Sourdough Focaccia Pizza
Otherwise known as “pizza al taglio,” this foccacia-base pizza is SO GOOD. Picture a bubbly, puffy focaccia spread out a little thinner than usual in a rectangular sheet pan, topped with sauce, cheese, or whatever you have on hand. It is incredibly forgiving, easy to work with, freaking delicious and SO filling. Hope you enjoy this as much as I do!
For this dough, you’ll want to bulk ferment it for about 3-4 hours on the first day. So as long as your starter is ready in the afternoon or even early evening, you’re good to go. Throw it into the fridge overnight, and then let it have a few hours at room temperature the next day before you plan to make the pizza. This recipe makes 1 large rectangle pizza, so double up if you want 2!
Ingredients (Total)
300g AP flour
100g whole wheat
12g salt (~3%)
320g water (80%)
80g starter (20%)
Pizza sauce
Mozzarella
Other toppings!
Instructions
In a large bowl, whisk the flours and salt to combine. Measure the water in a separate bowl, and then add starter. Whisk until you have a milky/frothy substance.
Pour the starter/water into the flour/salt bowl and mix the dough until there are no dry bits. Cover and let rest at room temperature (75F) for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes have passed, perform a round of stretch and folds. Cover, let rest again.
Repeat step 3 a few more times and then let the dough sit for the remainder of the bulk fermentation (total 4 hours from the time you mixed the dough).
Instructions continue below.
5. Move the bowl of dough into the fridge and let it hang out there overnight. Two to three hours before you plan to make the pizza, remove the dough from the fridge (pictured above). Let it sit (covered) at 75F for 1 hour.
6. While the dough is warming up, line a rectangular sheet pan with parchment paper and drizzle it with olive oil (pictured below).
7. Transfer the dough from the bowl to the prepared baking sheet. Put a little olive oil on your hands and then gently press and stretch the dough to spread it out across the baking sheet. Cover with some plastic wrap or put it into a proofing bag and let the dough rest again at 75F for about 1-2 hours (this is a forgiving dough, so don’t worry too much about the timings).
8. Pre-heat the oven to 425F and prepare to top your pizza. **Note - some people prefer to pre-bake the dough for 10 minutes without toppings on so that the top layer isn’t too wet/gummy. I have NOT been pre-baking mine, and they have come out fine even with a little bit of mush between the dough and sauce layers.
9. Bake for 25 minutes at 425F and then reduce the oven temperature to 375F. Bake for another 15-20 minutes. If you have cheese on top that appears to be burning or getting too dark, you can tent some oiled aluminum foil over it (the oil will prevent it from sticking to the melty cheese).
10. Remove from the oven and let the pizza cool in the pan for 10 minutes before sliding it out and onto a cooling rack. When it’s cool enough to touch/handle, move it to a cutting board and slice (or cut using scissors as my grandma would have done!). Enjoy :)
I would love to see your creations! Tag @nokneadtoworry on Instagram if you make this delicious pizza.
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My Sourdough Method
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