The best home-oven pizza

I like dozens of different pizza styles—sometimes it’s nice to mix things up, other times a particular style fits your circumstances best. I most commonly make sourdough pizza, mixed with a stand mixer, fermented in the fridge for a few days, and baked in an Ooni Koda.

But what if I don’t have access to a mixer; I want to eat pizza the next day; and it’s too wet and windy outside to fire up the Ooni? Thanks to my friend Adam who originally developed this dough recipe, I also have the makings of an incredible indoor-oven pizza in my back pocket. It’s bubbly, light, and crunchy.

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The best home-oven Pizza

Servings: two 14” pizzas.
Time: 3 hours (mix and proof) + 1 to 2 days (fridge-ferment) + 4 hours (final proof) + 10 to 20 minutes (shape, top, and bake)

INGREDIENTS:

• 400 g white flour (high-gluten, bread-, or all-purpose flour)
• 20 g (5%) whole wheat or rye flour (or any flour, really)
• 12 g (3%) salt
• .85 g (¼ tsp, .2%) instant yeast
• 320 g (76%) water

DIRECTIONS:

Put the flours and the salt into a large mixing bowl. Stir with a spatula or fork to mix evenly. Add the yeast and stir again. Pour in the water and stir with a spatula, scraping down the sides and the bottom of the bowl. After 30-60 s of this, you should have a cohesive, shaggy mass of dough in the middle of the bowl. You’re not looking for a smooth ball; you just want to work in all the dry flour. Gently knead this ball for a minute with your hands, folding and turning it to make it just a little more even; it’ll still be a bit of a mess, which is fine.

Pick up the dough and spray or wipe a tiny bit of oil into the bowl, then put the dough back in. Cover with a shower cap, a large plate, or a tea towel and let the dough rest in a warm spot (70–74°F?) for 3 hours. Every 30 minutes or so, perform a stretch-and-fold. This video shows the process; it uses a different dough, but the principle is the same.

Stretching and folding every 30 minutes is ideal, but the timeline is forgiving. Just try to give it at least 3 folds during the 3 hours of proof time. By the end, you should have a fairly smooth and uniform dough.

After the 3 hours are up, cover the bowl again and pop it in the back of the fridge for 1-3 days. If you go past a day and a half, check to make sure the dough isn’t overproofing and exploding out of the bowl.

The day you plan to make pizza, remove the dough from the fridge 3-4 hours before baking. (3 hours on a hot day, 4 on a cold one.) Cut into two pieces of the same size and roll each one into a ball.

Note that this is high-hydration dough, so it’ll feel pretty loose and lively. Balling it up when cold will make that easier. Here’s a video showing how to ball:

Grab two deep, round bowls or containers and oil them lightly. Place one dough ball in each, smooth side up, and cover. If the containers have well-fitting lids that won’t crush the expanding dough, use them. Rest for 3-4 hours as described above.

1 hour before baking, get your home oven ready. Pop a baking stone or baking steel or upside-down pan on a rack 6-8" from the top broiler. Crank it up to 550ºF (or however high your oven goes) and leave it there.

To stretch the dough: hold the container upside down and wiggle the dough out of it gently; dont worry about whether it stays a perfect ball. Place it directly into a shallow, wide bowl of flour, and make sure the wet end and the sides get some flour (not too much) on them. Place the dough ball on your wooden peel with the dry (previously the top) side down and press gently around the inside of the rim to make a little ringed pizza-prototype. Drape the disc over your knuckles, then rotate around gently, letting gravity droop the dough to grow it. There should be no need to tug and stretch it with your fingers. Here’s a video again:

My topping strategy for a standard cheese pizza: layer the dough with sliced mozzarella cheese, then add dabs of sauce, then your toppings (including torn fresh mozzarella). Now gently tug under the rim all around to stretch to 14″; the weight of the toppings will help prevent pullback. 

Redistribute the toppings if needed. Shimmy again. Expertly slide onto the steel/stone/pan in the oven.

Once the pizza is in, set a timer for 3 minutes. Then, open the oven door and check the underside of your pizza. Rotate the pizza 180º to get even baking from back to front. Set a timer for another 3 minutes. During that time, rotate the pie 90º every 30 seconds or so. If it looks done after the total 6 minutes of bake time, pull it out; it might still need 1-2 minutes more.

You may need to shift between “bake” (bottom heat) and “broil” modes of your oven. Every oven is different, so use your judgment, checking to see if it’s the top or the bottom of your pie that need more heat.

When the pizza is gorgeous, slide it out with a metal pizza peel or a large flat spatula or a cookie sheet or whatever. (Don’t use your wooden peel—that’s for shaping and launching only.) Rest it on a cooling rack for 1-2 minutes to dry out the bottom. Then move to a cutting board or plate and slice. (Please don’t slice on your wooden peel.)

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Since we’re making two pizzas with this recipe, you’ll need to repeat the process now. It’s best to give your baking surface 5-7 minutes to recover the lost heat; don’t forget to set it bake to “bake” mode during this time.

And there you go—tremendous pizza, made in your regular-ass home oven. It’s possible, and it’s delicious.

P.S. I have a bunch more pizza recipes on my website. Even if you don’t plan to make any of the other styles, they could be instructive, as every recipe has helpful steps and notes of its own.

Pizza romana / pizza al taglio / thin pan pizza

Sometimes you feel like a pillowy, bready pan pie, something you could slice into flavorful bread sticks. Other times, you want a large, soft pizza where the toppings shine more. This is one of those: an easy, no-knead, no-sweat base for endless pizza variations. Try topping it before baking, but also after—it’s an edible board, and much more.

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Neven’s thin pan pizza

Servings: two 10 × 14" pans (9 × 13" will also work)
Time: 10 min mix + 8-12 hour proof + 5 minute shape + 3-6 hour proof + 15 minute cook

INGREDIENTS:

• 300 g all-purpose flour
• 200 g high-gluten flour (or more APF)
• 10 g salt
• 365 g water
• 50 g ripe-and-ready sourdough starter (yeast variation below)
• 20 g olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

The night before you intend to eat the pizza, do the following:

In a very large nonreactive bowl (meaning, stainless steel, glass, or plastic, but not aluminum) add the flours and the salt, and stir together. Pour the water into the middle, then add the starter to it. Using a large spatula, stir and fold the whole mess for a bit; then add the olive oil. Stir and fold some more, until it becomes a basically coherent mass and there’s not a huge pool of dry flour at the bottom of the bowl. This should only take a minute; you’re not trying to knead dough, you’re just making the shaggy ball a little uniform.

Cover well and rest for 30 minutes to an hour. Come back to it and, using the spatula or a flexible scraper, fold the ball on itself from each side, just to bring it together a bit more. Note that it will already look smoother and more dough-like, though it’ll still be rather lumpy and homely.

Cover again and rest on the counter or in another room-temperature place (between 65ºF and 75ºF) overnight, for 8-12 hours. Hot days in humid climates will take less time, and a cold winter’s night might take as long as 16 hours. What you’re looking for at the end of this process is a dough that’s much larger than it started, light and inflated-looking, with possible surface bubbles. (If it has collapsed into the middle, then it’s been overproofed; this is unlikely to happen. If it’s still a dry lump, then it never proofed at all; perhaps your yeast is too old, or your room is super cold? Sorry!)

Now grab two 10 × 14" pans (9 × 13 will also work) and grease the bottoms with a small amount of butter. Even coverage matters more than opulence, so make sure it’s not a thick layer of goop. We’re using butter rather than oil here because it’ll stop the dough from pulling back into the center of the pan.

