New England Spelt Sourdough Pizza
All of the adults involved loved this pizza. The sweet nuttiness of the spelt produced some unexpected mouth joy! Children involved did not care for it quite so much, complaining mostly about how it’s too tough a dough and how it doesn’t taste the same as standard pizza crusts we make. We very much enjoyed this, though our toppings would have been much different if we’d known this is an adult pizza!
A quick note: by request, I have modified this recipe to include US/Imperial measurements and, where possible, volumetric. You will still need to double check these conversion figures, and in cases where my conversion app didn’t have the ingredient (spelt in this case), you will need to play with it a bit or do a bit of extra research.
Here’s what you need!
400 grams (14.11 ounces) spelt flour
100 grams (3.527 ounces) New England spelt sourdough starter
10 grams (2.4 teaspoons) sugar
10 grams (1.64 teaspoons) salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
230 grams (8.113 ounces) water
Let’s make the dough!
First, combine the spelt flour and sourdough starter. Stir these together well and let sit for 30 minutes to get to know each other. I use a dough whisk, but you can use anything including hands - I often just use hands because I hate doing more dishes.
Add in your salt, sugar, and olive oil, and then add in your water. Give it another 30. Spelt has, relative to common wheat, some strange ways of dealing with hydration, so these rests give you a clearer idea of what your dough is doing with it.
All mixed up!
Knead for 20 minutes. Yes, 20. Don’t be all strong man about it, but give it a good knead to develop the gluten. Let rise 4 hours. You can go over if you want or need to.
Kneaded and in the bowl to rise
Bake time!
What you next is grab some parchment paper, plop your dough out, and roll it as big as you want your pizza. We usually do this in rectangular-ish shapes, because several people like to have at least one crustless piece. You do what you like.
Then sauce if using, cheese if using, and toppings if using. I went topping free here, because we wanted to make sure the crust was the focus. I also was too lazy to make my sauce this time, so I just opened a can of tomato sauce, spread half-ish of it on, and added some Italian seasoning and garlic powder. Most of the time, I put garlic powder in my dough, too, and it’s nice. But again, wanted the spelt to be the focus for this. Make it yours!
Heat your oven to 450F/230C/gas mark 8. Once it’s good and rockin’ hot, put your pizza on a paddle or pan (with the parchment) and slide it onto your heated stone or onto the rack. Bake 10-15 minutes, depending on how dark you like yours. Let cool 5-10, then nom!
