Make pizza
In your home oven
Let dough come to room temperature in it's packaging—1 to 4 hours. Once the bottom of the container no longer feels cold, your dough’s ready.
For frozen dough:
Move to the fridge the night before and follow steps above OR put frozen dough directly into a turned off oven with a pot of boiling water for ~2 hours. This method also works well for refrigerated dough during the winter.
Preheat your oven: Add a baking stone or steel (we recommend this one) or an upside down baking sheet to your top oven rack and preheat to the highest temperature (usually 500-550 F). Turn on convection if you have that option.
Use any flour to dust the top of your dough. Flip the container upside down and gently use gravity and your hands to separate the bottom of the dough from the container, letting it fall onto its floured side. Generously flour the exposed surface of your dough, then flip it back over to restore the “bottom” of the dough.
Stretch your dough to 10-12” in diameter, using plenty of flour. Start by pressing down on the center and pushing the dough out, then loosely hold dough in place with one hand while using a circular motion with the other hand to further stretch. Finally, drape the dough over your knuckles (with fingers facing away from you) and gently stretch thicker areas to get a mostly even thickness.
Quickly add your cold or room temperature (never hot!) toppings.
Slide pizza onto a floured pizza peel or upside down baking sheet and transfer it to your oven. If you’re worried about your dough sticking, place a sheet of parchment paper on your baking sheet before sliding on the dough, and then slide your pizza into your oven with the parchment paper beneath it.
Bake until your dough is golden brown with some darker spots: About 10 minutes total, you can also switch to broil for the last 2 minutes for a darker crust or to finish cooking your cheese/toppings.
Enjoy!
In an outdoor pizza oven
Let dough come to room temperature in it's packaging—1 to 4 hours. Once the bottom of the container no longer feels cold, your dough’s ready. For frozen dough: Move to the fridge the night before and follow steps above OR put frozen dough directly into a turned off oven with a pot of boiling water for ~2 hours. This method also works well for refrigerated dough during the winter.
Preheat your oven: You want a floor temp of 750-800 F (this may take 1 or more hours of preheating depending on the time of year.)
Use any flour to dust the top of your dough. Flip the container upside down and gently use gravity and your hands to separate the bottom of the dough from the container, letting it fall onto its floured side. Generously flour the exposed surface of your dough, then flip it back over to restore the “bottom” of the dough.
Stretch your dough to 10-12” in diameter, using plenty of flour. Start by pressing down on the center and pushing the dough out, then loosely hold dough in place with one hand while using a circular motion with the other hand to further stretch. Finally, drape the dough over your knuckles (with fingers facing away from you) and gently stretch thicker areas to get a mostly even thickness.
Quickly add your cold or room temperature (never hot!) toppings.
Slide pizza onto a floured pizza peel or upside down baking sheet and transfer it to your oven. If you’re worried about your dough sticking, place a sheet of parchment paper on your peel or baking sheet before sliding on the dough, and then slide your pizza into your oven with the parchment paper beneath it.
Bake until your dough is golden brown: rotate your pizza to get an even browning on all four sides while baking, about 3-5 minutes total.
Enjoy!
Make something else
Garlic knots *crowd favorite*
Hand pies
Scallion pancakes
Care for sourdough starter
How do I feed my starter?
First, get a kitchen scale! This makes feeding much easier and more accurate.
We recommend a feeding ratio of at least 1:2:2 – 1 part starter to 2 parts flour and 2 parts water. Usually this yields a starter that’s at its peak 4-6 hours later* (for frozen starter, see additional notes below).
For example: Discard all but 60g of starter. Feed it 120g of flour and 120g of water. Add to your recipe 4-6 hours later.
Make sure your flour contains gluten! All purpose flour, bread flour, and whole wheat flour are all fine.
Feed your starter lukewarm or warm water (never hot!) during colder winter months, or when re-engaging a starter that’s been stored in the fridge or freezer.
After 4-6 hours, your starter should be noticably larger, have a pleasantly sour smell, and a spoonful of it should float in a bowl of water.
How do I store my starter?
For most people who aren’t baking every day, we recommend moving your starter to the fridge at its peak. You can bake with this starter for up to a week straight from the fridge.
Then, all you need to do is follow the feeding instructions above once a week to keep your starter healthy and robust.
Here’s a sample schedule:
Monday morning: Remove starter from the fridge. Feed at 1:2:2 ratio with lukewarm water.
Monday afternoon: Take what you need to bake with, then immediately move the remaining starter to the fridge.
Repeat this feeding routine the following Monday–if you don’t want to bake that day, simply move all your starter to the fridge when it’s at its peak.