A super easy pan pizza that’s sure to delight! This recipe is great for beginners (and kids!) for a number of reasons: the lower hydration compared to other pan pizza recipes is great for learning how to mix and handle dough; it removes the pressure of stretching and launching pizza since it’s just stretched in the pan; and it lends itself well to any and all toppings! If you’re looking to use yeast instead of sourdough, check out the table below.
Y.C.H. = ~75%
Yield
Two 9×13” / 420g Grandma Style Pizzas
See table below for alternative sizes
FEED
6-12 hours before PREP:
Mix 20g of sourdough with 40g of water and 40g of flour (1:2:2). This will be enough for your pizzas +20g.
Ingredients
305 warm water (71%) (~93˚F/34˚C)
13g salt (3%)
13g olive oil (3%)
78g peaked sourdough starter (18%)
431g bread flour ~12.7% protein (100%)
| Alternative Sizes | Two 6×6” | Two 8×8” | Two 8×10″ | Two 9×13” | Two 10×14″ | One 16×16″ | % |
| Water (g) | 95 | 167 | 211 | 305 | 364 | 335 | 71% |
| Salt (g) | 4 | 7 | 9 | 13 | 15 | 14 | 3% |
| Oil (g) | 4 | 7 | 9 | 13 | 15 | 14 | 3% |
| Sourdough (g) | 24 | 42 | 54 | 78 | 92 | 85 | 18% |
| Bread Flour (g) | 133 | 237 | 297 | 431 | 514 | 472 | 100% |
| Total Dough Mass (g) | 260 | 460 | 580 | 840 | 1000 | 920 | |
| Per Dough Ball (g) | 130 | 230 | 290 | 420 | 500 | 920 | |
| Parbake – Home Oven | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 15 | minutes |
| Parbake – Ooni | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 11 | minutes |
PREP
18 – 34 hours before BAKE with 5 hours to make the dough, an 8-24 hour rest in the fridge, and a 5 hour rest on the counter before baking.
Target dough temperature is 80˚F (27˚C).
Mix: Combine water, salt, and oil in a medium bowl.
Add sourdough starter and mix until water is milky in color.
Add flour. Mix just until combined, until you cannot see any dry flour.
Let rest, covered with a damp towel or lid somewhere warm, 1 hour.
[Feed the remaining sourdough starter for future use. You won’t need any more for this recipe.]
Folds: After the hour, fold using a stretch & fold technique, stopping when the dough is smooth. Ensure the seam side is down and smooth side is up.Let rest, covered, somewhere warm, 1 hour.
Coil fold the dough by using wet hands to get under the dough on both sides and gently pull up, allowing one side of the dough to unstick from the bowl and fold onto itself. Rotate a half turn and repeat. Turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat. Rotate a half turn and repeat, for four total folds. Repeat a few times until the dough comes together, stopping before it tears. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rest somewhere warm.
Set a timer for 3 hours. At the end of every hour, repeat the coil fold step above. Allow the dough to rest covered somewhere warm between folds. You’ll notice the dough change over this time, becoming stronger and less sticky.
After the last fold, place the covered bowl in the refrigerator for an 8-24 hour rest. It’s best to do the cold proof in the bowl rather than the pan to prevent sticking.
After the fridge rest, lightly and thoroughly coat the pan(s) with butter and place in the fridge for 5 minutes to let the butter solidify. Then add a light, even coating of olive oil on top of the butter.
Take the dough out of the fridge, divide if needed, and gently perform a coil fold on each dough before placing it into the oiled pan(s), smooth side down.
Let rest in the pan, covered with a damp towel, on the counter for 4-6 hours or until room temp.
BAKE
Home Oven Bake
Preheat oven to 450˚F (230˚C).
After the oven is preheated, uncover the dough. Gently stretch to the edges of the pan if needed. Drizzle the dough with olive oil and firmly dimple the dough using wet hands.
Cover the pan and bake for 10 minutes (see Alternate Sizes table for bake times if applicable). This is called a covered par-bake. I find a covered par-bake mimics a bread baking environment by trapping steam, allowing the outside of the dough to stay soft and expand. This results in a more open crumb and I also find it helps get the bottom of the dough nice and brown, since it has more time to cook.
Carefully remove the hot pan from the oven and add your toppings.
Bake for an additional 10-15 minutes uncovered, turning once, until the toppings are cooked.
Remove from pan and allow to cool on a rack for 10 minutes before cutting.
Ooni Bake
Preheat your Ooni until the stone is 375˚C (700˚F) at the center. After the oven is preheated, uncover the dough and drizzle with olive oil. Firmly dimple the dough using wet hands.
Cover the pan and bake for 7 minutes, turning once. See Alternate Sizes table for bake times if applicable. Carefully remove the hot pan from the oven and add your toppings.
Bake for an additional ~10 minutes uncovered, turning as needed, until the toppings are cooked.
With pellets/wood/charcoal: Bake with just hot coals or a very low flame. Whenever the pizza is in the oven, close the chimney baffle to keep the flame low. Whenever the pizza is out of the oven, open the chimney to help with reheating the stone.
With propane: Whenever the pizza is in the oven, turn the flame to low or even off completely, just baking with residual heat from the oven. Whenever the pizza is out of the oven, turn the flame to high to help with reheating the stone.
Troubleshooting
The most common struggle with pan pizza is getting the bottom crispy enough. If you are having trouble with this, the first step would be to extend the covered par-bake.
Secondly, you can try an out-of-the-pan finishing bake. In a home oven, try keeping a pizza stone or steel in the oven on a separate rack during the bake. Then, when the toppings are done, turn off the oven and slide the pizza out of the pan and onto the hot steel/stone for a minute or two to really fry the bottom. If you’re using an Ooni, you can use a similar technique. When the toppings are done, remove the pizza from the oven and reheat the stone with gas on high to at least 230˚C (450˚F), then turn the flame off and finish the pizza right on the stone. This works with wood/charcoal/pellets as well, but be sure to leave the door open if there is still a flame after reheating the stone to avoid over-cooking the top.
| Grandma | Two 6×6” | Two 8×8” | Two 8×10″ | Two 9×13” | Two 10×14″ | One 16×16″ | % |
| Water (g) | 104 | 184 | 233 | 337 | 401 | 369 | 71% |
| Salt (g) | 4 | 8 | 10 | 14 | 17 | 16 | 3% |
| Oil (g) | 4 | 8 | 10 | 14 | 17 | 16 | 3% |
| IDY (g) | 0.17 | 0.29 | 0.37 | 0.53 | 0.64 | 0.58 | 0.11% |
| – or – ADY (g) | 0.21 | 0.37 | 0.47 | 0.68 | 0.81 | 0.74 | 0.14% |
| – or – Fresh Yeast (g) | 0.51 | 0.90 | 1.14 | 1.65 | 1.96 | 1.81 | 0.35% |
| Bread Flour (g) | 147 | 260 | 327 | 474 | 565 | 519 | 100% |
| Total Dough Mass (g) | 260 | 460 | 580 | 840 | 1000 | 920 | |
| Per Dough Ball (g) | 130 | 230 | 290 | 420 | 500 | 920 |