Hey, did you give my high altitude sourdough bread recipe a try awhile back? Did you jump in with both feet and make your own starter? Yay, you! And does it break your heart a tiny bit to discard half your starter every time you feed it? Me, too. Luckily, there are lots of yummy things you can transform the discard into. At the top of my list? High Altitude Sourdough Pizza.
High Altitude Sourdough Pizza is different from plain pizza dough in a couple of ways. First, obviously the flavor, with its distinctive tang. I also find it’s a bit chewier (which I love) than the regular variety.
The level of sourness in your dough will depend greatly on the last feeding of your starter. In other words, if you haven’t fed your starter recently and it maybe has some liquid floating on the top, it’s apt to be significantly more sour than a recently fed starter. My starter is about six months old and hadn’t been fed in a while (I keep it in the fridge), so it was quite sour.
(If my sourdough looks a bit grainy here, it’s because I’ve been feeding it with rye flour, which I’m finding gives it a super-yummy flavor.)
The starter’s activity affects the rise, as well. If your starter hasn’t been fed recently (like, in the past day or two), you may want to consider adding a little dry yeast. Using commercial yeast will ‘boost’ the wild yeast in your starter and give the rise a little more oomph.
This is a great dough if you’re in a hurry, because it doesn’t require long or multiple rises to develop flavor – the sourdough starter has already done the heavy lifting for you. It comes together quickly, and the kneading can be done in a mixer with a dough hook, as shown above, or by hand within 15 minutes. It takes between 2 and 4 hours to rise.
Since sourdough is such a special flavor, I wanted to let it shine, so I used more delicate toppings than I usually would. I sautéed some minced garlic in a little olive oil and drizzled that on the crust, then topped it with some shaved gruyere cheese, sliced crimini mushrooms, slivers of red onion, fresh arugula, and a drizzle of balsamic reduction. Winner! Although the cheese-and-red-sauce version my son demanded was equally as delicious.
The King Arthur Flour recipe advises pre-baking the crust, but I made my pie just as I would with any dough (load the toppings on raw dough, throw it in a super-hot oven), and it came out beautifully.
My favorite thing about this recipe is that if you’re craving the flavor of sourdough but aren’t up for the multi-day commitment of making bread, this is a way have it in the same day. Yay for instant gratification.
Buon appetito!
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High Altitude Sourdough Pizza
- Prep Time: 10 mins (plus rise time)
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 20 mins (plus rise time)
- Yield: one large or two small pizzas 1x
Description
Homemade pizza with the distinctive tang of sourdough is a rare treat – now available at high altitude!
Ingredients
1 cup unfed sourdough starter
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp active dry yeast (optional; if your starter has not been fed in the past 48 hours, this may help boost the rise)
1/2 cup warm water
Instructions
If your sourdough starter has any liquid floating on top, stir it in, then measure out one cup. Pour that into the bowl of a stand mixer or medium mixing bowl, then add the flour, salt, yeast (if using), and warm water. Mix until combined. If there is lots of dry flour remaining, add more warm water, a tablespoon at a time, until the flour is hydrated and the dough comes together in a rough ball.
Using the dough hook attachment on the mixer, knead the dough for 5-7 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Or knead by hand (work on an oiled surface and knead for 10-15 minutes).
Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic, and allow to rise in a warm spot for 2-4 hours, until roughly doubled (the time will depend on the age of your starter and whether you used a dry yeast booster). For two smaller pizzas, divide the dough in half; for one larger pizza leave as it.
At this point the dough can be frozen for future use, if desired – just double-wrap tightly in plastic. If you’re making your pizza immediately, preheat oven to 525 degrees or as high as it will go. Place a pizza stone or pan in the oven to heat up.
Set the dough ball(s) on pieces of parchment large enough to hold the finished pie. Cover with a damp towel and allow the dough to rest at room temperature for at least 15-30 minutes, then roll out on parchment paper to desired size & thickness. If the dough springs back when rolled, let it rest a little longer.
When you have achieved your desired crust size and thickness, add sauce and toppings.
Using a pizza peel, carefully transfer the pizza – still on the parchment – to the stone or pan. Bake for 8-12 mins, until crust is golden brown and cheese is bubbly.
Carefully remove the pizza on parchment and transfer to a large cutting board. Let rest for 5-10 minutes to let the toppings set. Slice and serve.
Hello! We’re next door to you in Silverthorne, We love the yeast-based dough recipe but this sourdough version is magic. 😋
Thank you for the great recipes!
Anna, thanks so much! It’s my favorite too. So glad it’s working for you.
I love your sourdough bread recipe so much and it is my go-to here in Denver. Can’t wait to try your pizza dough; but with the shortages because of coronavirus I don’t have any yeast to jump-start my older starter. the sourdough pizza dough i usually use suggests a full overnight in the fridge. Any suggestions on where I should give it a little more time to rise to make up for the lack of yeast? Should I do a second knead or just let it rise longer? thank you!!
Hi Kristen, a longer rise will help develop gluten and flavor but you need to have enough yeast in your dough to get air into it. Luckily, sourdough starter contains wild yeast so you should be able to compensate by making sure it’s nice and active. I would feed it the night before – and maybe a couple days before that – and make sure it’s nice and bubbly.
Awesome, thank you! I’ll let ya know how it goes 🙂
Another amazing recipe. I kept the dough in one ball and spread it in my 13 inch skillet pan which created a massive semi-deep dish delight.
Since it was so thick I baked at about 415 for 18-20min then broiled for 2 min to get the cheese and pepperoni a little crisp.
Love the deep-dish approach! I’ll have to give that a try.
Your recipe looks wonderful, and I would love to try it. I live at 7000 feet and bake sourdough with grains and seeds and a potion of whole wheat. I wonder if you have tried whole wheat flour for this recipe?
Thanks much,
I have not. As you probably know, whole grain flour tends to absorb much more water than other varieties so you may need to add more water as you work the dough.
I’m at 8200 feet so a little more water was required. Also, I thought 525 on a pizza stone was too hot. I lowered the temp to 500 and the crust was still too crispy, will lower to 425 the next time.
Just made this last night in Boulder, CO (~5200 ft elevation) and it was awesome! I kneaded mine by hand for about 12 minutes til it was smooth. I initially put it in my warm laundry room, but it was taking a while to rise, so I placed it on top of my small counter top oven (set to 150F) and let it rise for about an hour. It rolled out with ease and cooked up so well! Had a crispy exterior and perfectly chewy interior. Thanks for this! 🙂