Whole Kamut Sourdough Roman Pizza with Pepperoni, Mushrooms, Onions and Roasted Red Peppers

My partner requested another Roman Pizza so how could I say no?  I wanted to use up a bit more of the whole Kamut that I have left so changed the spelt to Kamut.  Also having made this once I wanted to improve it, the last time the crust didn’t brown as well as I would have expected for the baking time.  So I added a tiny amount of sugar and some diastatic malt.  This worked well to improve the browning of the crust so I am happy with that.

To avoid all the grease from pepperoni, I encased them in paper towels and microwaved them in 15 sec intervals soaking up the grease until they were partly cooked.  During the pre-heat of the oven, I placed the sliced mushrooms in one layer in the oven to cook them to draw the water out of them.  Unfortunately I was called away from the kitchen so they got much more baked than just pre-baked, but they certainly didn’t soak my pizza.

In changing the formula from spelt to kamut, I didn’t extend the fermentation quite enough to compensate for the fact that kamut has better quality and quantity of gluten forming proteins in it than spelt so the crumb is more closed than I wanted.  I’ll need to remember to extend the fermentation, aiming for perhaps 120% when using a stronger grain in the future.  

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For 11” x 17” pan

12 hour overnight levain build at 75°F 

In the morning when levain is at peak about 3x rise.  Into the bowl of your mixer, add warm water, salt, sugar, diastatic malt and levain.  Mix briefly with a spatula to dissolve the dry ingredients.  Then add all the flours.  Mix with your stand mixer until there is no dry flour visible.  Rest 5 minutes.  Then increase to medium speed and mix until moderate gluten development.  With the mixer running, drizzle in the olive oil.  continue to mix until good gluten development and all the olive oil is well absorbed.

Transfer the dough to the countertop. Do a letterfold of the dough.  If using an aliquot jar to follow rise extract the dough now.  Transfer your dough back into your proofing container in your proofing box at 78°F.  

During bulk fermentation perform three sets of coil folds at 30 mins intervals then allow the dough to rest until the dough has achieved 50% rise.  Then cold retard, this is for convenience so that the pizza can be delayed and ready for dinner today or the next day.  This is optional depending on how quickly or slowly the dough ferments.  

Approximately 2.5 hours before baking time take the dough out of the fridge for final proofing, this continues in the bowl until right before baking when it will go into the pan and have a short proof shaped.  Aim for about 80-85% rise to shape and then 100-105% rise for baking.  Make sure you start the pre-heating of the oven 500°F about 1 hour prior to the dough reaching 100-105% rise.  Bake your pizza on a pizza steel or stone placed on the lowest oven rack.

Another option which I think I prefer and I did is to allow the dough to ferment until it rises 80-85%, then shape and place it into the well oiled pan.  Allow it to reach 100-105% rise (I would aim for 120% rise at time of baking the next time I baked this again with kamut), then place it in the fridge and start pre-heating the oven.  This way it is easy to stretch the dough since the gluten hasn’t tightened from the cold retard.  During the pre-heat the dough will chill and should have even better oven spring as the cold gases rapidly expand in the oven.

Prepare your toppings well before shaping.  

For pepperoni microwave for 30 secs between sheets of paper towels to reduce the oil when baking.  If using mushrooms slice and bake or cook to dry out.  Could bake while the oven is pre-heating!  Could also dry out roasted red peppers this way or just dry with paper towels.

Crushed Tomato Sauce

Makes enough for 1 Roman pizza

1 can San marzano tomatoes - squeeze tomato water out of the tomatoes then using a hand mash up the tomato meat.  Keep the canned juice and tomato water mix to drink.

¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp dried basil or 2 tbsp minced fresh basil

1 tsp dried oregano or 1 tbsp minced fresh oregano

1 teaspoon granulated garlic powder

2 tbsp red wine vinegar or freshly squeeze lemon juice or a combination

1 tsp salt to taste

Stir together, can store up to 1 wk.

When the dough reaches 80-85% rise shape the dough.  Using a brush, oil your pan well with olive oil.

Flour the top of the dough in the bowl,  release it from the sides of the bowl, then flip it onto a well floured countertop.  Then flour the exposed top of the dough well. Stretch out the dough into a rectangle.  Using your fingers gently press into the dough gradually stretching it out.  Then gently flip the dough over and repeat the gentle pressing of the fingers aiming for about 75% of the pan size.  Once done, I folded the dough in half and transferred the dough to the pan unfolding it and stretching it out to the edge of the pan.  The dough was then allowed to complete final proofing for 10 mins.  

Drizzle olive oil on the dough.  Then using a large spoon, spread a thin layer of pizza sauce over the dough from edge to edge.  Slide the baking pan into the oven on top of the baking surface. Decrease the oven temperature to 425°F (220°C) and bake for 10 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and sprinkle on the grated cheese and any other toppings. Lightly drizzle some olive oil over the entire pizza. Slide the sheet pan back into the oven on the baking surface and bake for 15 to 20 minutes more. The cheese should be melted and the bottom crust well colored.  You can move the pizza up to a higher rack for the final 5 minutes if the toppings aren’t browning enough to your liking.

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