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Namaste Beautiful People,

today I made my favorite to date pizza recipe so I thought I better write it down and share it before I forget about it.

I have been consistently making pizza once a week and then I put it in the fridge and give pieces to my daughter whenever she asks for it.

Today I decided to tweak my usual pizza dough recipe and oh my. I love it.

I added dough autolyze and also I added 10% teff flour to the recipe. Both these tweaks made the pizza very very tender and delicious.

Here is the method and recipe.

First what you will need for one pizza. Double if you need to.

1. 290 grams Bread or all-purpose organic flour. I like King Arthur a lot but most organic white flour works well.
2. Organic Rye or Whole Wheat flour for the starter. I typically use either one of these for my starter. White flour is not ideal for a starter and may weaken it over time. Whole grain tends to have enough nutrients to keep a starter healthy. Rye makes the starter extra ACTIVE.
3. Here is the new addition TEFF FLOUR. Just around 30 grams. Teff is very rich in nutrients so it will be a good addition to your other dishes. It has a strong but very pleasant flavor so keep that in mind. Traditionally used for Injera bread.
4. 2 grams Optional Diastatic Malt – this is the one I use. Malt adds a bit of tenderness and color to the crust. It is purely optional. 6 grams of sea salt.
5. 220 grams of water.
6. 70 grams of Rye starter. I vary the amount of starters I use depending on my plans. If I want very slow fermentation I use 30 grams.

Bakings steel or pizza stone. I use artisan steel.

It has been invaluable for my pizza and baguette making.

METHOD:

Mix the white and teff flour water and malt and cover in a sealed bowl. I have bowls with lids so that I reduce my need for plastic cover. Incorporate the water into the dough fully and let it sit until you are ready to add the starter.

Right as you mix your dough get your starter out of the fridge and either prepare alevaine or feed your starter. I feed my starter. I use rye flour most of the time. Leave them near each on the counter for about 5 hours or as long as it takes for your starter to at least double. Usually my starter triples and I try to catch it on the way up. Once it starts going down you know you have a more sour starter and therefore a more sour pizza end result. While the starter is on the way up it is still very sweet and very active. Less acetic acid.

Once the starter has increased 2-3 times mix it into your dough.

Add the salt. Mix well.

After about 10-20 minutes I mix it even more with the technique called Rubaud method. You can see videos of it on YouTube. sourdough is not very labor intensive. A short 2-3 minutes max mixing is all it needs to develop good gluten strands which in turn provides you with big air pockets.

Sourdough making is very individual and there are at least 1000 different ways to do this exact recipe. I am not exaggerating.

The Rubaud method takes the dough from under and “fluffs it up” so to speak until your dough looks smooth and glossy. Don’t overdo it. After a certain point, the dough will go from smooth to shaggy again. You don’t want that.

For the next 2-4 hours do stretch and fold every 30 mins. I did 3 stretch and fold techniques and in about 3-4 hours my dough had doubled and I placed it in the fridge.

I often do 2-3 days of fermentation. But if my dough doubles I must bake the next day.

Shorter room-temperature fermentation allows for longer fridge fermentation.

While longer room-temperature fermentation requires the next morning bake.

If your dough increases by 30% and it goes in the fridge you can do 2-3 days of fridge fermentation.

Next morning carefully shape your pizza on a greased baking paper or silicon mat and preheat your oven.

I preheat at 550 F or so. Once I put my pizza in I turn it down to 450 or so. Again many variations here. No exact science. Experimentation is key.

I bake the pizza until golden.

Done.

It’s pretty simple and easy yet some details must be observed.