Flour your workbench (counter or large cutting board) liberally.

Using a flexible scraper, scrape around the edge of the bowl, then pop the dough into the middle of the workbench. Cut it in half; you can eyeball this, or measure each half to ~470 g. Place one half back in the bowl.

Working gently—without crushing the dough—first flip your dough over to flour both sides of it. Now start stretching it into a rectangle about 6 x 10" in size. No need to get it perfect; just get as close as you can while keeping the dough thickness even all around. I like to reach under the sides and pull out with my fingers. You may need to flip the whole rectangle over if any of it threatens to stick to the bench. You’ll want to be able to lift the whole thing easily.

Once you have it close to 2/3 the size of the pan, transfer the dough to the middle of it. Reaching under once more, stretch the sides to the edges of the pan. Dimple any thick areas of dough from above to softly push them to the side.

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Repeat with the second half of the dough.

Cover again. Give this second proof 3–6 hours, depending on your room’s climate. When it’s ready, the dough should be slightly puffy.

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From this point on, you can perhaps dimple any super-fluffy areas, but don’t stretch again.

During the last 40 minutes or so of this proofing time, preheat your oven to 515ºF. Move one of the racks to the bottom third of the oven.

Top however you’d like. For a classic cheesy-marg type of thing, I would cover with sliced, shaved, or shredded aged mozzarella, then dab with tomato sauce on top. Don’t forget to season with salt, and hit with a bit of olive oil.

If you’re using other toppings, remember that the sides of the pan will get hotter than the middle, so place the larger toppings around the perimeter.

Bake on the bottom-third rack of the oven for 12–15 minutes, rotating halfway. Move the whole pan to a cooling rack for 2 minutes, then slide the pizza out with a large spatula or flipper onto the rack.

Top with any post-bake toppings: basil, shaved parmesan, sauce drizzles. Cool for 5 minutes before moving to a cutting board and slicing.

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YOU SAID THERE’D BE A YEAST VERSION

If you’re not a Sourdough Person, this is easily made with commercial yeast as well. Please make sure to use good instant yeast and store it in the fridge/freezer to prolong its shelf life; it can be used cold.

The only change you’d make is replacing the 50 g of sourdough starter with ¼ tsp of yeast. Add it after you’ve stirred the flours and the salt together, before you add the water.

This means that your dough will be 50 g lighter than the above recipe. That’s not an enormous difference, but you could always make it up with another 25 g each of flour and water.

The rest of the recipe should proceed the same way, including times and temperatures.

You can also scale this recipe however you’d like—making a single pan won’t be much different.

Neven’s Focaccia

My love for pizza overlaps my love for focaccia. They’re both tremendously satisfying breads, elevated to godly heights by their toppings. Focaccia is the perfect bread because it’s trivial to make; it keeps well; it can become pizza; and everyone’s a fan of its oily, cloud-like qualities. This is going to be so simple and tasty.

Neven’s Focaccia

Servings: 4
Time: 10 min mix + 8-12 hour proof + 5 minute shape + 3-6 hour proof + 20 minute cook

INGREDIENTS:

• 350 g all-purpose flour
• 150 g high-gluten flour (or more APF)
• 10 g salt
• 400 g water
• 75 g ripe-and-ready sourdough starter
• 20 g olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

The night before you intend to bake the focaccia, do the following:

In a very large nonreactive bowl (meaning, stainless steel, glass, or plastic, but not aluminum) add the flours and the salt; stir. Pour the water into the middle, then add the starter to it. Using a large spatula, stir and fold the whole mess for a bit; then add the olive oil. Stir and fold some more, until it becomes a basically coherent mass and there’s not a huge pool of dry flour at the bottom of the bowl. This should only take a minute; you’re not trying to knead dough, you’re just making the shaggy ball a little uniform.

Cover well and rest for 30 minutes to an hour. Come back to it and, using the spatula or a flexible scraper, fold the ball on itself from each side, just to make it a little more uniform. Observe that it will already look smoother and more dough-like, though it’ll still be rather homely.

Now rest it on the counter or in another room-temperature place overnight, for 8-12 hours. Hot days in humid climates will take less time, and a cold winter’s night might take as long as 16 hours. What you’re looking for at the end of this process is a dough that’s much larger than it started, wet as batter, and bubbly.

Now grab a 9 × 13 (or 10 × 14) pan and coat it well with olive oil; something like 2 tbsp of oil will do. Even coverage matters more than opulence, so use your hands or a pastry brush to get every surface and corner oily.

Using a flexible scraper, and trying to make it happen in as few moves as possible, scrape around the edge of the bowl, then pop the dough into the middle of the pan. It’s ok to scrape any remaining dough from the bowl on top of what’s in the pan; this is still shapeless batter, though we’re trying not to lose all those gasses that have formed inside it.

Pour some more oil on top. With very gentle and wet fingers, push the dough just so it kind of matches the pan shape. You’re not trying to make a perfect rectangle or fill the pan, you’re just giving the dough a nudge in the right direction. It’ll still be half the size of your pan.

Cover well again; if your pan has low walls, consider putting something like a larger, deeper pan over it as a cover, to ensure your lid doesn’t end up sticking to the dough, which will balloon up as it proofs. Give this second proof 3–6 hours, depending on your room’s climate.

During the last 40 minutes or so of this time, preheat your oven to 475ºF.

When the dough is almost filling the pan and it’s back to looking puffy and alive, it’s time to dimple it.

Add more oil on top (I’m not kidding here) and wet your fingers again. Now dimple by pretending to play piano, pushing into the dough gently but firmly in rows spaced an inch or so. You’re trying to create a dotted surface so the dough has a fun, uneven texture. If everything’s going well so far, you should see bubbles rising from the surface over the next minute.

Believe it or not, drizzle with oil again. Sprinkle with coarse salt and other toppings (more on that below).

Slide into the oven on a rack in the bottom-third of the oven. This placement will vary as ovens vary, so watch the evenness of your bake and adjust as needed.

Bake for a total of 20 minutes, rotating the pan half way through. Look for a mind-blowingly beautiful golden color, with serious bubbles, some of which might char. You may have to adjust the time 5 minutes this way or that, depending.

When you remove the pan from the oven, wait a minute, then extract the bread to a cooling rack (the focaccia should be begging you to sexily slide out of its oily pan). At this point, there’s only one more thing to do:

Drizzle with olive oil again—the best stuff you’ve got in the house.

Eat as soon as 10 minutes after the bake, or later in the day if you wish. Focaccia reheats wonderfully on a rack in the oven at 300ºF or so.

LET’S CHAT SOME MORE

Wait, so we’re not kneading this or anything? No stand mixer?

Yeah, totally. Remember that whole “no-knead bread” thing? The same principle applies here: give the yeast more time, and it’ll develop the gluten etc. on its own. You’re just there to integrate the dry and wet ingredients. How easy is that?

Sourdough starter, you say? I haven’t heard that name in years…

If you’re not a Sourdough Person, don’t worry—just use 4 g (½ teaspoon) of good instant yeast. Remember that I love the Saf-Instant brand. The recipe should otherwise be pretty much the same. (You could add an extra 35 g of water and 35 g of flour to make up for the lack of sourdough mass, but no one’s gonna know.)

Wow, you used a LOT of olive oil.

