When you have people over, finding a delicious snack can be a daunting task. It needs to be something that everybody likes, something that’s relatively easy to make, and something that so freakin’ delicious that it’ll knock everybody’s socks off. Well, Foodgeek to the rescue. Here’s my recipe for sourdough pizza bread.
Pizza is one of the most universally beloved foods. Probably because it contains bread and cheese and it can be infinitely varied by changing the toppings. So that of course means that everything that tastes like a pizza, is awesome. That is how this bread came to light.
If you are just here for the recipe, you can press the button underneath to be automagically transported to the recipe:
The dough is inspired by my sourdough pizza recipe. 90% of the flour is bread flour and 10% is coarse semolina flour.
The hydration is low sitting at 65% to make it easier to shape the bread.
The salt content is on the higher side, to make the bread taste stand out among the inclusions. If you are worried about eating too much salt, you can lower this all the way down to 1%.
The inoculation is 20%, which gives us a total fermentation time of around 5½ hours if fermented at 30°C/86°F.
Weight
Ingredient
Baker's Percentage
667g
bread flour
90%
74g
semolina flour
10%
456g
water
61.5%
18g
salt
2.4%
148g
starter (100% hydration)
20%
22g
extra virgin olive oil
3%
15g
diastatic malt powder
2%
The inclusion that I’ve chosen are tomato, grated mozzarella cheese, delicious Italian ham, and baby spinach for some wonderful green taste, but feel free to change them up to your or your family’s liking.
Weight
Ingredient
Baker's Percentage
60g
tomato sauce
8.1%
60g
baby spinach
8.1%
60g
grated mozzarella cheese
8.1%
60g
Italian ham
8.1%
If you want to tinker with this bread’s formula, change hydration, quantity, and inoculation, you can do so here in my Bread Calculator.
The three sauces for the sourdough pizza bread
I decided to make what I call a ‘stoplight of sauces’ to go with the sourdough pizza bread. A green basil pesto, a yellow Caesar sauce, and a red marinara sauce.
The green basil pesto
The pesto is an emulsion of pine nuts, fresh basil, and olive oil. Parmesan cheese is added for creaminess and salt, and garlic for the delicious taste. This sauce can be used for sandwiches, for dressing a salad or a pasta dish, or do it like I’ve intended to: dipping.
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Basil Pesto
Course: Dinner, Lunch
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: basil, basil pesto, dipping sauce, pesto
Course: Dinner, Lunch
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: basil, basil pesto, dipping sauce, pesto
Servings: 6servings
Author: Sune Trudslev
Nutrition Facts
Basil Pesto
Amount Per Serving (1 serving)
Calories 131Calories from Fat 117
% Daily Value*
Fat 13g20%
Saturated Fat 3g19%
Polyunsaturated Fat 3g
Monounsaturated Fat 7g
Sodium 121mg5%
Carbohydrates 1g0%
Protein 3g6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
A wonderful classic basil pesto – great for sandwiches, salad, pasta dishes and just for plain dipping
Ingredients
3handfulsbasil leaves
2clovesgarlic
45gparmesan
30gpine nuts
45mlextra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper
Instructions
Toast the pine nuts on a pan on medium heat until they take a bit of color
30 g pine nuts
Add all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.
3 handfuls basil leaves, 2 cloves garlic, 45 g parmesan, 45 ml extra virgin olive oil
The Caesar sauce is basically the dressing that you use to dress a delicious Caesar salad. This mayo-based dressing turns very yellow when using yellow egg yolks, so make sure you get some farm-fresh or organic eggs.
The emulsion is made from egg yolks and oil, and it’s seasoned with anchovies, Worcestershire sauce (pronounced: wu·stuh or wu·stuh·shr), garlic, salt, and pepper, and to give it that creamy goodness we use a good chunk of parmesan.
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Caesar Sauce
Course: Dinner, Lunch
Cuisine: American, Italian
Keyword: caesar salad, ceasar dressing, dipping sauce
Course: Dinner, Lunch
Cuisine: American, Italian
Keyword: caesar salad, ceasar dressing, dipping sauce
Servings: 6servings
Author: Sune Trudslev
Nutrition Facts
Caesar Sauce
Amount Per Serving (1 serving)
Calories 136Calories from Fat 117
% Daily Value*
Fat 13g20%
Saturated Fat 3g19%
Polyunsaturated Fat 3g
Monounsaturated Fat 7g
Sodium 143mg6%
Carbohydrates 1g0%
Protein 4g8%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
A dipping sauce inspired by the dressing that is used on caesar salads. Wonderfully creamy and cheesy.
Ingredients
Mayo
2egg yolks
4tablespoonneutral oil
Caesar sauce
1anchovy filet
1tspdijon mustard
1tspWorcestershire sauce
2tablespoonlemon juice
2clovesgarlic
45gparmigiano reggiano
salt
pepper
Instructions
Make mayo
Add the 2 egg yolks to a mini chopper.
While processing add 4 tablespoons of neutral oil
2 egg yolks, 4 tablespoon neutral oil
Make caesar sauce
Add everything else to the mini chopper processor and process until smooth.
