for cooking it.
- Add your toppings.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes.