Poolish Pizza Dough
Poolish pizza is something I discovered a long time ago. Making pizza with poolish means adding a pre-fermented dough, rather than adding yeast.
Of course, adding yeast takes less of your time, in terms of preparation, but pizza made with poolish achieves a lovely texture and bite, while being easy to digest. Poolish pizza may even become your next favorite recipe!
What Is Poolish?
A poolish is the pre-fermented doughy part that gets added to the dough in bread and pizza making. A poolish is made of flour, water, and just a small bit of classic dry yeast.
Once combined, the mixture is left to ferment for about 8-12 hours. The result is known as poolish, or “sponge” because the mixture is very spongy and airy. All this texture is developed because of the fermentation process.
There are actually two types of sponge used in baking; poolish and biga. While biga is drier, poolish has 100% hydration, which means you are adding 100% of the weight of flour in water.
This process is similar to that of making a sourdough starter. In fact, some of the same concept is applies to poolish. Making a poolish is also like making levain (popular in France). You are creating a pre-fermentation that will be added to your final dough.
The difference between poolish and classic starter is in the time. A poolish requires only 8-12 hours to make, while a classic sourdough starter requires between 5-8 days.
Making Poolish
Making poolish is very easy, and unlike a sourdough starter, you do not need to discard anything. To make poolish, you have to mix the same weight in water and flour.
Another thing to keep in mind when making poolish is that you need to use a kitchen scale, and one that uses grams. Adding yeast is a bit tricky, and especially because this one only calls for 1g of yeast.
This would be less than 1/8 of a teaspoon, and that is not the most accurate way to measure.
Once you weigh the ingredients, you will combine all of them in a large mixing bowl. The mixture you get is homogenous and you will have to cover it with a tight lid or plastic wrap.
Making poolish is very easy and the yeast will do its trick while you are sleeping. You know you have a perfect poolish when it is doubled in size and shows a very bubbly top.
Making Poolish Pizza (Overview)
Once your poolish is all doubled in size and with evident bubbles, you can start making your pizza. Making pizza with poolish is no more difficult than a regular pizza.
All you have to do is combine more flour, water, and add pre-fermented poolish. As with any other pizza, you should add some kind of sweetener, sugar and honey, to get things moving.
Once you combine the ingredients, the mixture will be quite sticky, so I do recommend that you start stirring the mixture with a wooden spoon or spatula. Once it starts to come together, you can process and stir in the salt.
Once most of the flour has been incorporated, transfer the mixture onto a working surface and knead it until you get a proper dough. Kneading the dough with your hands has therapeutic properties and is my favorite thing in the world!
You can use the stand mixer with the dough hooks attached, but try kneading it yourself. You can also add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil into the dough to make it more smooth and shiny.
When the dough is ready, put it back in the bowl, cover with plastic foil, and let it rest for few hours more. I would recommend a minimum of two hours at room temperature or until doubled in size.
What Are The Best Toppings?
The classic pizza toppings include tomato sauce and cheese. This is actually the classic Italian pizza, with only tomato sauce, mozzarella, and fresh basil.
Since the first pizza was made, things have changed big-time. Today, pizzas are topped with so many ingredients, and they include pepperoni, vegetables, seafood, eggs, and many others.
Still, I like to stick with the classic toppings, and that is what I have done here, with zesty tomato sauce and delicious cheese.
Poolish Pizza Dough Recipe
Preparation time: 12 hours
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Servings: 8
Ingredients:
For the poolish:
- 75g flour
- 75g lukewarm water
- 1g dry yeast
For the pizza dough:
- 200g flour
- 75ml water
- ¼ tsp honey or sugar
- 1 tsp salt and fermented poolish
Toppings:
- ¼ cup tomato sauce
- 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
- Fresh basil
- 1 tsp dried Italian herbs
Instructions
1. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, water, and yeast. Cover the poolish and let it rest for 8-12 hours.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, water, and poolish. Stir until almost all the flour is incorporated, then add salt.
3. Stir again until the dough comes together. Transfer the dough onto the kitchen surface and knead until smooth.
4. Place the dough back in a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest for at least two hours or until doubled in size.
5. Punch down the dough and spread on a pizza stone. Let the pizza stand for 30 minutes before you add topping.
6. Top the dough with tomato sauce, cheese, and Italian herbs.
7. Bake the pizza for 10 minutes at 500°F.
8. Slice the pizza and serve!
Poolish Pizza Dough
This poolish pizza dough is a delicious twist on classic pizza dough!
Ingredients
For the poolish:
- 75g flour
- 75g lukewarm water
- 1g dry yeast
For the pizza dough:
- 200g flour
- 75 ml water
- ¼ tsp honey or sugar
- 1 tsp salt and fermented poolish
Toppings:
- ¼ cup tomato sauce
- 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
- Fresh basil
- 1 tsp dried Italian herbs
Instructions
- Make the poolish; in a mixing bowl, combine flour, water and yeast. Cover the poolish and let it rest for 8-12 hours.
- In a mixing bowl, combine flour, water, and poolish. Stir until almost all the flour is incorporated, then add salt.
- Stir again until the dough comes together. Transfer the dough onto the kitchen surface and knead until smooth.
- Place the dough back in a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest for at least two hours or until doubled in size.
- Punch down the dough and spread on a pizza stone. Let the pizza stand for 30 minutes before you add topping.
- Top the dough with tomato sauce, cheese, and Italian herbs.
- Bake the pizza for 10 minutes at 500°F.
- Slice the pizza and serve.
