Easy Sourdough Pizza Crust with Fresh Milled Flour
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One thing I’m learning with using flour that’s ALIVVEEEEEEE (aka fresh milled flour) is that the natural fermentation process is hella fast. I’m talking it has completely blown up my timing and forced me to change how I treat and use my sourdough starter. Bread has been a nightmare for me… and I can get all the unsolicited advice I didn’t ask for and nothing really works. I swear sourdough behaves different in every house and I’m sure the wheat quality and type of fresh milled flour has tons to do with fermentation speed. But that’s just my assumption; I don’t know everything. I have found that dabbling with things that are more forgiving, like a simple pizza dough, has really helped me learn and get the hang of working with fresh milled flour.
I shared a reel recently of me making pizza from start to finish “the hard way” using sourdough and made pizza dough that was perfectly fermented and tangy in under 10 hours. WILD. I started by feeding my sourdough starter out of the refrigerator at 8:00am, it was doubled and a very active sourdough starter by 10:00, and then I mixed up the dough in my bread machine, much to the chagrin of the entire sourdough overachievers community. Stretch and folds are cool, but like…. I didn’t wanna today… and honestly? Just kneading the dough til it’s smooth like a yeast dough does the job. I can’t be bothered to remember sets of stretch and folds most days. I have many side quests. If you’re a sourdough purist and think that’s crazy… sorry, this recipe isn’t for you then! This dough was beautifully pliable and made the perfect thinner crust with some chewy-ness that my family loves. Plus, after the holidays of eating literal sugar laden trash… I’m upping the fermented foods to heal our guts. We didn’t make good choices, but no REGERTS.
I have quickly found that if I’m doing any sort of lengthy bulk fermentation with fresh milled flour that it needs to go directly in the refrigerator to cold ferment, otherwise you’ll blink one too many times and it will be over proofed. Thankfully, pizza dough is pretty forgiving there and it works great over, under, or just right. I made my dough in my bread machine and kneaded it starting around 11:00 and let it sit in a large bowl covered until dinner time and it had more than doubled in size! It blows my mind. Store bought dead flour could never. Whole grain is where it’s at… and I mean legit whole grain; not store-bought flour. When you mill your own flour your get all the pieces all together making the bread more digestible and available to our bodies. The best part? Fresh milled flour gives flavor and texture you never knew you were missing until you make the switch. Then, if you ever go back to dead flour (all purpose flour and even bread flour), it’s sad and pale and lifeless tasting.
My Timing for this Fresh Milled Pizza Dough (Same Day)
8:00am get starter out of fridge and feed with 150g water and 150g fresh milled flour
11:00am starter has doubled and is bubbly, make the dough
11:40am bread machine has finished dough, move to bowl to rise at room temperature
5:30pm dough has more than doubled, split in half and make pizza
Pizza Sauce
It doesn’t always have to be the traditional red sauce to make a good pizza, but I’ll toss my pizza sauce recipe in here anyway. It’s tried and loved by many! Other things I use are barbecue sauce, salsa, alfredo sauce, and even garlic butter. Some creativity and you can make just about anything taste good on a pizza :) Simple ingredients can make the most delicious things.
Let’s make some delicious pizza crust!
Equipment You Might Want:
- Grain Mill
- Large Bowl
- Scale
- Bread Machine
- Cast Iron Pan
Ingredients:
- 4 cups fresh milled hard white wheat (I mill 3 cups of berries ((~600g)) so I have extra leftover in case and to feed my starter)
- 1 1/2 cups filtered water
- 1 cup active sourdough starter
- 1/4 cup tallow or olive oil
- 1 Tbs salt
- 1 Tbs coconut sugar or raw unrefined sugar
Step 1: Mix & Knead the Dough
Start by milling hard white wheat berries on a medium setting. Set aside.
To the pan of your bread machine, add IN ORDER, the water, tallow or olive oil, sourdough starter, 4 cups fresh milled flour, sugar, and salt.
Turn your bread machine to a raw dough setting that will mix and knead the dough for about 20 minutes. Start the function and watch the dough as it mixes. Once it has started to come together and has formed a loose shaggy ball (if it’s pretty wet, add a little more flour a bit at a time), pause the bread machine and allow the dough to rest about 15 minutes. This allows the fresh milled flour to rehydrate and keeps you from adding too much flour trying to make a smooth dough.
