Pizza Starters

We’re not talking about appetizers here – we’re talking about elevating your game with pizza starters like poolish, biga, and sourdough. Don’t know what this is all about? Time to find out!

Much like in artisan breads, a starter or preferment is a common way to start both breads and pizzas. Using a starter for your pizza can give it extra depth and complexity of flavor, rich texture, accelerated fermentation (which means faster proofing time), and even some digestive benefits.

Starters combine three of the main ingredients of dough: flour, water, and yeast, but differ in their ratios and therefore consistency.

The Big Three Pizza Starters: Sourdough, Biga, and Poolish

Sourdough Pizza Dough – No Yeast

Pretty much everyone will have heard of (and tried) sourdough bread. What sets it apart from biga and poolish is that sourdough relies on wild yeast and bacteria – meaning no new yeast is added. Sourdough’s sour flavor comes from the production of lactic and other acids.

How to Make Sourdough Pizza Dough

Although you can buy sourdough starters (or perhaps pilfer one from Boudin Bakery, the reputed home of the original San Francisco sourdough), you can also make it at home.

And it almost couldn’t be simpler to make your own sourdough starter!

It’s simply a mix of equal parts flour and water (by weight) placed in a jar and left to ferment. There are already trace amounts of yeast in flour and throughout your kitchen that will naturally begin fermenting the yeast once it is provided water.

Although you can specifically use the flour you plan to use for your pizza (for example type 00, as found in Neapolitan pizza dough, you can certainly use any flour you choose since at the end it will not be a big component of the final dough.

Steps for Making Sourdough Pizza Starter

• Add 1 ounce of water to an 8 ounce mason jar.
  • As tap water can have a lot of chlorine (which will inhibit yeast and bacteria growth), bottled drinking water is ideal. More on that below.
• Add 1 ounce of flour of your choice (type 00 or bread flour are the most common).
• Stir with a butter knife so that you can scrape it on the edge – it will be very sticky!
• Cover with a lid and store at room temperature out of sunlight (cupboard is great).
• 24 hours later, you need to feed the starter. You can either discard half of the starter, or you can split it and feed two starters (makes a nice gift for other bakers!)
  • Split the starter in two. Discard half (or start a second).
  • Add 1 ounces of water
  • Add 1 ounces of flour
  • Stir.
  • Cover and store again at room temperature.
• Repeat again tomorrow.
• After 3-4 fermentations, the starter should be bubbling and doubling in size each day, indicating it is fermenting well.
• Don’t be discouraged if you need to go another couple of extra days before it is fermenting well. It’s worth the wait since you can use this starter many, many times (as long as you nurture it).
• Once the starter is fermenting well, you can either continue to nurture it or you can do your one-time sourdough pizza.

Tip: Water For Pizza

Per King Arthur Baking, the ideal water for bread (and therefore pizza) is of medium hardness and with little or no chlorine. Why? The mineral content of the water affects the activity of the yeast and the production of gluten. The sweet spot is between 100 to 150 parts per million.

Most times, tap water is going to be fine. Conventionally filtered water (like using a Brita or Pur) is a step up because it should remove particulates and should allow the chlorine to dissipate.

However, reverse osmosis filtration will soften your water, so if you already have soft water, using RO filtered water is going to work against you. If your tap water is generally hard, then RO filtered water is going to be a good choice.

Bottled drinking water generally has minerals added for improved taste (such as Dasani) and therefore will also work well. The trace amounts of salt added in most US brands should not affect the fermentation.

Nurturing Your Sourdough Starter

If you are planning to create and keep a sourdough starter for a number of uses and a long period of time, you should repeat these steps every 24 hours for 1 week. The starter will rise and bubble for about 12 hours and then may fall in the second 12 hours, which is normal.

This process of repeatedly feeding the starter will encourage the wild yeasts and bacteria to become fully active in fermenting your starter. And the starter will be something you can use for a long, long time to come. After the first week of nurturing, you can store the starter in the fridge, but you will have to feed it every 1-2 weeks. This requires a bit more commitment, but pays off if you love sourdough.

Sourdough: Pizza Levain

Now that your sourdough starter is active, it’s time to make the Levain. A levain is a pre-fermented dough that adds additional flour and water to your sourdough starter. It’s basically making a bigger starter.

If you are working from a sourdough starter you will continue to nurture, separate out 2 ounces of your sourdough starter into a new, slightly larger container (at least 16 ounces). Add 2 more ounces of water and 2 more ounces of flour. Store at room temperature for 24 hours. Feed this larger starter again in 24 hours. It should be bubbling and growing after each feeding.

One-Time Sourdough

On the other hand, if you’re just making this for one round of pizza making, after the starter has taken off, you can feed it until it is the proper ratio for the final pizza dough recipe. For example, according to the the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN), a Neapolitan pizza can have a starter be between 5% and 20% of the final dough by weight. In which case, you only need 2 ounces of starter for a single 10 ounce pizza dough.

