1 Mason jar Or similar container for the sour dough
Ingredients
9ouncesflourcan be whole wheat, but depending on what other sourdoughs you might want later, you can use different flours.
9ounceswaterfiltered or bottled preferable.
1 ½cupswhole red wheat flour
1teaspoonsalt
2tablespoonsolive oil
Instructions
Making a Sourdough 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), filtered or bottled water are better.
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 and stir.Cover and store again at room temperature.
Repeat again tomorrow.After 3 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 days, however further feedings will result in a bigger starter – you may need to move to a bigger jar.
Once the starter is fermenting well, you can make your Levain.
Making the Levain (Pizza Dough) - 48 Hours
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.After You now have a starter weighing about 10 ounces.
Place your starter in your stand mixer.
Add 1 teaspoon of salt to the mixer.
Add 1.5 cups of whole red wheat flour to the bowl and mix on your stand mixer's lowest setting.
After all the ingredients are incorporated, let it rest for at least 20 minutes but preferably up to 1 hour.
Cooking the Pizza
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Lightly oil your pizza pan to help avoid sticking.
After the dough has rested, lightly oil your hands and press the dough into a circular shape onto a pizza pan.
Top with your favorite toppings.
Bake for 20 minutes or until the crust is firm and brown.
Notes
(Note that the nutrition facts relate to one dough ball only - no toppings).