Stretching A's Sourdough Pizza Dough
Make sure that the dough ball is fully thawed. It is always a good practice to leave the dough out on the countertop for 30 minutes before starting to work with it.
Your thawed dough has a perfectly fermented and developed texture that is quite delicate. If you would like to make a pizza with airy and fluffy crust, then I recommend to use hand-stretching technique, being gentle to the dough, preserving as much gas bubbles in it as possible. Those come from the proper fermentation and they are the reason for a greatly rising, airy crust.
If you prefer thinner and flatter crust for your pizza, then we recommend to use a rolling pin. It will push most of the gas bubbles out of the dough, creating a more even crust surface.
My recommendation for beginner pizza makers is to try the moves of hand stretching, but also reach for the help of the rolling pin. The mix of the two methods helps to learn the handling of the dough and build confidence. With more and more experience, the rolling pin can be left behind and the many ways of hand-stretching technique can take over.
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Now let's move on to the baking part...
Different ovens produce slightly different results
Our Sourdough pizza dough is perfectly suitable to be baked in different types of ovens. However the oven's capability and its maximum temperature has a visible effect on the outcome of the pizza crust. The oven's baking temperature and the physical characteristics are the major factors here. Let's see the differences:
- Portable outdoor pizza oven (wood- or propane fueled, with live flame)
These ovens are often called Neapolitan-style as they are capable to reach as high as 932F. At this very high temperature, the pizza can only stay in the oven for a couple of minutes without being burnt. It also needs to be turned quite often for an even bake. Fast baking at high temperature means highly rising, softer and fluffier crust with lots of air trapped around the edge. This short baking time at high temperature produces the classic Neapolitan style crust with the dark leopard spots on the surface. The slices are soft, usually folded in the middle when pizza lovers hold them in their hands.
If you aim for a firmer result, you have to reduce the oven temperature in order to allow the pizza to stay in the oven for longer. It is simple physics, the longer the pizza can stay in the oven, the crispier the crust will be. For longer bake, you need lower oven temperature.
There is a very important thing about these portable high temp pizza ovens. The proper baking stone temperature on the bottom. For the best result, make sure that the stone is heated up to the optimal temperature of at least 600F.
Baking your A’s Sourdough pizza in a household oven will produce a crispier crust. Due to these ovens limited maximum baking temperature, the pizza will need longer baking time than in the aforementioned portable outdoor ovens. Any type of baking sheet is suitable for baking the pizza. We recommend to use a parchment paper in order to avoid sticking the dough to the baking sheet.
If you have a pizza stone, then preheat it with the oven. Make the pizza on a parchment paper and transfer them both to the heated stone. The heated stone provides an extra heat boost to the bottom of the pizza, which lead to a better rising and lighter texture of the crust.
You can buy A's Sourdough Pizza Dough here:
Happy Baking!
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