Marinara sauce is a cooked tomato sauce. It’s wonderful as a base for a variety of Italian dishes, but it’s so good that you can just eat it right out of the bowl, but I think you should use it for dipping this sourdough pizza bread in. It’s worth it.
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Marinara sauce
Course: Dinner, Lunch
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: dipping sauce, marinara sauce, sauce
Course: Dinner, Lunch
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: dipping sauce, marinara sauce, sauce
Servings: 8servings
Author: Sune Trudslev
Nutrition Facts
Marinara sauce
Amount Per Serving (1 serving)
Calories 81Calories from Fat 54
% Daily Value*
Fat 6g9%
Saturated Fat 1g6%
Polyunsaturated Fat 1g
Monounsaturated Fat 5g
Sodium 78mg3%
Carbohydrates 6g2%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 3g3%
Protein 1g2%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Marinara sauce can be used as a base for many Italian dishes or just a fantastic dipping sauce.
Ingredients
1onionchopped finely
4clovesgarliccrushed
70gramstomato purée
1canchopped tomatoes400g/14 oz
2tablespoonbalsamic vinegar
1tsptable sugar
½dlextra virgin olive oil
1handfulfresh basil
chili flakes
salt
pepper
Instructions
In a medium saucepan, heat a swig of olive oil.
Sweat the garlic and onions until translucent. About 3-4 minutes.
4 cloves garlic, 1 onion
Add the tomato purée and chopped tomatoes and stir.
Add the remaining ingredients and let simmer for at least 30 minutes.
To a medium bowl add: 667g bread flour, 74g semolina flour, 15g diastatic malt powder and 18g salt.
557 g bread flour, 74 g semolina flour, 15 g diastatic malt powder, 18 g salt
Mix everything until it’s completely combined.
Then add: 148g sourdough starter, fed and grown to its peak, and 456g water.
148 g sourdough starter, 456 g water
Mix the dough until you've hydrated all of the flour. Because the hydration is relatively low, you may have to knead it.
Put the dough back in the bowl. Pour 22g extra virgin olive oil over top. Cover it and leave it to rest for an hour to develop the gluten.
22 g extra virgin olive oil
Bulk fermentation
Perform a set of stretch and folds every 30 minutes.
Prepare the inclusions
Put a whole can of tomatoes in a mini chopper. I used a 400g can, about 14 ounces, but you'll need less. If you make the marinara sauce, you can take 60 grams from that.
Season with salt. Process it until it’s smooth. Put in a small bowl until you need it.
Put a bit of oil in a pan and heat it to medium heat. Add a bunch of baby spinach and put a lid on top. Stir once in a while.
When they’re wilted but still lush looking, season with some salt and add to a bowl until you need them.
Take two delicious boiled Italian ham pieces, also known as Prosciutto Cotto. First, cut them into thin strips. Then make those strips smaller by cutting the other way. Add to a small bowl until you need them.
Bulk fermentation, cont'd
After the third set of stretch and folds, perform a windowpane test to check the gluten development.
If the dough tears, put the dough away for 30 minutes, then do another set of stretch and folds.
Then add the dough to a medium Cambro container or similar. Level the top of the dough with a wet hand.
Mark where the top of the dough is and mark where the dough will have grown 25%.
Cover the dough and put it somewhere warm. I have my Brod & Taylor proofer set to 30°C/86°F.
Divide & pre-shape
When the dough has grown 25%, divide it into two equally sized pieces.
Then pre-shape the two doughs into a loose ball each. Let the dough rest uncovered on the kitchen counter for 20 minutes.
Final shaping
Be sure to flour the dough, so it doesn’t stick to the table and your rolling pin. Use the pan as a guide to how wide the dough should be.
Roll out a dough ball to be as wide as your pan and about 3-4 times longer. Tug on the corners to make the dough into a rectangle.
Add a thin layer of tomato sauce to the dough. Be sure to leave a border, so it doesn’t run out during baking.
60 gram tomato sauce
Add a layer of grated mozzarella cheese. Spread out some wilted baby spinach, and then add some ham.
60 gram wilted baby spinach, 60 gram mozzarella cheese, 2 slices Italian ham
Then roll up the dough, don’t make it too tight. Seal both ends so that stuff won't run out during baking.
Spray the bread pan with non-stick baking spray and add the rolled dough.
Shape the other bread the same way.
Put the pans into zip-lock bags and put them in the fridge. For at least 8 hours, but up to 48 hours.
Bake the bread
Boil a kettle of water. Take the pans from the fridge and remove them from the zip-lock bags.
Add the pans to the oven. Pour the kettle of water into the pan.
Close the oven door and bake for 20 minutes. When the 20 minutes are up, remove the steaming pan.
Turn down the heat to 230°C/450°F.
If the bread is getting to be a bit dark on the top, you can cover with aluminum foil. Then bake for another 25 minutes.
When the bread is done, grab the pans from the oven.
Put them on a wire rack to cool a bit. After 10 minutes, remove them from the pans.