Thank you! If for some reason you don’t wish to eat so much olive oil, a delicious and healthy natural ingredient, then it’s probably best not to make focaccia at all. Sorry!!

What can I put ON this puppy to make it even tastier?

Oh man, come in. Sit down. Is that olive-oil complainer gone? Good. Ok, so. Here are some things I love on focaccia:

• Cherry tomatoes, cut in half if very large
• Grapes, same strategy
• Olives
• Sweet onion, shaved to paper-thin rings
• Roasted garlic cloves
• Rosemary
• Thinly sliced zucchini
• Same approach with lemon

With the chunky toppings (tomatoes), add them in the dimpling stage, using them TO dimple (you might have to do some extra dimpling with bare fingers, still)—stuff them INTO the dough. With the flat ones (onion rings) just lay them on top of already dimpled dough.

Isn’t focaccia usually more flat and floppy? Your looks kind of craggy and dark.

*squinting* Are you that olive-oil person again? Anyway, it’s true that focaccia in Italy is often much more flat and has a smaller crumb, but I happen to deeply prefer this “rustic,” martian-landscape bread. It’s just more fun.

That said, if you want a soft and pillowy focaccia for a sandwich or to make cheesy bread, bake it at 435ºF. Add anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes to the total bake time until it looks set, though not as charred as seen above.

Enjoy!

The Fastest Pan Pizza

When you proof your dough low and slow (a few days in the fridge, say) you develop both its flavor—from various bacteria having time to develop—and its structure, as the yeast process builds the gluten network further. And that’s rad. But sometimes, you just want pizza this afternoon. Here’s how to get an impressive pie on the table in 3 hours or so. Ready, set… dough!

Neven’s Fastest Pan Pizza

Servings: one 9 × 13" pizza. 4-6 people?
Time: 10 min mix + 2-3 hr proof + 15 min bake

INGREDIENTS:

• 315 g all-purpose flour (you can do 100 g high-gluten flour)
• 5 g yeast
• 5 g salt
• 5 g sugar
• 255 g water
• 20 g olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

In the bowl of your chosen appliance (see below) combine the flour and yeast and stir well. Add the salt and sugar and stir again. Add the water and oil.

• If using a stand mixer: mix 2 minutes on low; stop, scrape down, then mix another 2 minutes on medium-low; scrape down again and mix another 2 minutes at a medium speed; this is quite an aggressive speed for dough.
• If using a food processor, process for 30-60 seconds until a cohesive ball is riding around the blade.

When the dough looks smooth and integrated—it will still be very wet and sticky—move it to a large, oiled bowl and cover it.

On a warm day, this bulk proof will take only about 1 hour; keep an eye on it for the last 15 minutes of that, as it may threaten to jump out of the bowl. On a cold day, you might have to go as long as 2 hours. (You can always find a warm spot, or make your oven into one by heating it for a brief minute, then turning it off.)

Oil your 9 × 13 pan thoroughly, brushing to cover every spot; a nonstick aluminum pan will work well. Once the dough is more than doubled, puffy and light, gently scrape it into the middle of the oiled pan. Oil the top of the dough a little and spread the dough to the corners a bit; you still want to use gentle movements, but make sure you’re covering at least 70% of your pan with dough, and get it even-ish in thickness. With a wet, airy dough like this, you don’t want to beat it up. That said, the time to stretch it is now and not later after it’s even more gassy.

Cover the whole pan with something tall (as the dough will rise up a lot). Use a bigger, taller pan turned upside down, or a huge bowl maybe? Even a clean plastic box will work, really—it won’t touch the food anyway. Proof for another 30-90 minutes. The dough should fill the pan aaaalmost fully, and it should look extremely alive and inflated.

In the meantime, preheat your oven at 550ºF with a rack in the middle.

When the dough looks great, drizzle a little more olive oil on top. Pop into the oven for 5 minutes, rotating it halfway through the bake. Remove from the oven when it looks “dry”; it needn’t look golden brown or anything. This par-bake will make sure your crust gets a good vertical rise before it’s weighed down by toppings.

Let it rest for 5 minutes in the pan, then top. My preferred approach goes like this, from the bottom to the top:

• Sliced cheese (aged mozzarella, provolone, muenster…)
• Light sauce
• Dry cheese (Romano, parmesan…)
• Fresh cheese chunks (fresh mozzarella, ricotta…)
• Toppings

Move that middle oven rack to the top third of the oven. Bake the pizza for 5-10 minutes, until the whole thing makes delicious frying sounds and the top looks done.

Wait 5 minutes, or eat hours later at room temp.

Tips, tricks, and tomato sauce

With quick-working yeast recipes, it is very important that your yeast is super healthy and alive. A packet of Fleischmann that’s been in the pantry for months is a risky proposition. Buy the really good stuff and store it in the freezer; use straight from the freezer.

Having published several pizza recipes, I’ve never explained what tomato sauce I use. So here’s my general-purpose tomato sauce recipe!

Neven’s Simple Tomato-Butter Sauce

INGREDIENTS

• 14 oz can good canned, crushed tomatoes (Bianco di Napoli, Carmelina’s, Sclafani, Pomi…)
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tbsp butter

DIRECTIONS

Put all the ingredients in a skillet at the same time. Heat at medium-low for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally; you want to see a steady simmer, but without the sauce popping out of the pan. When the sauce is thickened, it’s done.

For a punchier variation, sauté diced garlic in the pan at very low heat until fragrant; add dried herbs (thyme, oregano, marjoram) and red pepper flakes; then add the ingredients as above and proceed.

That’s it for fast pizza!

P.S. More baking recipes are available at https://mrgan.com

Buttermilk Biscuits

Everyone loves biscuits! And if you look up how to make them, basically every recipe is about the same. Mine isn’t anything earth-shattering, but it does have one unusual step. Scroll on down to find out what it is! (The secret is folding more than you think you should—ed.)

Neven’s Buttermilk Biscuits

Servings: 6-9 biscuits
Time: 15 minute mix + 15 minute fold + 30 minute bake

INGREDIENTS:

• 280 g all-purpose flour
• 80 g high-gluten flour (or more APF)
• 25 g sugar
• 10 g salt
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 165 g (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, very cold
• 1 ¼ cup buttermilk, cold

DIRECTIONS:

First, the most important thing: keep everything as cold as you can. Place a large bowl in the fridge if you can; pop the whole butter sticks into the freezer as you prep.

Put a sheet of parchment paper on a half-sheet pan (18″ × 13″) as your final landing area for the cut biscuits. Pre-heat your oven to 400ºF with a rack in the top third of the oven.

In the cold bowl, whisk together your flour(s), sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Grab your whole sticks of cold butter and grate them (using the side with the large, pizza-cheese holes) into the bowl with the flour. Using a spatula, fold gently to combine, but without mushing up the butter shreds.

Pour in the buttermilk and fold again with that spatula. You’re trying to kind of sort of get it uniform, but it’ll still look like an awful mess. Your goal is just to integrate the big pool of dry flour from the bottom of the bowl into a shaggy mass in the middle.

Dust with flour a surface as big as you can afford: a workbench, a clean counter, a large cutting board. Gently flip your “dough” (lol) onto it and shake out any remaining flour from the bowl. It will look like an intimidating, dry mound; that’s to be expected.

Grab a bench scraper or another thin, flat-sided tool. (A small, flexible cutting board works.) Now press gently from the sides and the top of your pile to form a sort of tight box. Don’t squeeze it like Play-Doh™, but do try to pack it.

