a gluten-forward food diary

Tag: italian

cast iron sourdough discard pizza

cast iron sourdough discard pizza

my earliest meaningful memory of pizza is of waiting in line with my mother at papa murphy’s take and bake, bogo coupon in hand, ordering two supreme pizzas. then, there was the costco food stand. our family of 4 would pile into the car, do our shopping, walk out with the largest supreme pizza available, and eat the leftovers over the next few days.

if there’s one thing my mother believed in, it was value. getting anything short of whatever gave you the most amount of toppings was unthinkable. and thus, i was raised on a string of supreme pizzas.

then, the singular experience at 17 that redefined pizza for me: a classic margherita from punch pizza.

for one, it was a topping-less pizza. i remember it coming out, the bare cheese staring back at me, bits of tomato sauce peeking through, naked, like it forgot to put its clothes on.

second, we each got our own individual pizza, as if one entire pizza was an acceptable serving size my parents conveniently forgot to mention to me, a young susceptible mind and a very hungry almost adult.

but most importantly, it was nothing like i had tasted before. the thin base, the wood fired flavor, the satisfying chew of the crust. it was hard for me to believe that we lived in a world where the pizza i knew and loved could coexist with this new pizza i didn’t know and quickly became infatuated with.

i’ve had way more pizza memories than i’d like to admit over this past decade of pizza discovery and re-discovery. pizza seems to hold the constant of re-inventing itself for me just as i keep re-inventing myself.

my newest favorite way to eat pizza is to make a big batch of dough, invite a small group of friends over, and make a couple of pizzas together while we catch up. it’s as collaborative as it is creative, as easy as it is fast, as humble as it is impressive.

i hope these will soon become your favorite pizza memories too.

notes

i have a stiff starter that’s 80% hydration. please adjust amount of water in final dough to account for your starter’s hydration.

we might not get to gather in groups again for a while, but luckily this dough keeps well for a few days in the fridge. in fact, this dough needs a long cold proof. you’ll find it becomes easier to work with and the flavors become more complex the longer it’s been in the fridge. it bakes up quick enough to make for a reasonably achievable weekday work from home lunch.

pizza like this does its best baking at very high temps. unfortunately most home ovens don’t go as high as commercial ones. just crank it to as high as it will go, and make sure your oven is clean. i may or may not have set off my smoke detector at least 5 times over the course of 3 bakes.

this recipe makes enough dough for 3 – 12″ skillet-sized pizzas or 4 – 9″ skill-sized pizzas. scale up or down as needed. i can pretty easily eat an entire one of these.

this recipe is just for the crust. some toppings inspiration:

  • du’s: mozz, caramelized onions, roasted garlic, spinach. to prevent burnt ends, put the caramelized onions on post bake or hide beneath spinach. drizzle with honey & chili flakes right before serving.
  • margherita: tomato sauce & mozz. put basil on right before serving.
  • tie dye: ricotta & mozz, tomato sauce & pesto
  • shakshuka: tomato sauce, egg, mozz, feta. top with pepper and arugula post bake
two slices of sourdough discard pizza from the side

baker’s percentage & basic timetable

the percentages for water and flour only account for the final dough build, and do not include the levain formula build.

ingredientbaker’s percentage
all purpose flour100%
water70%
unfed levain (discard)20%
steptime
autolyse30 – 60 min
bulk rise9 hours
folds2 folds
cold proof12 – 72 hours
bake15 – 20 min
top left corner of sourdough discard pizza in cast iron skillet

sourdough discard pizza

adapted from ken forkish's recipe, this versatile pizza dough is made from sourdough discard and baked in a cast iron skillet pan.

formula

dough formula
  • 400 g king arthur all purpose flour
  • 280 g water @ 90-95°F
  • 80 g sourdough starter discard
  • 10 g sea salt
toppings
  • anything you want on a pizza!

