Sourdough Pizza Bianca Recipe [easy sourdough recipe]
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This easy recipe for sourdough pizza bianca is perhaps one of my favorites, mostly due to it's simplicity, but also because of the memories it envokes. This rustic and flavorful delight offers a blank canvas for culinary creativity. It can be so many things - a humble snack, full of goodness or a rustic take on flatbread, baked on a pizza stone, served with a trio of dips.
This recipe for sourdough pizza bianca has been inspired by my quick sourdough discard pizza dough recipe. If you've never made sourdough pizza dough before, I highly recommend giving it a read for extra tips and pointers when it comes to shaping and baking your sourdough pizza bianca. There's even a helpful video.
If you want to my favorite sourdough bread recipe to serve alongside your sourdough pizza bianca, check out this overnight sourdough bread recipe.
Origins of Sourdough Pizza Bianca
Hailing from Rome, Sourdough Pizza Bianca has a rich history rooted in Italian culinary tradition. Bianca, meaning "white" in Italian, refers to the absence of tomato sauce on the pizza. Instead, it relies on a thin, chewy crust that showcases the flavorful qualities of the dough.
In some versions of pizza bianca, or "white pizza", the dough is topped with a white cheese sauce, sour cream or even ricotta. But traditionally, Pizza alla Romana or Pizza Bianca is simply pizza dough topped with olive oil, salt and fresh rosemary. Some versions are more like a focaccia bread than pizza.
Like most recipes, there are several versions and histories floating around. The recipe I am sharing with you for sourdough pizza bianca is based on the pizza I ate in Italy when living there in my younger years and the version I make for my family on a regular basis (pizza bianca is one of my eldest's son's favorite after school snack).
How To Make Sourdough Pizza Bianca
This rustic sourdough recipe uses an active sourdough starter to create this aromatic sourdough pizza recipe. If you don't already have a sourdough starter, you'll find instructions for making a starter here.
The recipe card at the bottom of the post lists ingredients to make a 300g ball of dough which will give you one large pizza bianca, or two smaller pizzas if you divide it into two balls. You could choose to double the recipe if you need additional dough. I love that this recipe is so flexible!
- Measure out the sourdough starter, water and honey. Stir together until the sourdough starter and honey are dissolved into the water.
- Now, add the oil, flour and salt into the bowl and gently stir together with a spatula or knife. Cover with plastic wrap and allow the dough to sit for around 30 minutes.
- Now, tip the dough out onto the counter and knead it really well using your hands. This is a lovely dough to work with and with the right kneading, it will become soft and silky. I find it takes around 10 minutes to come together when kneading by hand.
Note - you can do this using a stand mixer - you can see the instructions for how to do this here. - Once the dough is silky and elastic, pop it into a bowl.
- Cover with cling wrap or a damp tea towel and leave to rise until it has doubled. See notes below for timing and how to judge it.
- Once the dough has doubled, form into a ball on the counter top and then leave the dough ball, covered with a tea towel, for around 30 minutes to allow the gluten to relax.
- Once you're ready to make your sourdough pizza bianca, use your fingers to press your dough into a pizza round or oval. If you need to stretch the dough, pick it up and move your hands around the edges, allowing the dough's own weight to stretch it out into a round.
Avoid using a rolling pin if you can to maintain your dough's sourdough character and give it good structure when baked. - Place your pizza dough onto a pizza peel (making sure it's well dusted with semolina flour) or onto a baking tray lined with a piece of parchment paper.
- When you are ready to bake, pre heat your oven to 230C/450F and make sure it's HOT!!
- Drizzle the pizza with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and fresh rosemary leaves.
- Place your sourdough pizza bianca into the hot oven for around 15 minutes (full baking instructions in the recipe card below).
- This recipe is especially good baked in a wood fired or gas pizza oven. I bake them for 2 minutes at 350C - 400C (662F - 752F).
Ingredient Notes
This recipe requires very simple ingredients, and because of its simplicity, you should use the best quality ingredients you can. There's nowhere to hide when it comes to simplicity, so all of the ingredients must stand alone.
Bread Flour - bread flour is the best choice when making sourdough pizza bianca because of its higher protein content. If you need to use all purpose flour, you'll need to reduce the amount of water you add to the recipe. You can read more about the differences between bread flour and all purpose flour here.