Using your scraper tool, go under the sides of the dough and make sure it’s not stuck to the work surface. Still using the scraper to help you, flip one third from any side over the middle; then flip the remaining third to make a thicker shape with 2 folds in it, like a letter (you know how we all fold letters all the time these days?) Press down to get the whole thing to the original, starting height again. This is your basic biscuit-folding move; this is what builds those flaky layers, butter being laminated between strata of flour.

Here comes the unusual part of my recipe: where most write-ups will tell you to repeat this two or three times, I’m going to suggest that you do so a dozen times. That’s right, get a solid 36 folds in there (each step creates 3 “folds”). The thing is, I don’t “mix” my dough much in the previous steps, so this folding is how we’ll get the whole thing together and develop lots of layers. If it sounds like a lot of work, don’t worry; once you figure out the folding move (which you have to do either way), it only gets easier as you repeat it.

The dough should keep getting more flexible and easier to work with as the flour is integrated into it. If you start to feel some sticking, add a bit of flour to the sticky spots, but don’t go wild with it. If the whole thing sticks to the work surface, use that scraper and move along and under the sides again to free it, and maybe add a bit of flour there.

Toward the last 3-4 folds, you can start using a rolling pin to ensure an even height to your dough. The end result should be a rectangle 1.5" thick and maybe 9" × 13" in size, fairly smooth and without any huge spots of butter or flour in it. Press in the sides to ensure a square-ish appearance to the thing, but don’t expect perfection.

Once you’re satisfied with the final folded dough, cut off those raggedy sides; they’d impede a clean vertical rise of your biscuits. Use your scraper tool—or a big knife—to cut about ½" off each side so the remaining rectangle is super sharp and even. Cut straight down with no sawing motion; just slam straight down confidently. I believe in you.

Using the same BAM! cutting motion, divide your dough rectangle into 6-9 biscuits; how many is up to you and your idea of what looks good and what’s possible with the dough. Move the cut biscuits gently—separating from the work surface with that scraper tool if nedded—to the prepared sheet pan with the parchment paper on it. Keep a 1-2" space between your biscuits as they will expand some during the bake.

Discard the cut-off dough… I’m just kidding, come on. Take those end scraps and press them together from their sides to make a sort of rectangle with them. Letter-fold the rectangle again as best as you can, press down to make it neat, and cut however many biscuits it will produce (2? 3?) Cut off the sides again and press them into one wacky biscuit that’ll rise unevenly but still be delicious. This should be your only un-square biscuit. Move all the new biscuits to the prepared sheet pan.

Grab another ¼ cup buttermilk and brush the tops of your biscuits with it; just enough to cover them, without getting goopy. Pop the whole thing into the oven and set a timer for 20 minutes. Rotate halfway through that time if you’re around.

Check your biscuits’ appearance: golden, with some dark areas along the top? Are the bottoms also developing a nice crust? You might not be done after 20 minutes, so feel free to set a timer for another 3-12 minutes, as needed.

When your biscuits look so good you want to build an ethical photo-sharing platform just to show them to the world, remove them from the oven. Feel free to brush them with butter. (Just running that remaining half a stick of butter over them like lip gloss will do.) Let them cool for at least 10 minutes before eating them.

PRO TIPS:

• Try to find full-fat buttermilk. Sometimes it’s called “Bulgarian style” or another exotic name that means it’s flavorful and good.
• You can freeze unbaked biscuits. Once your biscuits are cut and on the sheet pan, place the whole sheet pan in the freezer for 2 hours, uncovered. When the biscuits are rock-hard, move them to a freezer bag, fold to get all the air out of the bag, close, and store in the freezer for, like, 3 months or so. Bake from frozen (DO NOT THAW) and add 5-15 minutes to the bake time, until they look delectable.
• Do you think grating butter is weird? Are you weirded out by it? You can also cut it to a fine dice and then press it into flat discs in the flour using your hands. It’s a free country.
• Leftover biscuits should be stored in a closed container once they’re fully cooled off. You can keep them around on the counter for 2-3 days, and reheat in a low oven, either whole or split.
• I’m gonna hide a Mega Pro Tip here where no one will read it: buttermilk is incredibly delicious and you should just drink it out of a glass.

Sourdough English Muffins

If you’re going to have a sandwich for breakfast, your best bread option is an English Muffin. If you’re going to buy those, your best choice is Bays brand. But if you’re a Sourdough Person, you can make the best Anglo Muffs of your life at home.

This recipe should be super chill for anyone who has baked sourdough before. It’s largely based on the method employed by The Model Bakery. We’re gonna be frying these buns.

Neven’s Sourdough English Muffins

Servings: 12
Time: 15 min mix + 6 hour proof + 10 minute shape + overnight proof + 20 minute cook

INGREDIENTS:

• 400 g all-purpose flour
• 100 g high-gluten flour (or more APF)
• 10 g salt
• 300 g water
• 135 g ripe-and-ready sourdough starter
• 18 g olive oil
• ~¼ cup semolina, or medium-coarse cornmeal
• 6 tbsp clarified butter (ghee), or plain butter

DIRECTIONS:

In the bowl of your stand mixer, stir together the flours and the salt. Add the water, the starter, and the olive oil. Attach the bowl to the mixer equipped with the dough hook attachment. Start the mixer on the lowest speed and mix for 3 minutes, then stop and scrape down the sides, releasing the dough ball from the dough hook. Kick up the speed to the next notch and mix for another 3 minutes. Stop, scrape, and increase the speed by 1 again; mix another 3-4 minutes, until the dough is smooth.

Transfer the dough to another, lightly oiled bowl (I like a wider, shallower container for this) and cover. Leave on the counter for 4-6 hours; it will need less time on a very hot day, more on a cold one.

Once the dough looks smoothly inflated—note that it may not double in size—flour a workbench. Grab a half-sheet pan (18″ x 13″) and lay a piece of parchment paper on it, then generously and uniformly dust it with semolina or cornmeal.

The dough should be light and gassy, so handle it gently and use flour as needed. With a bench scraper or knife, cut it intos dozen ~80 g pieces. Shape each into a ball by pulling the sides towards the middle and pinching together, then flip it over and roll on the bench to form a smooth top and a bottom sealed together by rolling. Place these balls on the dusted half-sheet pan, spacing them evenly; they will grow somewhat during their second proof. Cover carefully with a large proofing bag or plastic wrap.

Proof overnight (12-18 hours) in a cool place—either the fridge, or something like a basement/garage if it gets no warmer than 55ºF.

In the morning, we’re going to “fry” the English muffins. You’ll want to use a large cooking surface—either a griddle that will hold ¼" of melted clarified butter, or one or more cast-iron skillets. I used two 12" cast-iron skillets. Heat them up for a few minutes over medium-low-to-medium heat.

Melt the clarified butter; this will happen quickly. Now pick up your muffins very gently and flip them into the oil with the un-dusted, top side down; you’ll fit 3-4 per skillet. Cook for 3-4 minutes, then flip and do another 3-4 minutes. Look for beautiful browning, but without burning; adjust the heat if needed. Also remember to rotate the skillet occasionally to avoid hot spots.

When cooked, move the muffins to a cooling rack lined with paper towels. Rest for at least 20 minutes. Split with a knife and toast the inside if you’d like. Make into a sandwich, top with jam, or eat as-is. Store in a sealed container, and freeze after 1-2 days if any are left over.

Notes on ingredients and technique are discussed below these two braggy pictures. Yeah, I eat English Muffin sandwiches!

