“Why are there so few pizzerias making a sourdough crust ?” I’ve often wondered to myself. As the owner of Itsa Pizza Truck, and an avid sourdough baker for many years, the flavor and health benefits are clear to me. Whenever I’ve asked about this subject at the pizzerias that I visit, the one fuzzy answer that I’ve been given is that it adds another step to the chain of responsibilities. For example, someone might forget to feed the sourdough starter, or not know how to maintain it well. Another factor I’ve found is that some folks are under the false impression that sourdough bread or pizza crust will always have a strong sour flavor. Or they simply might not associate sourdough and pizza in the same culinary category. In my experience, using the sourdough method is really the only way to make great bread! The longer fermentation times, and the beneficial yeasts and bacterias that develop depth of flavor during sourdough fermentation always lead to more complex flavors as compared to using commercial yeast as the fermentation agent. While using commercial yeast leads to a feeling of confidence that your pizza dough will ferment more quickly and actively, it does so at a loss of flavor and digestibility. Since the very early days of Itsa Pizza Truck going ten years back, I knew that making sourdough pies was simply the only way for me to be in the pizza world.
If you’re new to sourdough baking, I’d like to leave you with one or two tricks for now about how to keep your sourdough starter alive and actively bubbling, making sure that it has enough life force to do the heavy lifting needed to give you bubbly-crispy bread and pizza:
1) The amount of food that you give the starter should be proportionally high compared to the amount of starter you have in your jar or container. In other words, if you have 1/4 cup of starter in your jar, you would feed it about 2 cups of flour and water. This is as opposed to having a half full jar of starter, and feeding it only a tablespoon each of flour and water. The first equation will lead to explosively active starter, while the second equation will only result in a tiny surge of activity. Try it out!
