Pizza Dough with Wild Yeast Starter

I've been making bread since August with a natural yeast starter. I will share the link for that bread later, but for today, here's a pizza crust recipe. I got the recipe from Emily Mecham and made some substitutions. We were very happy with the flavor and texture.


Note: My sourdough start is made with whole wheat flour.

There's nothing like a picture of leftovers to make you salivate. Just kidding. We have found that breads made with sourdough start are more filling and sustaining than other breads; and that's why we even have leftovers! Patrick could only eat three slices, and usually he would eat way more.

PIZZA DOUGH
yield: 2-12 inch pizza crusts, or about 1 lb of dough

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup warm water or milk
1/2 cup yeast starter (or 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast)
2 T.  maple syrup (or sugar or honey)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
~3 cups bread flour (I sub out about 1/2 cup for whole wheat flour)
Emily says you could put some garlic or garlic powder in as well.

DIRECTIONS:

In a large mixing bowl, preferably that of a stand mixer, stir yeast and maple syrup into warm water.
Pour in salt, baking powder and half the flour and mix.

Once that flour is incorporated, start adding flour in bit by bit until you get the pizza dough to the consistency you want: slightly tacky, but when you touch it it doesn't stick to your hands. Do not over-flour.

Once you reach this stage, knead (speed "1" on a Bosch) for 6 minutes. The dough should be smooth and easy to work with. And the bowl should be clean!

{Emily says: *This is the point when you could freeze your dough!! Divide into portions, place into freezer bags, seal removing all air and freeze. To use, remove from freezer and let sit out to get to room temperature and double in size; 6-12 hours. Then use as you'd like.}

Put 2 T. olive oil in a bowl; drop the dough in and roll it around until it is covered in oil. So it doesn't dry out, cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp cloth and let it rise 6-12 hours. Mine rose about 7 hours.

Cover your pizza pan (cookie sheet, or whatever you choose to bake it on) with parchment paper. Plop the dough and oil onto parchment paper. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes, while your oven is preheating to 400 degrees. Use the tips of your fingers to gently move the dough into the size and shape you would like. I found the dough not as bounce back-y as regular pizza dough, hence, easier to shape and stay that way.

Bake for 10 or so minutes without any toppings.
Top with sauce, cheese, and your other toppings and place back in oven until cheese is melted.