No-Knead Sourdough Skillet Pizza
Easy enough to make on a weeknight, but tasty enough to be a weekend treat, this sourdough skillet pizza is perfect for any night of the week. Without any kneading the dough comes together quite quickly, and can be started the night before or morning of your bake. It is shaped and baked in a cast iron skillet to achieve the perfect crisp, sturdy, and flavorful crust, without the need to preheat a pizza oven or stone. The slow sourdough leaven gives it tons of flavor, and is a wonderful complement to whatever toppings you like.
Ingredients
- 213 grams (1½ cups) bread flour
- 3 grams (½ tsp) salt
- 120 grams (½ cup) water
- 15 grams (1 tbsp) sourdough starter active/fed
- 12 grams (1 tbsp) olive oil plus more for pan
- 21 grams (1 tbsp) honey
- Cornmeal for pan
- ¼-½ cup sauce for topping
- 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese for topping
- Meat and vegetable toppings as desired
Instructions
- Combine bread flour and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl combine water, starter, olive oil, and honey. Whisk until evenly incorporated.
- Add wet ingredient mixture to dry ingredients mixture. Mix just until a shaggy dough forms. Cover loosely with a towel or plastic wrap and let sit for 20-30 minutes.
- Stretch and fold the sides of the dough into the middle until the dough becomes a smooth ball. Avoid overworking the dough, stop once all the remaining dry bits are incorporated.
- Transfer dough to a clear bowl or container. Mark the position of the top of the dough with a washable marker or rubber band. Cover loosely with plastic wrap or a towel and proof until doubled in volume, about 8-12 hours.
- Once dough has doubled punch it down and, again, stretch and fold the sides of the dough into the center to form a ball. At this point you may immediately move on to the next step of shaping the dough, or cover the dough and refrigerate 8-24 hours (or more). Refrigerating the dough (known as cold fermentation) will increase the flavor of your pizza crust.
- Grease a 12-inch cast iron skillet with about 2 tbsp olive oil and sprinkle with about 1-2 tbsp cornmeal. Place dough ball in the center of skillet. Using both hands, push your finger tips into the dough, working from the middle out to stretch the dough to the sides of the pan. If dough starts to resist further stretching, stop and allow the dough to rest for 5 minutes (you may have to do this 3-4 times before it reaches the edge of the skillet). Cover and allow to proof until puffy and roughly doubled in volume, about 2-4 hours.
- Preheat oven to 475° with a shelf in the center and one at the top. Top pizza with sauce, leaving about 1-inch around the edge uncovered. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the entire pizza (including the un-sauced crust). Add additional toppings as desired.
- Place skillet on a burner over medium heat. Once the oil around the sides of the dough is bubbling, about 3-4 minutes, remove pan from heat.
- Transfer skillet to the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 7 minutes, then move to the top rack and bake for 3-5 minutes more, or until the top of pizza is golden-brown. Carefully lift the pizza with a spatula to check that the bottom is golden-brown, if not return to the middle rack until it is.
- Remove pizza from skillet with a spatula. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes then cut and serve.
Notes
For best results your sourdough starter should be active and recently fed. This means it should at least double within 8-12 hours of feeding. If you are using a young starter, or if it has not been fed within 24 hours of using, you may consider adding a pinch of bakers yeast to the dough, or increasing the amount of starter.
If room temperature is below 70°F (21°C) consider proofing in an empty oven with the light on (but leave yourself a note so you don’t accidentally heat the oven while it is in there).