Friday night Sourdough Pizza

I was trying to get creative and use as much starter as I could before leaveing for Massachusetts so I ad libbed a crust recipe that my wife gave two thumbs up. The eveidence has long since dissapeared but the recipe will make a return by New Year's Eve

100g starter (100% hydration)

130g water (lukewarm)

200g AP flour

1 tsp salt

1TBS olive oil + 1 TBS olive oil

This is crude but it worked the first time out and I'm convinced others can repeat this.

Mix the starter with the water in a small bowl. In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt, blend in starter mix, add oil, and stir. Cover and rest at room temp-70F- for 30 minutes. Knead and place the dough in an oiled bowl. Cover and bulk ferment for 2 1/2 hours with two quick stretch and folds. I turned out the dough and shaped it for a piece of parchment paper that fit on my sheet pan to load onto a rectangular stone. I covered the dough and let it rest for about 45 minutes. The oven and stone were preheated to 450F. Using a tip from the America's Test Kitchen Family baking book I brushed the edge of the dough with olive oil and sprinkled the rest with grated parmesan cheese.

I baked the crust for about 6 minutes and took it out to dress it with onions, green peppers, mushrooms, Italian sausage, and mozzarella. Then I loaded the pie on the the paper onto the stone, baked for 10 minutes, removed the parchment paper after turning the pie around and baked for another 6 minutes. I took the finished pizza out and let it cool for about 5 minutes. The crust really worked. The edges were golden and the bottom was browned nicely. Not shabby at all for something I started at 145PM and served at around 7PM. Remember the parmesan I sprinkled on the crust before the start? The sauce stuck to the parm and the ingredients stayed inplace, not sliding at all when we sliced or bit into the slices.

OK, so that's not perfect technique wise but I won't argue with my results. I think that just about everybody can read this, follow the instructions, and have a good time and good pizza as long as they have skills to bake a loaf of bread. After nine months of searching for a recipe and the method to make a good pizza, I feel that I can go to work on making this even better.

Well seasoned and floured holiday wishes from the west bank of the Missouri River. PG