JUST A FEW QUICK SUGGESTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS, IF YOU HAPPEN TO HAVE A MINUTE

What’s a clarified butter?

Clarified butter is butter with its milk solids and water removed—so what’s left is just the fat part of it. It lasts longer and won’t burn as easily in the pan. To make it, you can just melt a stick or two of butter over low heat, then scoop off the floating milk solids and discard any watery stuff left at the bottom. 

I’m sorry, I thought we were making English Muffins, not doing chemistry!

Yeah, well. You’re totally welcome to fry these in regular butter, but watch out for burns. Maybe turn down the temp and cook for longer.

I’m supposed to split these with a fork, not a knife, right?

No.

Are you sure?

Yes.

I’m pretty sure everyone says to split your English Muffins with a fork, NOT a knife. 

People say a lot of things.

It’s how you get the nooks and crannies!

Oh here we go with the nooks and crannies…

Those are the best part of the muff!

I think we’re done here.

Nooks. Crannies. Hello!

Thank you, please leave now.

Who the hell splits things with a knife??

(yelling through the closed door) It’s what knives were invented for! Cutting things!

(crowd dressed up as Nooks and Crannies picketing outside my house) NOOKS AND CRANNIES! NOOKS AND CRANNIES!

Fine! Use a spoon! Use a cheese grater to “cut” your English Muffin! Put them in the dishwasher! Pickle them, for all I care.

Do you have a recipe for these based on commercial yeast rather than sourdough?

Not right now, sorry.

Burger Buns

Have you had a “hamburger” before? It’s like a meat “patty” on a pillowy, soft bun. They’re pretty interesting sandwiches!! But seriously, folks—this bun recipe is so nice and simple, you’re going to forget that the store ones are like $2 for an 8-pack. Let’s get started.

Neven’s Burger Buns

Servings: 8
Time: 15 min mix + 3.5 hr proof + 20 min bake + 20 min cool

INGREDIENTS

• 200 g all-purpose flour
• 250 g high-gluten (bread) flour, or more APF
• 8 g salt
• 20 g sugar
• 7 g (one package) instant yeast
• 125 g lukewarm water
• 115 g milk
• 1 egg
• 45 g butter, at room temp

More info about the ingredients follows after the recipe.

DIRECTIONS

In the bowl of your stand mixer, stir together the flours, salt, sugar, and yeast. Add the water, milk, and egg, but not the butter. Attach the bowl to the mixer equipped with the dough hook attachment. Start the mixer on the lowest speed and mix for 2 minutes, then stop and scrape down the sides, releasing the dough ball from the dough hook. Go up to the next higher speed, and start adding the butter in small pads—toss one in, wait for it to get fully mixed in and no longer visible, then add more. This may take 3-5 minutes. When all the butter is added in, go one speed higher on the mixer again and mix for another 2 minutes. The dough will be smooth, stretchy and a little sticky.

Transfer the dough to another, large, lightly oiled bowl (I like a wider, shallower container for this) and cover. Leave on the counter for 2 hours; it will need a little less time on a very hot day.

Once the dough looks smoothly inflated and doubled in size, move it to a work surface (a clean workbench or a cutting board). Use a bench scraper or knife to cut the dough into ~108 g balls. Shape each into a ball by pulling the sides towards the middle and pinching together, then flip it over and roll on the counter to form a smooth top and a bottom sealed together by rolling. (This video of pizza-ball shaping will be instructive.) Place these balls on a half-sheet pan (18″ x 13″) and cover with a clean, non-terry towel. Rest for 60-90 minutes.

30 minutes before the second proof is done, preheat your oven to 425ºF with a rack in the top third. 

When the buns looks very large and puffy, uncover them carefully. From this point on, don’t poke or move them; they’re filled with gas and we want to keep them that way. All that’s left is to egg-wash them. Beat one egg, then gently brush some onto each bun. Go for even coverage in as thin a layer as you can manage.

If you’d like to add toppings at this point, go ahead. Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, onion—the sky’s the limit.

Pop the sheet pan into the oven and set a timer for 15 minutes. Rotate the pan after 7-8 minutes. At the end, check that the buns are large, golden, and irresistibly shiny; you may have to add another 2-5 minutes to the bake, or not.

Move each bun carefully to a cooling rack and let them fully cool, at least 20 minutes. They’re now ready to use or store for a day or two. They also freeze beautifully and thaw out on the counter overnight just fine.

Ideally, griddle them in butter before using for a sandwich. 

I refuse to discuss what you do with the rest of your burger because I don’t want Internet drama.

HELPFUL INFORMATION YOU MAY ASSUME IS SPONSORED CONTENT AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST BUT IT’S NOT, IT’S REALLY NOT

• What’s with the high-gluten flour? This is the baker’s “secret,” a flour that gives you that strong, chewy crumb bakeries achieve. You likely won’t find anything labeled “high-gluten flour” in stores. You could buy “bread flour” there, or shop at your local restaurant-supply store! Like you’re a restaurant!
• My favorite commercial yeast is Saf-Instant brand. Buy a big thing of it and keep it in the freezer; use straight out of the freezer. By the way, that restaurant-supply store will likely carry it.
• Can you make this without a stand mixer? Hm maaaaybe, but it’s going to take a solid 30 minutes of hand-kneading. See, this is an enriched dough, meaning it contains things like milk and eggs. To get those really integrated into the final mix, you need to knead a lot. The dough should be utterly smooth by the end, with the butter fully incorporated. It’s doable, though—I believe in you!
• When proofing, you can use a towel, or one of these sweet proofing bags. 
• For sliders, shape twelve buns, ~72 g each. Or if you’d like 12 burger buns, 1.5x the recipe, but watch out when spacing them on the half sheet pan. Or use a Big Sheet!
• I’ve successfully replaced the milk in this recipe with buttermilk for a tangier taste.

Neven’s Sourdough Bagels

Here’s the good news: the best bagel recipe I’ve made has also been the least demanding one. How often does that happen?

The bad news is… well, there’s no bad news. These are delicious and fairly no-nonsense. The recipe follows; after that, scroll down if you’d like to learn more.

Neven’s Sourdough Bagels

Servings: 8
Time: 15 min mix + 6 hr proof + overnight proof + 1 hr boil & bake

INGREDIENTS:

• 450 g high-gluten flour (or bread flour, or all-purpose flour)
• 50 g whole wheat flour (or more of the above flour)
• 20 g sugar
• 10 g salt
• 250 g water
• 125 g ripe sourdough starter

DIRECTIONS:

In the bowl of your stand mixer, stir together the flours, salt, and sugar. Attach to the mixer equipped with the dough hook attachment. In another bowl or cup, mix the water and starter gently. Start the mixer on the lowest speed and slowly add the water+starter mix. Mix for 4 minutes, then stop and scrape down the sides, releasing the dough ball from the dough hook. Mix for another 4-5 minutes, until the dough is smooth.

Transfer the dough to another, lightly oiled bowl (I like a wider, shallower container for this) and cover. Leave on the counter for 4-6 hours; it will need less time on a very hot day, more on a cold one.

Once the dough looks smoothly inflated—note that it may not double in size—use a bench scraper or knife to cut into ~112 g balls. Shape each into a ball by pulling the sides towards the middle and pinching together, then flip it over and roll on the counter to form a smooth top and a bottom sealed together by rolling. Place these balls on a half-sheet pan (18″ x 13″) and cover with a clean, non-terry towel. Rest for 10-15 minutes.

