Sourdough Chicken Pizzas
I am sharing another sourdough starter recipe today. This is another recipe that I use to productively use up sourdough starter discard and justify keeping alive those yeasty friends hanging out in my benchtop starter jar.
Sourdough starter is used as it is to make the bases for these pizzas. This recipe for sourdough pizza bases is really simple with only a couple of ingredients used to flavour the pizza bases. All you need to make sure you have is a at least one cast iron skillet or an oven proof dish that can retain lots of heat. I like to used two cast iron skillets at the same time as well as a large rectangular oven tray for when I want to make a big family sized pizza.
The recipe itself for the sourdough pizza bases is so simple that this post will feel like its dominated by the toppings of the pizza and how they are prepared. From my point of view, I reckon a pizza ain’t a pizza with no toppings on it, in fact it’s just a pizza base. That said, options for what toppings work well with the sourdough pizza bases is very important. Anyway, I have pumped out a video showing you how I made these pizzas which I have provided a link to below.
Recipe Notes
The recipe below has no measurements for ingredients because the amount depends on your preferences. In general, I like a crispy pizza base so I only use enough sourdough starter discard to coat the bottom of my cast iron skillet but if you like a puffy pizza base, add a thicker layer or better still, use active sourdough starter to ensure you get lots of rise as the base gets baked.
The amount of salt and dried oregano is just a sprinkling to give the pizza base a bit of flavour. Of course feel free to experiment what you add to the pizza base, in the future I plan to mix it up a little and experiment myself with different herbs and spices and of course I will sahre the ones that work the best.
Can you freeze these sourdough pizza bases?
Yes you can. I often make tthese sourdough pizza bases to just use up sourdough starter discard and pop them into the freezer for when we feel like having pizza. All you need to do is make the sourdough pizza bases as per the recipe below but rather than adding toppings, remove them from the pan and place onto a cooling rack to cool. Once cooled, wrap in foil, place in an airtight container or ziplock bag and pop it in the freezer. When it comes to using the frozen pizza bases, thaw them out, remove foil and place them into the oven at 200 degrees celsius to crisp back up before adding toppings and returning to the oven to finish off. I have also used these frozen pizza bases straight out of the freezer, just remove the foil, place in the oven on a baking tray at 200 degrees celcius until they have thawed and become crispy again then add your toppings and finish off as before. I would aim to use them within a month of putting them in the freezer.
Other Interesting Notes:
The toppings I suggest below are what we like to eat and are favourites with my preschoolers and partner. You will also notice that one set is labelled ‘deadly nightshade free’ this is because I am currently limiting the amount I eat from the deadly nightshade family as I think it is the cause of the eczma on my hands. If you are unsure what I mean by the deadly nightshade family, think tomatoes, capsicums, eggplant, chillis, potato they are all part of the deadly nightshade family and I try too not eat them. My achilles heel is smoked paprika, technically I should avoid that too, just because it is a powder made from the dried fruit of a sweet chilli pepper does not exclude it from the an ingedients or food item that forms part of the deadly nightshade family. However, like oyster sauce is the magic sauce to a stirfry, I am convinced smoked paprika is the magic powder to, well, everything edible. Smoked paprika is the secret behind the smoky flavour of chorizo.
When making a large family sized pizza base using an oven tray, if you are not using a cast irom tray, then I suggest you use non-stick baking paper. When I first started making these sourdough pizza bases I just used a non baking tray, however, I also used a lot more oil before adding my sourdought starter discard, I was effectively shallow frying the starter. As delicious as that was, I decided to start using non baking paper to not only make it healthier but also a lot easier to remove the base from the pan. Of course, this is not a problem if you are using a well seasoned cast iron tray. Of course, if you do not have a cast iron pan or skillet and want to use an oven proof pan, that is fine, but just like when using a non cast iron oven tray, I suggest you use non-stick baking paper to avoid the need to use excess oil.
Sourdough Chicken Pizzas
Sourdough starter discard
Salt
Dried oregano
Chicken thigh meat
Smoked paprika
Olive oil
Toppings:
Capsicum
Tomatoes
Grated cheese
Marinated chicken
Red onion
Pineapple
Tomato paste
Deadly Nightshade Free toppings:
Basil pesto
Marinated chicken
Red onion
Pineapple
Grated cheese
Alternative Toppings Option:
Grated cheese
Capsicum
Chopped spinach
Black olives
Red Onion
Beetroot relish
Marinade the chicken in olive oil and smoked paprika. For my tastes I use about 1tsp smoked paprika to 300g meat with enough oil to make it easy to mix. Set aside to marinade for at least 30 minutes or overnight.
Cut the reamining toppings into bite sized pieces.
To make the sourdough pizza bases:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius.
Heat the pan, preferrably cast iron, until very hot and smokey. Add sourdough starter discard, I use about 1 1/2 cups for a 20cm round cast iron skillet.
Using a spatula, spread out the starter discard evenly, add more starter discard if you want a thicker pizza base.
Once you have it spread out, sprinkle with salt and dried oregano or any other herbs and spices you want to flavour your pizza bases with.
Place the pan into the oven and bake until crispy or cooked how you like it.
Remove from the oven.
Add your pizza sauce and toppings, finishing off with grated cheese and sprinkling of smoked paprika.
Return to the oven to melt and brown the cheese.
Remove from oven, slice up and devour.
Happy cooking!
Mel Crafting.
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