Sourdough Roman Pizza with Tangzhong

I thought I was done baking before my trip, but decided to bake a pizza to have tonight and tomorrow night.  These Roman style pizzas are what I’ve been enjoying making lately, The size and thickness of the crust is just right for the two of us to have over two meals.  I’ve been adding a tangzhong to the dough made up of 10% of the total flour, in this case whole spelt at 200% hydration.  The idea being that baking a pizza in a home oven takes a good amount of time and gelatinizing a portion of the flour ahead of the bake will help the dough retain more of its moisture in a good way.

This pizza as tuna, roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, mozzarella,  onions, kalamata and green olives along with pizza sauce.  Although many wouldn’t cook their pizza sauce in advance, I now do cook it.  I use a can of San Marzano tomatoes and blend it down.  Then cook it to reduce the water in it with herbs and wine.  Whatever I don’t use, we’ll drink like a fancy tomato juice!

For 16.5” x 11.5” pan

Overnight levain

Duration: 12 hours (overnight) at warm room temperature: 74°–76°F (23°–24°C).

Tangzhong

In a sauce pan set on medium heat, stir the water and whole spelt flour until blended. Then cook for several minutes until well thickened, stirring regularly with a spoon or heat-resistant spatula. Let cool in the pan or, for faster results, in a new bowl.  Theoretically it should reach 65ºC (149ºF) but I don’t find I need to measure the temperature as the tangzhong gelatinizes at this temperature.  You can prepare this the night before and refrigerate it, ensure that it is covered to prevent it from drying out.

If you plan on using a stand mixer to mix this dough, set up a Bain Marie and use your stand mixer’s bowl to prepare the tangzhong.

In the morning mix the dough when the levain is at peak.  To the bowl of the stand mixer add water, salt, sugar and diastatic malt, stir to dissolve.  Add the tangzhong/Yudane cutting it into small pieces. Then add the levain, stir to dissolve.  Add the tangzhong and break it up into smaller pieces.  Finally add the flours.  Mix on low speed until there is no dry flour then increase to medium and mix until the dough is moderately developed.  Then slowly drizzle in the olive oil stopping until each addition is incorporated.  Finally mix until good gluten development.

Remove the dough from the bowl and do a bench letterfold.  Transfer the bowl to an oiled bowl for bulk fermentation.

Allow the dough to rest until it reaches 40-50% rise.

Optional cold retard.  Place the dough in the fridge until the next early afternoon.  This is done primarily for convenience.

Allow the dough to continue to ferment at a warm temperature 80°F or so until it reaches 100% rise then shape.

Shaping

Oil the baking pan well and brush the bottom and the sides with the olive oil.

Thoroughly flour the top of the dough in the bowl, release it from the sides of the bowl using a bowl scraper then flip it onto the counter.  Flour the exposed dough well with flour and flour the counter around the sides of the dough well.  Using your bowl scraper push some of that flour under the edges of the dough.

Using your hands, get your fingers well under the dough and stretch it out into a rectangle.  Next using your fingers gently press them into the dough to elongate the dough.  Flip the dough over and repeat aiming to get the dough to about 75% of the area of the pan.

Transfer the dough to the oiled pan by folding it in half and unfolding it once in the pan.  Gently stretch the dough out to touch the edges of the pan.  If it resists stretching, wait 15 mins and try again after the gluten has relaxed.

Aim to bake the pizza once the total rise is 150-165%.  About 1 hour prior to baking pre-heat the oven to 500°F placing your baking steel on the lowest rack of the oven.

Bake the pizza.

Drizzle olive oil onto the dough.  Then using a large spoon, spread a thin layer of pizza sauce over the dough from edge to edge.  Slide the baking pan into the oven on top of the baking surface. Decrease the oven temperature to 425°F (220°C) and bake for 10 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and sprinkle on the grated cheese and any other toppings. Lightly drizzle some olive oil over the entire pizza. Slide the sheet pan back into the oven on the baking surface and bake for 20 minutes more. The cheese should be melted and the bottom crust well colored.