method

8 am: autolyse
  • in a medium to large bowl, mix all flours together. slowly add the water, mixing with a rubber spatula, making sure to incorporate the water into the flour well, stopping when all the flour is hydrated. let sit, covered, for 30-60 minutes.
  • 8:45 am: mix
  • sprinkle salt evenly over autolysed dough. incorporate gently by folding dough over a 2-3 times.
  • then, measure out discard starter (room temp or from fridge), and add to bowl. mix, alternating with pincer method and stretch and fold, until well incorporated, for about 6 minutes.
9 am: bulk fermentation
  • this dough needs a bulk rise of about 8-9 hours, until the dough is doubled and gaseous, with 2 stretch and folds in the first 2 hours spaced about 30-45 min apart.
  • after your last fold, lightly coat dough with olive oil to prevent sticking.
5:30 pm: divide & shape
  • generously sprinkle flour onto a table and your hands. gently turn your dough out onto your working surface into a somewhat even shape.
  • using a bench knife, divide dough into equal sections of about 250 g each for a 3 pizzas in a 12" skillet, or about 200 g each for 4 pizzas in a 9".
  • shape into tight dough balls using stretch and fold method. flip over onto its seam and drag ever so slightly on an unfloured surface to seal. repeat with each dough round.
5:45 pm: proof
  • place the dough balls on a lightly floured baking sheet or container, allowing for some room to expand. lightly oil the tops, then cover. i use aluminum foil (its recyclable in nyc!) for a baking sheet or just a tupperware cover.
  • leave in fridge overnight or for at least 8 hours, up to 3 days.
[next day] 6 pm: preheat
  • preheat oven to 525°F or as high as it will go. put cast iron skillet inside oven and heat for 30 min. if you have a finicky smoke detector like i do, watch out.
  • it usually takes a full 30 minutes for my ancient brooklyn oven to pre-heat so i usually just leave my skillet in for an hour.
7 pm: stretch
  • remove dough from fridge.
  • on a generously floured surface, stretch your dough. gently punch down the center, leaving a thin rim (about ½" – 1") for the crust. flip over and repeat.
  • i also like to pick up the round, letting the dough dangle vertically, and gently rotate, letting gravity help me stretch and create the final shape.
  • continue doing these two steps until you get your desired thin-ness. you want it thin, without holes. no worries if holes do appear though — you can just patch 'em.
7:10 pm: top
  • have all your pizza toppings ready to go next to your stove.
  • remove the now piping hot cast iron skillet from oven, and place on a stove burner at high heat.
  • carefully, with very floured hands, transfer your pizza crust onto the cast iron skillet. gently stretch if needed, but i find that to be very difficult at this stage.
  • working quickly, top your pizza.
  • at its simplest: spoon some tomato sauce and arrange some mozz slices. drizzle olive oil and lightly sprinkle sea salt over the top.
7:15 pm: bake
  • place skillet back into oven for about 15 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly and crust turns golden brown. check after 12 minutes and keep an eye on it to prevent burning.
7:30 pm: enjoy
  • let cool for a minute or two before transferring to a cutting board. slice and serve immediately with your favorite italian wine (chianti classico perhaps?).
  • eat a slice with people you love even more than you love pizza.
pandemic focaccia

pandemic focaccia

i’ve been making a lot of focaccia recently. it seems like the entire world is stress baking along with me as a result of coronavirus.

my covid-19 experience thus far has been rocky: i’ve been away from my home and home kitchen this past month as part of a residency program in a different part of brooklyn. i definitely wasn’t expecting to face a once-in-a-lifetime, once-in-a-century global pandemic in not-my-home with not-my-family in the now-global-epicenter, but hey, here we are, and this too, shall pass.

as a result of the unfamiliarity, i’ve been revisiting old recipes that bring me comfort, like this sourdough discard focaccia. i’ve made this specific flavor combination four times this past week and plan to make it many more times this week to pull me through what i can only describe as shared global grief and trauma. i’ve loaded this focaccia with so many of my favorite things: heavy with ricotta, so much so that it tastes quite like a white pizza, generously topped with caramelized onions.

it feels almost luxurious to be able to eat this during a time of crisis, especially when i consider the additional luxury i have to be able to work from home. i keep telling myself that it’s ok to enjoy and appreciate and be grateful for the tiny beautiful things.

