Easy Sourdough Margherita Pizza

This easy sourdough Margherita Pizza is the perfect summertime meal! And the fact that it is no-knead is even better! When fresh basil is blooming in the garden and the laughter of children having summer fun fills the air, it’s pizza time. The marriage of these marvelous flavors is what caused my husband to quit despising tomatoes. There is something so extraordinary about olive oil paired with fresh mozzarella and basil.

Things you will need for the easy sourdough Margherita Pizza

pizza stone or cast iron skillet
digital food scale
all-purpose or bread flour, Tipo 00 flour is even better if you can find it!
bubbly, active sourdough starter
filtered water
sea salt
extra virgin olive oil
corn meal
one 28 oz can San Marzano whole tomatoes
plenty of fresh basil
8 oz fresh mozzarella balls
parchment paper
pizza peel or large cookie sheet or cutting board for sliding the pizza onto the baking stone

How to make the crust:

Note : If you can plan ahead of time and make the pizza dough at least a day or two early, it will be tastier and have better digestibility.

If you’ve never worked with sourdough before, you may want to click here to learn more about this highly addicting form of food art.

If you already know all about it, then keep reading because you’re in for a treat and some exceptional pizza!

I’ve been making traditional deep-dish pizza with yeast since I was a teenager. But I wanted to see if I could make a delicious easy recipe to use with my sourdough starter” Greta.” Yes, she has a name! She is over 230 years old from San Francisco, CA. She makes marvelous bread, as long as I feed and cherish her like my own children.

I can’t wait to share my recipe with you, my family went crazy for it. I’m sure you will too!

Making the dough:

To begin, you will need to make sure your starter is nice and bubbly or “fed” as we like to call it in the sourdough world.

I like to use a stand mixer with a dough hook because the dough isn’t super wet and sticky like some recipes out there. You’ll thank me for that later!
Add flour, water, starter, salt, and olive oil to your mixing bowl and mix well on low. Let rest covered in a warm area for 30 min.

Note:
I’ve found that inside my oven with the light on is a great place. Ideally, the temperature should be around 78-82 degrees.

Note:
Take a small portion of your dough, about 30 grams, put in it a small glass jar or drinking glass something that has straight sides so you can measure how much your dough has risen. The French name for this is called an Aliquot Jar.
Place a rubber band around the area where the dough comes to and cover with another rubber band and a small piece of plastic. A ziplock works great here. Keep your little jar in the same warm spot where your big batch is so you can get an accurate reading. Ideally the dough in your aliquot jar should double in size before you put your main batch of dough in the fridge for cold proofing.

Stretch and Fold:

Next, your want to stretch and fold your dough to help the gluten do its THANG!
Basically, you grab a portion of dough, pull it up toward you, stretching it without tearing, then rotate the bowl and do it again. Make two or three passes around the bowl. This should only take about five minutes. Dump it into a 13×9 glass Pyrex dish and cover it with plastic wrap or a wet tea towel and place it in your warm spot again.
From now on we are going to do coil folds. They are super simple and take even less time!

Coil Folds:

After the dough has rested and relaxed from your stretch and fold, you’ll want to perform a coil fold. To do this, you lift the dough gently up from the middle and let the dough fall under itself. Do this on all four sides of the dish two times. Ideally, the dough should start to take on the shape of a log.
Cover and let rest another 45 minutes in your warm spot.

Do two more sets of coil folds and watch your aliquot jar carefully. When your dough is holding a tight log shape and the dough in your jar has doubled in size, you are ready to shape the dough into balls and pop them in the fridge, until it’s time to make pizza. This is great because it can be made ahead of time, up to three days!

Making the pizza crust balls:

Dump dough from the pyrex dish out onto your working surface. Sprinkle lightly with flour and divide into three even pieces. Gently roll one into a tight ball then flip over and tuck all the edges into the center, flip over again and roll around on the counter to create friction and a tighter ball. Dust with flour and put the smooth side down in a Tupperware with a lid. Do this with the other two balls of dough. The pizza dough will be ready to use in an eight hours or up to three days.

Baking the Easy Sourdough Margherita Pizza:

When you’re ready to bake, you want to pull the dough out of the fridge and let it rest for at least an hour, 2-3 would be even better. When the dough has returned to room temperature and begun to rise again, this is your ideal window for making the pizza!

Preheat the oven with a baking stone in the middle or top third section of your oven for at least 30 min. at 550 degrees.

Rolling out the dough:

This part used to be intimidating to me, but I realized if the dough isn’t overly sticky, it’s pretty easy to master.
Dump your puffy little dough ball out onto a lightly floured countertop. Gently spread into a small circle. Add some cornmeal to a piece of parchment paper laying beside your dough, then flip over onto the cornmeal lined parchment paper. This is now the top of your pizza. Gently stretch the dough into a 10-12 inch circle.

Toppings:
Crush canned San Marzano whole tomatoes with your hands or chop them with a knife if you prefer. Spread the chopped tomatoes onto the pizza crust, sprinkle with fresh mozzarella pieces and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. A little dash of dried oregano and sea salt is also delicious.

Next, use a metal pizza peel if you have one (if not you can use the backside of a cookie sheet) to slide your pizza onto the piping hot baking stone.

Bake for 6 min, then turn oven to broil on high for 2-3 more minutes. Watch carefully here, you’re looking for that last bit of lovely charring that makes pizza so delicious!

Having a pizza peel when removing the pizza is so helpful, but the backside of the cookie sheet will work here again. Just wear large protective oven mitts and BE CAREFUL!

While the first pizza is baking, you can be preparing number two, etc…

Top your cooling pizza with freshly chopped basil and enjoy while warm and crispy!