Shape bagel rings by grabbing a ball and poking a hole through its center with an oiled or floured finger. Then gently stretch out the ring, doing your best to keep it even all around. No need to sweat this too much; the bagels will smooth out a lot during the bake. Here’s a video of my stretching method:

Once all the rings are on the sheet, cover it well with plastic wrap or place inside a large proofing bag. Stick it in the fridge. (I realize this can be tricky, but do your best to Tetris your jars and Tupperware™ to create an even horizontal surface.) Let them proof for 12-48 hours.

The next day, before you bake, do the following in this order:

1. Preheat your oven to 500ºF with a rack in the top third. (The exact placement will depend a bit on your oven; see what works best.)
2. Fill a very wide pot with ~3″ of water and bring to a boil; turn down to a steady but controlled boil. Place a spider or slotted spoon nearby.
3. Put a large pan next to the pot and cover it with a clean towel; this is where you’ll place the bagels after boiling them.
4. Grab a metal pan of any size and fill it with at least a cup of water; this will be your steam pan. I use a cheap aluminum pan. Please, please DO NOT use glass, Pyrex, or ceramic; they may shatter.
5. Take the bagel pan out of the fridge and uncover it.
6. Grab another half-sheet pan and line it with parchment paper.

You’ll boil the bagels briefly, drain them on the towel-lined sheet, then place them on your final baking sheet. Try to work quickly as it’s best for the bagels to go from the boil to the oven without much delay.

When the water is boiling, pick up one bagel and gently lower into the water. (You can use your hand to do this, not the spider.) Add 2 or 3 more bagels—whatever fits comfortably in your pot. Boil them for 40 seconds, then flip and boil another 40 seconds. Scoop out onto the towel, flipping over so the puffy, smooth side faces up. 

Boil the rest of the bagels in batches. As the boiled bagels cool off a bit—it should take just 30 seconds to a minute—gently move them to the final baking sheet.

When all the bagels are boiled and on the sheet, take your steam pan and put it on the very bottom of your oven. It will quickly begin to steam; this will give the bagels their crunchy outer crust. Now slide the bagel pan into that top-third rack of your oven.

Bake for 10 minutes without opening the door; you want the steam to stay inside. Open the door, rotate the pan, and bake another 5 minutes. At this point, assess how dark the bagels are. Too dark for comfort? Drop the temperature to 450ºF or even 425ºF. Or not—I do 500ºF throughout the whole bake myself.

After the 20 total minutes of baking, the bagels should look puffy, smooth, golden, and wonderfully micro blistered. Take them out of the oven, then move to a cooling rack.

Wait 20-30 minutes before slicing them; I know, I know.

I’m not going to tell you what to put on them or how to eat them—that’s between you and your maker. Enjoy!

OCCASIONALLY AMUSING NOTES:

But Neven, am I not supposed to be using lye or baking soda or something?

This is certainly the typical method for making bagels: add a terrifying drop of caustic lye to your water while wearing scuba gear and praying on a rosary. It’s meant to create a certain bagely something, contribute to the chew or mouthfeel or whatever… After making several batches that turned out “alright” and weren’t any chewier than anything else, I gave up and started boiling my bagels in plain water. And look at me today!

Did I read that right, you bake at 500ºF? Some say, like, 375ºF?

Bagels I baked at any temperature below 475ºF turned out pale and unsatisfying. Maybe my oven is broken? Either way, give it a shot and drop the temp if you feel you need to. (My bet is, you won’t.)

Do you have a version made with commercial yeast?

I was not happy with the flavor or the bake of the yeast-based bagels I made. Sorry. —Sourdough Guy

What’s a proofing bag?

One of those things they use on the Great British Bake Off. They’re sweet! So much easier than wrapping plastic on top of dough. Get ‘em here.

Can I make a dozen bagels?

You can, I believe in you! Just 1.5x the recipe (it should work fine in a typical stand mixer) and bake on a Big Sheet pan (21″ x 15″). It’ll be a bit of a squeeze to fit 12 bagels on a half-sheet pan.

Oh right, I don’t have a stand mixer!

Mix the dough by hand 🙂

Are those bialys up there?

Heck yeah those are bialys up there. Here’s how to do those: Ball up dough, but don’t poke any holes through it. Proof in the fridge as above. In the morning, pizza-shape it into a disc about 5-6″ in size, with a puffy rim. Top with chopped garlic or sautéed diced onion mixed with poppy seeds.

How do I store any leftover bagels?

“Leftover bagels? Does not compu [giant hook drops from the sky and pulls me into the clouds, screaming] Once they’re totally cooled off, place your bagels in a paper bag or bread box overnight; they’ll toast up fine in the morning. If you don’t get to them that next day, then slice them and store in the freezer. You can then thaw for a few hours and toast.

That’s it! Thanks for reading!

P.S. I put pimento cheese and beet + smoked salmon cream cheese on these bagels. Nice, huh?

P.P.S. When I link to products above, I use an Amazon affiliate link; if you choose to purchase anything this way, I thank you.

Neven’s Pan Pizza

Pan pizza is the best pizza you can make in a typical home oven. It’s also a style that’s tricky to find in restaurants (though it’s becoming more popular.) That means you should make it, and I’m here to help. This is my simple, flexible, delicious recipe.

(Before we begin, have you seen my thin-style pizza recipe? It’s a good idea to read it even if you’re here primarily for the pan pie.)

Neven’s Pan Pizza

Servings: one 9 x 13” (or 10 x 14”) pizza
Time: 3.5 hours (mix and proof) + 1 to 3 days (fridge-ferment) + 6 hours (final proof) + 25 to 40 minutes (shape, top, and bake)

INGREDIENTS:

• 175 g all-purpose flour
• 75 g high-gluten or bread flour (or all-purpose flour)
• 5 g (2%) salt
• 50 g (20%) ripe sourdough starter, fed and doubled and ready
• 200 g (80%) water
• ~2 tbsp olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

Put all the dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer outfitted with the dough hook and stir with a spatula to combine. Add the starter and about 2/3 of the water. Start the mixer on low speed and mix for 1 minute; add the rest of the water, and mix for 4 more minutes. Switch to medium speed and mix for another 5 minutes. If at any point the dough threatens to crawl out of the bowl, stop the mixer and scrape the mess back down into the bowl. The dough will be wet and sticky—not to worry, that’s what 80% hydration looks like.

Scoop the dough out into a new bowl (wider, shallowe, preferably non-metal.) Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest in a warm spot for 3 hours. (70–74°F? An oven that was on for two minutes before being turned off is a good environment.) Every 30 minutes or so, fold the dough—just go around the edge of the dough with a flexible spatula and fold the outside in, like a scared starfish. You’re just trying to redistribute the dough to make it nice and smooth.

Grab a 9×13 nonstick sheet pan, with sides at least 1.5″ tall. (See below for a list of my preferred equipment.) Pour in 1.5 tbsp olive oil—about two glugs—and spread it around. (If your pan is truly nonstick, you don’t have to be thorough here; if it’s not, cover every damn millimeter with oil. Not a lot of oil, just complete coverage.) After the 3 hours have passed, move the dough into the pan. Gently scrape it into the middle of the pan, then flip the dough over so both sides are oiled. Flatten it just a tad and leave it alone. It won’t come close to filling the pan, and that’s ok. Now’s the time for it to go to sleep in the cold: cover your pan tightly and move it to a fridge shelf for 1-3 days.

