Grilled Sourdough Pizza with Pickled Vegetables and Caramelized Onions

YIELD: 4 individual pizzas

GRILLED SOURDOUGH PIZZA WITH PICKLED VEGETABLES AND CARAMELIZED ONIONS

(Crust recipe adapted from American Pie, by Peter Reinhart)

YIELD: 4 individual pizzas

SOURDOUGH CRUST INGREDIENTS (makes 4 small balls of dough):

  • 1 cup Sourdough starter (make sure to mix in any liquid that has floated to the surface)
  • 4 cups Unbleached All-Purpose flour (bread flour also works, but for a grilled pizza, the AP flour allows the dough to be more supple)
  • 2 tsp. Kosher salt
  • 2 Tbsp. Honey
  • ¼ cup Olive Oil
  • 1- 1¼ cups Water (lukewarm)

 

PIZZA TOPPING INGREDIENTS*:

  • 4 balls Sourdough crust dough (or a 1-lb mound of dough for a large pie)
  • 4 Tbsp. Olive Oil
  • 2 medium-sized Yellow or White onions (preferably Vidalia)
  • ¼ tsp. Salt
  • Pinch of Sugar
  • 3-4 cloves Garlic, minced
  • 28-ounces Diced, canned tomatoes (or 4 fresh, peeled, deseeded and diced), optional
  • Pickled assorted vegetables**
  • Grated cheese (Mozzarella works well here, or anything else you have on hand)

 

SOURDOUGH PIZZA DOUGH INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Remove the starter from the refrigerator and allow it to rest at room temperature 2-3 hours.
  2. Stir together the starter, flour, salt, honey, oil, and 1 cup of the water in a large mixing bowl or bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Mix (on low speed if using the mixer) until the dough forms a coarse ball, adding small amounts of water as needed.
  3. Allow the dough to rest in the bowl for 20 minutes and then mix again until the dough becomes elastic and smooth, but not sticky. Continue kneading the dough for another five minutes. Allow to rest 20 minutes.
  4. On a lightly floured counter, dust the top of the dough with more flour and knead by hand for another 5 minutes.
  5. Form the dough into a ball and roll around in a well-oiled bowl to coat the entire surface area with olive oil.
  6. Cover bowl with plastic and allow to rest at room temperature for 3-4 hours, until the dough has doubled in size.
  7. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces and form each piece into a ball. Rub each one with a generous amount of olive oil and place in its own oiled bowl and cover with plastic (or place in a zippered Ziploc. Let rest at room temperature for one hour and then refrigerate overnight (dough may also be frozen for up to 3 months).
  8. Prior to use, remove dough from the refrigerator and allow to rest 3 hours before making pizza.

 

PIZZA TOPPINGS INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. In a large skillet, sauté the onions on medium heat with olive oil and ¼ tsp. salt until translucent. Raise the heat to medium-high and sauté, stirring periodically, until the onions are a golden brown. Sprinkle with a pinch of sugar and cook until the onions are a deep caramel color. Remove from heat and set aside.
  2. In a separate bowl, stir together diced tomatoes, if using, with 2 cloves minced garlic and ¼ tsp. salt. Set aside.
  3. For the pizza crust, hand press each round of dough on the back of an oiled sheet pan, lifting and stretching it until it is uniformly thin. Do not worry about creating the perfect shape.
  4. Slide onto a hot grill for a minute or two, until the underside is charred. Flip the crust over so that the charred underside is on top.
  5. Add the cheese, any remaining minced garlic and the remaining toppings, moving the pizza to a cooler part of the grill, if necessary, until the cheese is bubbly. Remove from the grill and brush the crust with olive oil. Slice or pull apart into easy-to-eat pieces.

 


Notes:

There are no set rules for making pizza, so even the measurements in the topping instructions above should only be followed loosely. Try to use the guide below for experimenting with new variations.

To make the crusts ahead of time, partially grill the crusts (first char the underside, flip over and only lightly char the other side. Stack the partially grilled crusts and set aside (they may be wrapped in plastic and stored at room temperature for several days or frozen for up to a month. Frozen crusts should be loosely unwrapped and thawed before using.). Prior to service, place each crust on parchment, add the toppings and slide crusts directly onto a pizza stone or the oven rack. Finish pizzas in a 400-degree oven. Remove when the cheese is melted.

 

*Pizza Variations and Add-Ons:

  • Pulled pork+kimchi
  • Pickled asparagus+prosciutto+toasted Hazelnuts
  • Miso-marinated chicken+pickled fennel and onion
  • Natto+bacon+corn
  • Natto+sauteed leeks+shredded nori
  • Pulled pork+gochujang tomato sauce+pineapple+cilantro
  • Clams+preserved seaweed (tsukudani kombu)+shredded nori seaweed (Preserved Seaweed)
  • Prosciutto/bacon+pesto+pickled red cabbage
  • Miso roasted sweet potatoes+bacon+fermented mushrooms+fermented mushroom vinaigrette (refer to The Noma Guide to Fermentation, Rene Redzepi)
  • Tuna sashimi + preserved seaweed (tsukudani kombu)+wasabi mayo and shiso leaf (add these toppings to an already grilled pizza) (Preserved Seaweed)

 

**Any pickled vegetables will work here, including store bought pickled vegetables or Sauerkraut. For pizza, onions and fennel are a great combination and an easy DIY project.

Pickled Veggie Variations: A combination of pickled fennel and onion works well on pizza, as well as pickled asparagus or pickled red cabbage:

  1. Before pickling red cabbage, it should be cored and sliced and salted with 2 Tbsp. salt for each head of cabbage. Next, set in a colander and weigh down with a plate covered by a heavy object. Press for 24 hours before pickling.
  2. For asparagus, blanch for 2-3 minutes and then shock in ice water (optional step). This optional step will help preserve the color.

One great hack is to save your pickling juices from jarred pickles and use them to flavor your recipes or pickle any fresh veggies you have on hand. Use the freshest vegetables for pickling and save aging vegetables for roasting, stews or soups.

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