This means you can make a small, single batch of sourdough for your pizza. You should take this approach if you don’t plan to maintain your sourdough starter.

Bonus Topic: Scroll to the bottom for a delicious whole wheat sourdough bread recipe!

Pizza Starters with Yeast

Alternatively, if you have no interest in nurturing and maintaining a sourdough starter, you are probably better off making a starter that uses yeast.

There are basically two options for this: Poolish and Biga.

Poolish for Pizza Dough

Poolish, despite its French-sounding name, traces its roots back to Poland. However, it was later popularized by French bakers and is an essential component in making French bread, particularly the world-renowned Baguette. The term ‘poolish’ is a nod to its Polish origins.

Poolish has a high water content like sourdough (1:1 ratio), resulting in a batter-like consistency. The 100% hydration facilitates quicker fermentation, usually taking around 3-5 hours. This expedited process results in a sweet, nutty flavor and contributes to a lighter, more open crumb structure in the finished bread.

How to Make Poolish Pizza Starters

Ingredients:

• 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 57 grams (1/4 cup) warm water (no higher than 110°F)
• 57 grams (1/2 cup) Type 00-Pizza flour

Procedure:

1. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and let it sit for about 5 minutes, until frothy. This activates the yeast and ensures it’s alive and active.
2. After the yeast is activated, add the flour to the mixture and stir with a butter knife well until all the flour is wet and the mixture forms a thick, sticky batter.
3. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let the poolish ferment at room temperature for at least 3 and up to 24 hours. The longer fermentation period will produce a more complex flavor but keep in mind that the longer fermentation time will affect the workability of the dough.

After the fermentation process, your Poolish starter is ready to be used in your pizza dough recipe.

Biga Pizza Dough

Biga is a bread starter that originated in Italy, predominantly for making Ciabatta and other Italian breads. The word ‘biga’ originated from the Latin term ‘bica,’ which means ‘a mixture for bread.’ The use of biga is noted for its contribution to the bread’s distinct crust and inner texture.

Biga differs from Poolish in its hydration level. Whereas Poolish is 1 part water to 1 part flour, biga has a lower hydration level – usually 50% to 65% (again, by weight). The biga’s lower hydration level results in a thicker, stiffer starter that requires longer fermentation – typically at least 12 hours room temperature, but often as long as two days. This is because the lower water content slows down the fermentation process – which results in the biga developing a complex flavor with a subtle sourness and contribute to a chewier texture in the final product.

If your goal is to make something akin to a sourdough but without going through the process of making an actual sourdough, Biga Pizza Starters are the next best thing.

How to Make Biga Pizza Starters

Ingredients:

• 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 20 grams (1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon) warm water (no higher than 110°F)
• 30 grams (1/4 cup) all-purpose flour

Procedure:

1. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and let it sit for about 5 minutes, until frothy. This activates the yeast and ensures it’s alive and active.
2. After the yeast is activated, add the flour to the mixture and stir with a butter knife well until all the flour is wet and the mixture forms a thick, sticky batter.
3. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let the biga ferment at room temperature for at least 12 and up to 24 hours. Some bakers may let a biga ferment for up to 48 hours. The longer fermentation period will produce a more complex flavor but keep in mind that the longer fermentation time will affect the workability of the dough.

After the fermentation process, your Biga starter is ready to be used in your pizza dough recipe.

How to Use Pizza Starters in Your Pizza Dough

Regardless of which starter you are going to use, it will replace a portion of your flour/water in your pizza dough. While there are recipes of pizzas with starters included, you can still use a starter with any pizza dough recipe.

Whichever recipe you choose to try a pizza starter in, you really no longer need yeast. That being said, you still can add extra if you’re going to make your pizza right away. However, you’ve put this much time into your dough; I’d suggest investing more time to allow the starter to feed on the new flour you’ve added – at least 1 hour, but up to 24 hours won’t hurt.

Starter Ratios in Your Pizza Dough

Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN) Neapolitan dough allows for up to 20% of the dough recipe to be made with a “mother dough”, which really could be any of these (Biga is of course the more traditional choice, being Italian, but Poolish is probably more popular because it is easier to work with and seems to contribute best to the dough’s stretchiness).

You will probably find it easier to work with a lower ratio of starter (like 1 part in 5 or 20%) because it won’t significantly change the flour/water ratio of the overall recipe (but even then you still will likely need to add a bit of extra flour).

You can certainly use higher ratios (as high as 50%, especially if you’re trying to get that sourdough flavor to come through) but you’ll almost certainly be changing the pizza dough’s hydration level – that will likely mean you’re going to add more flour than the recipe calls for.

If you have leftovers of your Poolish or Biga, you can use the remainder to start your next batch of starter, much like a sourdough starter.

In Closing

Using a starter for your pizza can further elevate your pizza crust game. It only takes flour, water, maybe yeast, and time. So give it a try for yourself!

November 25, 2023