Sourdough in Oven

Have You perfected Sourdough and Pizza Yet?

Sourdough and Pizza have been popular home hobbies during the Covid-19 lockdown, how is yours?

A year before the lockdown I learned that I could eat real bread. I just can’t eat US based quick made bread. I don’t know if it is the yeast or the residual glyphosate. Either way I break out all over like a scared teenager who lost his prom date to Bif.

While touring France I couldn’t resist and ate bread and Pain Au Chocolat daily. I never broke out. In a small village I was chatting with the chef/owner of the restaurant and learning about Muscadet. Che introduced it to us and was teaching us how to drink it. This was odd since she had closed an hour earlier and was trying to get her son to do his homework.

Pear and Basil on Sourdough
Pear, Basil Prosciutto Pizza

Good Bread Takes Time

During the conversation she started talking about bread. I let her know I could not eat bread in the US, and was happily enjoying it here (in France). She said (roughly translated) “It’s because you make bread wrong, you make it too fast so the yeast can’t do it’s job”. As the conversation continued she told me that she has never bought yeast. She has one little jar of starter for the restaurant. When I got home the research began.

A Tale of Two Websites

When I returned home I looked outside at my pizza oven and wondered it I could make a pizza dough that wouldn’t make me look like a back acne poster child. First I found Bake with Jack. Watching his videos I made starter and began baking some pretty good sourdough type baguettes. They don’t quite have the same flavor as real San Francisco Sourdough. Some say that is because I am more than 50 miles from San Francisco and the magic bacteria that makes the sour flavor dies. Even if you buy San Francisco starter mixes, the sour note slowly drops off.

Eventually I started making pizza balls with the sourdough. They weren’t bad but something was missing. I then discovered The Pizza Heaven website. Between Jack and The Pizza Heaven, I got the crust down to a science. It wasn’t easy, but I had a one year head start on this. Since my super power is making hard things easy, I have cliff notes for you. If you want other short cuts, check out my Easy Guide Books.

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