Olive Oil - use the best quality olive oil you can afford - it makes such a difference in this recipe since its flavor is prominent with no other toppings on the pizza.
Rosemary - I prefer to use fresh leaves stripped from the stem, but you can use dried rosemary if you prefer. Other herbs also work well including thyme, parsley, basil and chives.
Salt - I use fine Australian sea salt but you can use your favorite. Maldon Flaky Sea Salt works really well.
What Can I Use Sourdough Pizza Bianca For?
The possibilities for eating and serving sourdough pizza bianca are endless! Honestly, once you've got this magical white pizza in your sourdough baking toolkit, you'll always have something up your sleeve that's sure to delight! Here are a few ways to eat and serve sourdough pizza bianca:
- serve it just as it is, drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with fresh rosemary and salt as the ultimate snack. I like to add a glass of wine if the time is right!
- Turn this beautiful pizza into a classic margherita-style pizza by adding fresh mozzarella, tomato slices and fresh basil.
- Serve this delicious "flat bread" style pizza alongside a dish of fresh homemade ricotta, drizzled with honey, or with a trio of your favorite dips for an appetizer that's sure to please (I highly recommend adding this whipped ricotta dip and this olive dip to your dip trio!).
Frequently Asked Questions
You can add some commercial yeast to this recipe if you want to. If you use sourdough discard instead of active sourdough starter, it's recommended to add some commercial yeast to help the dough rise. You can read more about how to do this in this sourdough discard pizza recipe.
You can substitute up to half the amount of bread flour for whole wheat flour in this recipe with no issues. If you go over that ratio, you would need to adjust the hydration level of the recipe.
While pizza bianca is a "white pizza", pizza rosso is pizza dough that is spread with a thin layer of red pizza sauce and baked without cheese, so it is "red pizza".
Focaccia is traditionally made with an enriched dough and much thicker than pizza bianca, which is traditionally made with a leaner dough and rolled out much thinner, giving a chewier texture to the dough. Both are served with olive oil and rosemary which is why they are often mistaken for each other. You can find a recipe for sourdough focaccia bread here.
Sourdough Pizza Bianca Recipe
Equipment
- Digital Scales
- Mixing Bowl
- Pizza Peel or Tray
Ingredients
Dough
- 50 g Sourdough Starter
- 70 g Water
- 10 g Honey
- 10 g Olive Oil
- 125 g Bread Flour
- 5 g Salt
- 30 g Semolina (for dusting)
Toppings
- 20 g Olive Oil
- 10 g Sea Salt (flaky sea salt or your favorite salt)
- Rosemary Leaves (fresh, stripped from stalk)
Instructions
- Measure out the sourdough starter, water and honey. Stir together until the sourdough starter and honey are dissolved into the water.
- Now, add the oil, flour and salt into the bowl and gently stir together with a dough whisk or knife. Cover with plastic wrap and allow the dough to sit for around 30 minutes.
- Now, tip the dough out onto the counter and knead it really well using your hands. This is a lovely dough to work with and with the right kneading, it will become soft and silky. I find it takes around 10 minutes to come together when kneading by hand.Note - you can do this using a stand mixer - you can see the instructions for how to do this here.
- Once the dough is silky and elastic, pop it into a warm bowl (I warm a bowl with water and then dry it - this speeds up the rising).Cover and leave to rise until it has doubled. A bread proofer or oven with the light on can be handy to speed things up.
- Once the dough has doubled, form into a ball on the counter top and then leave it, covered with a tea towel, for around 30 minutes to allow the gluten to relax.
- Once you're ready to make your sourdough pizza bianca, use your fingers to press your dough into a pizza round or oval. If you need to stretch the dough, pick it up and move your hands around the edges, allowing the dough's own weight to stretch it out into a round. Avoid using a rolling pin if you can to maintain your dough's sourdough character and give it good structure when baked.
- Place your pizza dough onto a pizza peel (making sure it's well dusted with semolina flour).When you are ready to bake, pre heat your oven to 230C/450F and make sure it's HOT!!
- Drizzle the pizza with good quality olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and fresh rosemary leaves.
- Place your sourdough pizza bianca into the hot oven (230C/450F) for around 15 minutes or until the pizza dough is golden brown in patches and bubbling.This recipe is especially good baked in a wood fired or gas pizza oven. I bake them for 2 minutes at 350C - 400C (662F - 752F).
Notes
Nutrition
