Sourdough pizza base production

Sourdough starter is used for personal size pizza bases. 

Why not freeze assembled pizzas? That is possible too and not a bad idea. All the ingredients will be predetermined and frozen. Bases guarantee over time the pizzas will be individual and additions will have a chance at being fresh. 

Sourdough starter. Fed once a day so basically languishing. The old retained until the jar is nearly filled.

Ordinarily the sourdough starter would be fed three times a day to ensure it is fiercely active as possible before starting a loaf. This is not so active so assisted with commercial yeast to augment and hasten the languishing sourdough starter.

Water + commercial yeast

This much salt goes with that that much dough. Honestly, what would be the point in measuring? To make sure I don't have double this amount? To make sure I don't have half this amount? There are no maths here. Every bit of it is guess. How much starter? I kind of know because it is in a quart mason jar 3/4 full. How much water? Just less than that same amount. How much flour? Enough to make it almost stiff but still show ribbons. How much salt? Enough to suit me to go with that amount of dough. Another guy I know would measure and put half this amount of salt, if even that, because he's a bandwagon hopper and insists salt is bad. He'll be happy to helpfully refer you to the latest studies that he's bothered with since hopping the bandwagon. 

Salt changes everything.

It is kept wet and whipped with a dinner knife to develop gluten. 

Flour in additions until sufficiently dry and workable. Continue pulling to develop the last of the flour addition. For me this tends to go faster than regular kneading and I can actually see what is happening by windowpane test method, basically built into the stretching. I can see which areas of the bowl are more developed by turning as it is pulled. My form of kneading is pulling and stretching wet dough, not pushing it around. 

There you have it, fourteen personal size pizza bases with tomato paste smear. 

There are also pesto bases. Tomato paste is better. No need for sauce, but the bases can accept additional sauce. 

Parchment paper is used for placing the pizza onto the heated stone. Removed when the dough is firm enough in there so the dough makes contact with the stone. No special pizza peel necessary, a cookie sheet works fine. 

I love this combination and I have made it several times. I bought the same ingredients again so I can repeat it. Even so, each one is still different.