Sourdough pizza with fig jam and caramelized onions

Updated at: Thu, 30 May 2024 01:41:51 GMT

Step 1

Mix the dough ingredients in a bowl until fully incorporated. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes then knead it on a lightly floured work surface for 1-3 minutes. The dough should be very supple and just barely not sticking to your hands; add small amounts of flour or water if needed.

Step 2

Lightly oil a bowl or dough bucket, dab the "top" of your dough ball in the oil, then lay the bottom side down in the bowl and cover.

Step 3

Let the dough rise until it has expanded by 75-100%. The bulk fermentation can be just a few hours if you use warm water and have a warm house or put the dough in a lit oven, or this can be five days if put the dough in a cold refrigerator. I tend to do all the bulk fermentation at room temperature and refrigerate for the second rise until I'm ready to make the pizzas, which could be days later.

Step 4

When the bulk fermentation is finished, lightly flour your work surface and oil a 9x13 baking pan or three round pint-size plastic containers. Divide the dough into 3 pieces for three 10-12" diameter pizzas and shape them into balls. You can make larger or smaller pizzas if you prefer.

Step 5

Place the balls in the oiled pan or containers and cover. The final proof can be at room temperature for 45-90 minutes, or in the refrigerator for cold proofing and perhaps time at room temperature again. Depending on how warm the dough is when you shape it and your refrigerator temperature, the dough may double overnight or only expand a little. In my 39°F refrigerator, the dough expanded by about 50% in 18 hours and completed the doubling in only about 30 minutes back at (hot) room temperature.

Step 6

At least 30 minutes before the dough is finished proofing, begin preheating to 500°F your oven and baking stone on the middle shelf.

Step 7

Saute oil, butter, sliced onions until light brown 20-30 minutes, finish with 1 tsp red wine vinegar

Step 8

Place a dough ball on a piece of parchment paper or on a floured work surface. Hold one side of the paper and with your other hand, press the dough outward from the center of the ball in the opposite direction. Rotate around the dough over and over until your pizza is 25-30cm diameter.

Step 9

Top your pizza dough to your liking and put it in the oven using a pizza peel or in a pinch, an upside down baking sheet. As noted above, I like the topping order of fig jam, a relatively sparse sprinkling of mozzarella, mushrooms, caramelized onions, dollups of goat cheese, and herbs.

Step 10

Bake for 8 minutes, switching to broil for the final minute if desired. Keep the oven on broil an additional minute before you load the next pizza. This reheats the stone before you switch back to bake mode and load the next pizza.

Step 11

Remove the pizza from the oven with your peel and put it on a cooling rack to keep the bottom crispy if you're not eating it right away. Repeat with the next pizza and so on.

1 liked

0 disliked

Delicious

Easy

Makes leftovers

Moist

Special occasion