After the dough rest, restart the bread machine and allow it to mix until a smooth ball forms. If the ball is a bit stick still, sprinkle flour on it til it comes together. Tacky is okay, but you don’t want it sticking to the sides of the pan.
Once the dough is finished kneading and is smooth and pliable, transfer the dough ball to a large bowl and add a drizzle of olive oil and toss the ball to coat. Cover the bowl and allow it to bulk rise for 4-6 hours, or til doubled. You could put this in the fridge the night before after kneading to slow fermentation to make it ahead of time.
Don’t have a bread machine? Add everything to the bowl of your stand mixer and mix that way. Don’t have that either? USE YOUR GOD GIVEN HANDS.
Step 2: Bake
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Punch the dough down and split in half for a thin crust on a large pizza.
Oil a cast iron pizza pan, cast iron skillet, or use a pizza stone with a pizza peel or parchment paper; whatever you want!
Spread the dough out with your hands (don’t dirty that rolling pin) and add pizza sauce on top of the dough followed by your favorite pizza toppings piled on to your heart’s desire.
Bake at 425F for about 22 minutes, or til is browned and cheese melted and crust is done. Ovens vary, so start checking at about 18 minutes.
Serve!
Notes:
If you enjoy a thicker, fluffier crust you can use this whole batch for one crust on a large cast iron pizza pan. Whatever you like. I normally use half for dinner and put the other half in the fridge and make a pizza for breakfast or lunch the next day.
We love homemade pizza nights! Not only do they taste better, but you save oodles of money avoiding takeout and the stomach ache that comes with it. Try this recipe for your next family pizza night and make the perfect pizza dough with very simple ingredients with really great health benefits. Win-win.
I hope you enjoy this sourdough pizza dough recipe!
Equipment
- Large bowl
- Cast Iron Pan
Ingredients
- 4 cups fresh milled hard white wheat I mill 3 cups of berries ((~600g) so I have extra leftover in case and to feed my starter)
- 1 1/2 cups filtered water
- 1 cup active sourdough starter
- 1/4 cup tallow or olive oil
- 1 Tbs salt
- 1 Tbs coconut sugar or raw unrefined sugar
Instructions
- Start by milling hard white wheat berries on a medium setting. Set aside.
- To the pan of your bread machine, add IN ORDER, the water, tallow or olive oil, sourdough starter, 4 cups fresh milled flour, sugar, and salt.
- Turn your bread machine to a raw dough setting that will mix and knead the dough for about 20 minutes. Start the function and watch the dough as it mixes. Once it has started to come together and has formed a loose shaggy ball (if it’s pretty wet, add a little more flour a bit at a time), pause the bread machine and allow the dough to rest about 15 minutes. This allows the fresh milled flour to rehydrate and keeps you from adding too much flour trying to make a smooth dough.
- After the dough rest, restart the bread machine and allow it to mix until a smooth ball forms. If the ball is a bit stick still, sprinkle flour on it til it comes together. Tacky is okay, but you don’t want it sticking to the sides of the pan.
- Once the dough is finished kneading and is smooth and pliable, transfer the dough ball to a large bowl and add a drizzle of olive oil and toss the ball to coat. Cover the bowl and allow it to bulk rise for 4-6 hours, or til doubled. You could put this in the fridge the night before after kneading to slow fermentation to make it ahead of time.
- Don’t have a bread machine? Add everything to the bowl of your stand mixer and mix that way. Don’t have that either? USE YOUR GOD GIVEN HANDS.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Punch the dough down and split in half for a thin crust on a large pizza.
- Oil a cast iron pizza pan, cast iron skillet, or use a pizza stone with a pizza peel or parchment paper; whatever you want!
- Spread the dough out with your hands (don’t dirty that rolling pin) and add pizza sauce on top of the dough followed by your favorite pizza toppings piled on to your heart’s desire.
- Bake at 425F for about 22 minutes, or til is browned and cheese melted and crust is done. Ovens vary, so start checking at about 18 minutes.
It looks delicious! How do you make the starter?
It would be the same as making a sourdough starter with store bought flour, but use fresh milled. I’m working on getting a tutorial up, it just takes time :D