so bake this and share it with your loved ones. feed this to those you live with. tell them they mean something to you. don’t hold back on the cheese. don’t hold back on the drizzle. don’t hold anything back at all.

wishing all of you and your communities lots of love, connection, safety, health — and a lot, a lot of bread.

notes

the dough used in this recipe is the exact same formula as my sourdough discard focaccia, but i’ve simplified it a bit. my original recipe uses einkorn flour, but i’ve found i can really use any non-white flour in its stead (though einkorn flour still produces my favorite texture).

i’ve also just defaulted the hydration to 80% and a 12 hour bulk time, given that i’ve found higher hydration and a long bulk time yield a jigglier dough and better structured crumb.

i often double this recipe and make two batches at once. increase the bake time slightly if you’re going to be baking multiple pans or a larger focaccia. the shape of the pan won’t matter too much, but the size does. i usually like to use a pan that is just slightly bigger than my stretched out focaccia.

pandemic focaccia

a sweet, savory, spicy and luxurious focaccia to weather a once in a lifetime global pandemic. or just to eat casually on a monday night to treat yoself.

formula

dough formula
  • 180 g king arthur all purpose flour
  • 60 g king arthur bread flour
  • 60 g any low protein flour, like whole wheat
  • 240 g water, 90-95°F
  • 7 g sea salt
  • 60 g discard starter
to top, pre-bake
  • 230 g ricotta
  • 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
  • 4 g coarse salt
  • 9 g extra virgin olive oil
to top, post-bake
  • 1/2 large onion, caramelized (more if desired)
  • 1 tbsp red pepper chili flakes
  • 1 tbsp raw honey

method

9 pm: make dough
10 pm: bulk fermentation
  • this dough needs an overnight bulk rise of about 12 hours.
[next morning] 9:20 am: prepare the onions
  • julienne the onions. add 1-2 tbsp of butter to a skillet on low to medium heat. add onions and cook low and slow for 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally until onions turn transluscent and then turn a caramel color.
9:30 am: preheat
  • preheat oven to 500°F. this takes a while for my oven so i usually do it 30-45 minutes before i plan to bake. at this point the dough should be jiggly and bubbly!
10 am: shape
  • generously oil the bottom of a 9×13 metal pan. turn the dough out carefully onto the greased pan.
  • using your fingers or knuckles, gently stretch the dough to the shape of the pan, until about 1/2 to 1 inch thick, dimpling the dough in the process.
  • let rest about 5-10 minutes
10:10 am: top, pre-bake
  • take tablespoon-fulls of ricotta and plop evenly on top of focaccia into the dimples. i like to densely spoon ricotta to get a pizza-like focaccia. add as much or as little as you'd like.
  • sprinkle coarse salt and rosemary to taste, on top of dimpled dough. then, drizzle olive oil.
10:15 am: bake
  • bake at 500°F until the top becomes golden brown, usually for 15 – 20 minutes depending on your oven. if you make a double recipe baking time can increase to about 25 minutes.
10:35 am: top, post-bake
  • remove baked focaccia onto a cooling rack. using tongs (or another utensil), gently distribute your caramelized onions on top. sprinkle with red pepper flakes, to taste.
  • let cool for at least 5 minutes, and drizzle honey on top before slicing and serving.
sourdough discard focaccia

sourdough discard focaccia

focaccia is like sourdough’s super chill, completely unfussy sister that pulls everything off without even trying. you know the type — the ones that throw their hair up in a bun without having to check their reflection, throw on a jacket that’s just laying about, and still manages to bounce out the door looking effortlessly cool.

some days i want making bread to feel like this too, and on those days i make focaccia. throw everything together, go to sleep, and in the morning, poof, without having to really even think, out comes this miraculously delicious, beautiful thing.

think it’s too good to be true? let’s make it even better. this sourdough focaccia recipe is leavened with sourdough starter discard.

you’re welcome 🙂

sourdough discard focaccia dough

notes

i have a stiff starter that’s 80% hydration. please adjust amount of water in final dough to account for your starter’s hydration.