6 hours before baking, remove the pan from the fridge and set it on the counter.  Feel free to sneak a peak at the dough: it looks about the same, yeah? Now watch it spread out and blow small bubbles in the coming hours, especially if you give it a nice, warm environment again. 

Preheat your oven at 500ºF for at least half an hour, with your rack somewhere around the lower middle; all ovens vary, so adjust as needed after you see your finished pie’s top and bottom bakes.

To stretch the dough: uncover the pan and oil your fingers with the olive oil pooled in the corners. Now gently dimple the dough and watch for bubbles—cool, yeah? Spread it softly from the middle, grabbing the dough corners and lifting them into the pan corners if needed. Your dough will be very soft and may seem uneven, but don’t sweat it; just patch any holes without massaging the dough too much. 

Topping time! Please place on your pizza whatever you like. Pan pies generally work better with cheese on the bottom. Also, try not to overtop it because that fluffy, fluffy dough needs to be able to rise—too much weight on top will prevent it from doing so. Remember that you can add a lot of stuff after baking—including tomato sauce!

So, line the dough with cheese. My preference is to use sliced mozzarella or provolone, though shredded or cubed will also work. Add extra cheese into the corners of the pan, so it bakes up into an irresistible cheese crust. Spoon cooked tomato sauce on top (in a hip diagonal pattern if you want to look fashionable on Instagram) and add any other toppings.

Bake for 12-16 minutes, rotating half way through. Watch the pie carefully in the last few minutes. Oh, did I mention—crank your vent hood because the cheese will burn and smoke, beautifully so.

When your pizza looks good enough to elope and start a new life in Mexico with, pull it out using decent oven mitts. Give it a minute to come to its senses, then go around the rim with a thin, non-scratchy tool—like a plastic knife or a small spatula—to release the cheese and sauce from the pan. It shouldn’t be much of a struggle if you used a good pan. Now dexterously slip an offset spatula or a burger flipper under one (narrow) side of the pizza and transfer it to a cooling rack.

If you’re feeling particularly naughty, shower the finished pie with finely grated parmesan cheese. I won’t tell anyone.

Give your pizza 5 minutes to rest—ok, ok, you have my permission to cut it after 2 minutes. Move to a cutting board and have at it with a large, sharp knife. 

– – – END OF RECIPE – – –
– – –  ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND ANECDOTES BELOW – – –

Just a reminder that my thin-style pizza recipe has more info about technique and ingredients and such, and I’m not going to repeat it all here like an aging musician running out of inspiration and covering their heyday hits to pander to the old fans.

Questions? Comments?

I don’t even have a sourdough, man.

It’s like, month three of quarantine—what have you been doing with your time?

Alright, alright. 

Neven’s Pan Pizza for Non-sourdough Folks Who Nevertheless Deserve Our Love and Respect

Servings: one 9 x 13 (or 10 x 14) pizza
Time: 3.5 hours (mix and proof) + 1 day (fridge-ferment) + 2 hours (final proof) + 25 to 40 minutes (shape, top, and bake)

INGREDIENTS:

• 175 g all-purpose flour
• 75 g high-gluten or bread flour (or all-purpose flour)
• 5 g (2%) salt
• 3 g (~1%) instant yeast (half a package thingy)
• 200 g (80%) water

DIRECTIONS:

Stir all the dry ingredients well in a large bowl, then add the yeast and water and stir again, using a silicone or wood spatula. When it starts coming together, pour in the olive oil and work it in. No need to get it smooth; just mix until there’s no dry flour on the bottom. Cover tightly with plastic wrap.

Every 30 minutes in the next 2 hours, fold it: slide the spatula under one side and fold it over toward the middle. Do 4-6 folds like this in one session. No need to be picky about the 30-minute timing, just shoot for 2-4 fold sessions in the first few hours of proofing, to distribute everything well.

Cover and leave out at room temperature for 12-18 hours. Just go to bed, don’t worry about it. You’ve worked hard all day.

The next day, the dough should look huge and bubbly. Does it? Oh, good. Now proceed with the above recipe from the pan-oiling step: move it to a pan, give it 1-2 hours to relax, stretch it, etc.

But I don’t have a stand mixer.

(I couldn’t find a gif of Donald Pleasance in Wake in Fright (1971) so this still image will have to do.)

Look, it’s fine. Read the above no-sourdough steps. No mixer needed. You can just do that, even when using sourdough—maybe halve the amount of sourdough starter. (It’s potent stuff.)

And now, a chaser for that hot hot image above.

Shop Talk

My attorneys have advised me to disclose that the links below include my referral code, which will make me even filthier rich than I am currently. (How rich am I? I make my own pizza, that’s how rich.)

• LloydPans Detroit Style Pizza Pan. These are just tremendous—wonderfully made, perfectly nonstick, stackable. Ideal for pan pizza, focaccia, and many other bakes.
• Detroit Style Pizza Pan Lid. Not at all required, but if you get serious about this pan pizza business, the lids are great because they’re reusable and they let you stack several pans in the fridge. (Note that you can bake two of these pizzas side by side in a typical oven. That’s what I do. Yes, it’s because I eat one whole pizza myself.)
• Cooling rack. I can’t stress enough the importance of cooling and resting your pizza—thin or thick, before it’s had a chance to release all that steam, it’s still kind of a wet mess of a casserole. 

The End

I realize some folks still think that thin vs. thick is an interesting pizza debate to be having in the 2020s, but I hope they can move on and get into all the pizza styles out there. Pan pies are so good. See for yourself.

Neven’s Pizza Dough

Sour cream, mozzarella, Sulguni cheese, pepperoni. Home oven, baking steel.

I like pizza, and I make it often. You also like pizza. Perhaps you’d like to make it as well? Here’s the recipe for my sourdough pizza, ideal for Neapolitan or NYC-style pies, baked in a home oven with a baking steel or stone, or in an outdoor oven. Scroll past the recipe if you’d like to learn more!

Neven’s Sourdough Pizza

Servings: two 12” pizzas.
Time: 3.5 hours (mix and proof) + 1 to 14 days (fridge-ferment) + 6 hours (final proof) + 10 to 20 minutes (shape, top, and bake)

INGREDIENTS:

• 260 g high-gluten or bread flour (or all-purpose flour)
• 40 g (15%) whole wheat or rye flour (or any flour, really)
• 9 g (3%) salt
• 15 g (5%) ripe sourdough starter
• 200 g (66%) water

DIRECTIONS:

Put all the dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer (”a KitchenAid”) outfitted with the dough hook and stir with a spatula to combine. Add the starter and about 2/3 of the water. Start the mixer on low speed and mix for 1 minute; add the rest of the water, and mix for 4 more minutes. Switch to medium speed and mix for another 5 minutes. If at any point the dough threatens to crawl out of the bowl, stop the mixer and scrape the mess back down into the bowl.

Once mixed, move the dough to a new bowl. (I prefer a shallower, wider, non-metal one myself.) Cover the bowl and let the dough rest in a warm spot (70–74°F?) for 3 hours. Every 30 minutes or so, perform a stretch-and-fold.

Scoop the dough with a flexible dough scraper onto a lightly oiled work surface and cut into two 262 g portions. Shape each portion into a ball, tucking the ends in toward the middle to form a taut, balloon-like surface on one side. Pop into a lightly oiled 16 oz deli container (do you have some from food deliveries?), messy side down. Cover and pop in the back of the fridge for 1-14 days. (I find the flavor is best around 7 days.)