you might realize you like a different thickness of focaccia than the one described here. a 10×10 inch brownie-ish or cake pan for this quantity of dough will give you a focaccia that just fills the crevices. for a thicker focaccia, use a smaller pan or scale up your dough. i use a pan where the dough doesn’t quite reach the edges and get a thinner focaccia i personally really enjoy. tldr; use what you got!

if you find your focaccia is sticking to the pan or worry it might, a few readers have recommended using parchment paper in addition to oil.

though this recipe tastes great on its own, it is also very adaptable to include whatever toppings you wish and enjoy on focaccia. a few suggestions:

  • roasted garlic: roast 1-2 heads of garlic. dimple in the garlic before adding salt and additional olive oil.
  • zataar: after dimpling and after drizzling olive oil and salt, sprinkle a handful of zataar. drizzle another bit of olive oil on top.
  • veggies: slice a couple handfuls of raw grape or cherry tomatoes in half, and some red onion and peppers into slivers. dimple in the veggies before adding salt and additional olive oil.
  • grapes: dimple in a couple handfuls of grapes before adding salt and additional olive oil.
  • rosemary: top with a few sprigs of rosemary at the end.
sourdough discard focaccia sliced crumb shot stacked

baker’s percentage & basic timetable

the percentages for water and flour only account for the final dough build, and do not include the levain formula build.

ingredientbaker’s percentage
all purpose flour60%
einkorn* flour20%
bread flour20%
water80%
unfed levain (discard)20%
steptime
autolyse30 – 60 min
bulk rise10 – 12 hours
folds1 – 2 folds
bake15 – 20 min

*you can sub einkorn flour with whole wheat, or all purpose flour

sourdough discard focaccia sliced

sourdough discard focaccia

simple, unfussy, forgiving, and utterly delicious. this basic focaccia recipe can be enjoyed as is or dressed up with toppings.

formula

dough formula
  • 180 g king arthur all purpose flour
  • 60 g king arthur bread flour
  • 60 g einkorn flour
  • 234 g water, 90-95°F
  • 7 g sea salt
  • 60 g sourdough starter discard
  • 6 g additional water (optional)
to top
  • 4 g coarse salt
  • 9 g extra virgin olive oil (perhaps more to drizzle)

method

9 pm: autolyse
  • in a medium to large bowl, mix all flours together. slowly add the water, mixing with a rubber spatula, making sure to incorporate the water into the flour well, stopping when all the flour is hydrated. let sit, covered, for 30-60 minutes.
9:50 pm: mix
  • sprinkle salt evenly over autolysed dough, and pour additional water over the salt to encourage absorption. incorporate gently by folding dough over a 2-3 times.
  • then, measure out discard starter (room temp or from fridge), and add to bowl. this is a very wet dough. mix using rubaud or slap and fold method until well incorporated, for about 6-7 minutes.
10 pm: bulk fermentation
  • this dough needs an overnight bulk rise at room temperature of about 10 – 12 hours, until the dough is doubled and bubbly, with 2 stretch and folds in the first 2 hours. i usually do one stretch and fold 30 min after mixing, and then another 30 minutes after that.
[next morning] 9:30 am: preheat
  • preheat oven to 500°F. this takes a while for my oven so i usually do it 30-45 minutes before i plan to bake. at this point the dough should be jiggly and bubbly!
10 am: shape
  • generously oil the bottom of a metal pan (whatever size pan you prefer or have. see notes for recommendations. these photos show a 9×13.)
  • turn the dough out carefully onto the greased pan.
  • using your fingers or knuckles, gently stretch the dough to the shape of the pan, until about 1/2 inch thick, dimpling the dough in the process.
10:04 am: top
  • top with any other toppings that suits your fancy: a head of roasted garlic, a couple sprigs of rosemary, a handful of zataar, grapes.
  • sprinkle coarse salt and drizzle olive oil, to taste on top of dimpled dough.
  • let rest for 5 minutes.
10:10 am: bake
  • bake at 500°F for 15 – 20 minutes, or until the top becomes golden brown.
10:30 am: slice & enjoy
  • let cool on rack for 5 minutes. enjoy while warm or at room temperature, on its own or with a meal.