6 hours before baking, remove the containers from the fridge and leave them on the counter. 2 hours before baking, uncover them. This will dry out the top somewhat, which is great; that will become the not-so-sticky bottom of your crust.

Portioned dough balls after being uncovered.

If using a home oven: 1 hour before baking, pop a baking stone or baking steel or upside-down pan on a rack 6-8" from the top broiler. Crank it up to 550ºF and leave it there.

To stretch the dough: hold the container upside down and wiggle the dough out of it gently; dont worry about whether it stays a perfect ball. Place it into a shallow, wide bowl of flour and make sure the wet end and the sides get some flour (not too much) on them. Place it on your wooden peel with the dry (previously the top) side down and press gently around the inside of the rim to make a little ringed pizza-prototype.

Then pick it up and stretch with your knuckles (don’t use your fingers). It should be very friendly, stretchy without any pullback or tearing. Stretch to 10" in size. Shimmy the peel a bit to make sure no part of the dough has stuck; repeat this shimmying every minute or so if it takes you that long to top it.

Stretching the dough using knuckles only.

My topping strategy for a standard cheese pizza: layer the dough with sliced mozzarella cheese, then add dabs of sauce, and your toppings. Now gently tug under the rim all around to stretch to 12″; the weight of the toppings will help prevent pullback.

Redistribute the toppings if needed. Shimmy again. Expertly slide onto the steel/stone/pan.

If using a home oven: set a timer for 4 minutes. Then, open the oven door and check the underside of your pizza. Almost done, while the top is still a bit pale? If so, slide a metal pizza pan (or a cookie sheet or something else thin, metal, and as large as the pie) under it. This prevents the bottom from getting overbaked. Rotate the arrangement 180º to get even baking. Set a timer for 3 minutes.

When the pizza is gorgeous, slide it out with a metal pizza peel or a large flat spatula or whatever. (Don’t use your wooden peel—that’s for shaping and launching only.) Rest it on a cooling rack for 1-2 minutes to dry out the bottom. Then move to a cutting board or plate and slice. (Don’t use your wooden peel for this either, please!)

If using an outdoor pizza oven: if you own one of these, you probably know what to do. Have at it, sport!

Sour cream, mozzarella, provolone, chives and garlic chives. Ooni Koda oven.

33% whole wheat in this dough. Aged for 9 days in the fridge.

– – – END OF RECIPE – – –
– – – NOTES AND MUSINGS FOLLOW – – –

A note on baker’s percentages 

When a dough is “66% hydrated,” that doesn’t mean the final ball of dough is two-thirds water. Rather, what bakers mean is, water is equal to 66% of the flour weight. Got it? That way, you can measure out your flour and scale all the other ingredients to it. I no longer refer to a recipe when I mix the dough, because I’ve memorized the percentages: 66% water, 3% salt, 5% starter. I also know that I need 150 g of flour per pizza; from these figures I can easily arrive at the weight of the other ingredients. Can you do the math in your head for, say, four pizzas? It’s easy! (Or maybe I’m just a math genius. (I am not a math genius.))

Just TWO pizzas? So what’s my boyfriend going to eat?

You can easily double the recipe. I wouldn’t go beyond 2x; you can’t mix much more than a kilo of dough in a typical stand mixer. If you’re doing a big pizza party and you want to make eight pies, first of all, congratulations! second, do it in two batches.

Do you think I’m the sort of person who has sourdough starter just sitting around?

“What does it matter what you say about people?”

I get it. I wasn’t always a Sourdough Guy. So, let me give you a recipe using commercial yeast. Bonus: it’s faster!

Normal-Person Pizza

Servings: two 12” pizzas.
Time: 3 hours (mix and proof) + 10 to 20 minutes (shape, top, and bake)

INGREDIENTS:

• 260 g high-gluten or bread flour (or all-purpose flour)
• 40 g (15%) whole wheat or rye flour (or any flour, really)
• 9 g (3%) salt
• 3 g instant yeast (~1 tsp, about half a little package thingy, 1%)
• 200 g (66%) water

DIRECTIONS:

Put all the dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer (”a KitchenAid”) outfitted with the dough hook and stir with a spatula to combine. Add about 2/3 of the water. Start the mixer on low speed and mix for 1 minute; add the rest of the water, and mix for 4 more minutes. Switch to medium speed and mix for another 5 minutes. If at any point the dough threatens to crawl out of the bowl, stop the mixer and scrape it back down into the bowl.

Once mixed, move the dough to a new bowl. (I prefer a shallower, wider, non-metal one myself.) Cover the bowl and let the dough rest in a warm spot (70–74°C?) for 2 hours. Every 30 minutes or so, perform a stretch-and-fold.

Scoop the dough with a flexible dough scraper onto a lightly oiled work surface and cut into two 262 g portions. Shape each portion into a ball, tucking the ends in toward the middle to form a taut, balloon-like surface on one side. Place on a well floured board; flour the top some more; and cover with a clean, non-terry (non-”fuzzy”; you want “smooth”) kitchen towel. Rest for another 1-2 hours, watching for the dough to grow some more and start looking really taut and ready.

Proceed with the tossing, topping, and baking.

Carmelina brand tomatoes, sauced; garlic, fresh oregano. Ooni Koda oven.

Wait, but I don’t have a stand mixer either 😐

“It’s always gonna be something with you, isn’t it, Joe?”

No, that’s cool, that’s cool. Just mix by hand. Or by spatula, really. Mash it and fold it and fold it and mash it. Make sure you do frequent and thorough stretch-and-folds in this case. You really want to distribute everything uniformly in there.

And now, a word from our sponsors

(Note: none of the following products or brands are my sponsors. This is merely an idiom, come on.)

Juuuust in case you’re looking to add to your kitchen setup, here are the products I use for pizza making. Some of the links below include my referral code, which means I’ll get a tiny cut of the sale; the price is the same to you, though, so like, what does it matter? (I still feel a little uneasy. Sorry.)

• Ooni Koda outdoor pizza oven. Simple, portable, hot as heck. Makes pizza you simply can’t get out of a home oven. These links give you 10% off! (UK link, EU link. These links all give you 10% off. BAM!)
• Carmelina canned tomatoes in puree. Sweet, rich, flavorful. Buy them by the case.
• Tillamook sour cream. Yes, sour cream makes a perfect sauce for a white pizza—which is generally an easier base to put creative toppings on! Make sure to buy the stuff where the ingredients are just cream and cultures, none of this cornstarch/carrageenan nonsense.
• For flour, look for a local mill, if possible. Shop at restaurant-supply stores!
• 16 oz deli containers. Washable, sturdy, endlessly reusable. Love ‘em.
• CoverMate bowl covers. Reusable, washable, transparent, secure.
• Gram-precision kitchen scale. You know you need one. My favorite feature: extra long timeout (before it turns off) so I can forget to get the flour and run downstairs and hunt for it and when I come back, my measurement is still up on the screen.
• I also like Ooni’s bamboo and metal peels a lot. You can get very cheap ones on Amazon, but understand that they’re… cheap.
• Saf-Instant yeast. It’s got the cutest box. You can keep it in the freezer for years and use it right out of the freezer.
• Oxo pizza cutter wheel. Whatever wheel you buy, just make sure it’s large and heavy—that’s what helps you cut neatly.

In conclusion

Pizza is good. Thank you.

Sliced mozzarella, parmesan, Carmelina brand tomatoes. Home oven, baking steel.