This recipe was originally going to be a revisitation of my old squash blossom and burrata pizza I did years ago. Except that I could not find squash blossoms anywhere, and so I had to pivot. I wanted to try out a fun recipe using my sourdough starter, and making this airy, high-hydration, pizza dough from that starter just made sense. I mean making pizza dough from scratch just sounds exciting. Making pizza dough using this surplus of sourdough starter that I have accumulated was a major win-win, in that I get to use a decent portion of my sourdough starter on something that was not Baymax bread, and I get to try my hand at another pizza! In terms of what I chose to adorn my pizza with, I was originally going to do a squash blossom and mortadella pizza. Mortadella is Italian bologna. It is made by emulsifying meats and fats, and folded through it are chunks of pistachio, sometimes olives, and lardo, or pork fat. It is very rich and fatty, and I figured that it would be a fun garnish in lieu of your usual pepperoni. Again, I wanted to use squash blossoms in this recipe, but I had zero luck finding them, so I pivoted. Since mortadella contains pistachios, I garnished this pizza with a pistachio and kale tapenade, as an homage to the usage of pistachio in mortadella. And it wound up being the perfect counterpoint to all of the richness going on in this recipe, adding something fresh, grassy, and vibrant. Overall, I was pretty happy with how the pizza came out, and it is one I would definitely make again and again(until I either get sick of pizza or finally run out of Horacio[my sourdough starter]).

For this recipe, I am using sourdough starter. I have all my tidbits on sourdough starter and how to maintain it, but if you wanted to use a yeasted dough recipe, just refer back to the dough I used for the original squash blossom and ricotta pizza! I totally get it, especially since sourdough starter takes about 5 days of feeding for it to be usable anyways. But that being said, the dough itself is highly important here, since it takes at least an hour to make. I actually made my dough using semolina flour, which has a higher amount of gluten compared to your usual all-purpose flour, just to give the dough a longer lasting chew. The dough itself does use a higher ratio of liquid to flour, and that is because I want the crust to really bubble up and almost shatter like glass when you bite into it. While the recipe only calls for an hour of resting, I actually rested my dough in the refrigerator for 3 days, which is an optional step, just to really impart more sourdough flavor into the crust. With the red sauce itself, it starts out with cooking out mortadella with shallot and garlic, then blending that with crushed tomatoes, tomato puree, and calabrian chilies(which adds a pleasant spicy flavor to the sauce), and then cooking that down slightly just to thicken the sauce and cook out any canned tomato product flavor. I am using mozzarella cheese to top the pizza with, since it browns gorgeously and it adds that nice cheesy pull. The pistachio and kale tapenade is made by steeping olive oil with garlic and either lemon juice or vinegar. That oil is then blended, garlic and vinegar and all, with pistachios and blanched kale leaves into a creamy puree, similar to a pesto. It is finished with chopped up kale stems for crunch and capers for bursts of umami, salt, and acidity. Also, I am personally obsessed with the gorgeous, vibrant green color that resulted from it. To preserve that color, I actually topped the already-baked pizza with that, just so that it stays verdant and fresh.

For the sourdough pizza crust:
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup semolina flour
1oz extra virgin olive oil
4oz sourdough starter
3.5oz water
a pinch of salt

Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl to form your dough. Knead the dough on a flat surface for at least 10 minutes. You want it to be really elastic(that’ll give the dough a lot of chewiness later down the line). Rest the dough, covered, at room temperature for an hour. Then refrigerate the dough until time to use.

For the red sauce:
2 slices mortadella, finely diced
1 shallot, diced
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp calabrian chilies
a pinch of salt

In a pan, sweat out the mortadella, shallot, and garlic in olive oil. Transfer the ingredients into a blender with the other ingredients and puree until smooth. Transfer the puree into a pot and cook on medium heat, stirring constantly for 5-6 minutes, until the liquid is reduced by 1/3. Allow the sauce to fully cool before assembly.

For the pistachio tapenade:
2 leaves kale, stemmed removed and reserved
2 cloves of garlic
1oz olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar
a pinch of salt
1oz roasted pistachios
2 tsp capers, minced

Blanch the kale leaves in boiling water for 10 seconds then shock them in cold water. Squeeze out any excess water from the kale. Mince the garlic and allow that to marinate in a bowl with the olive oil, lemon juice/vinegar, and salt for 15 minutes – this will let the garlic mellow out in terms of punchiness. Transfer all of your ingredients, minus the reserved kale stems and capers, into a spice grinder and puree everything together until combined. Fold into that the minced kale stems and capers to finish.

For assembly:
olive oil
salt
flour, cornmeal, or semolina flour
8 slices mortadella
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees F, placing either a cast iron or a pizza stone into the oven as it preheats.

To assemble the pizza, roll out the dough to be roughly 10 inches in diameter. If using the cast iron pan, place the dough into the burning hot cast iron(be very careful when doing this). If not, transfer the dough onto a surface lined with flour(semolina flour or cornmeal works especially well here). Spread the sauce on top of the dough in an even layer and then layer on 4 slices of the mortadella first. Then sprinkle on top of that your mozzarella cheese. Then layer on top of that the remaining mortadella.

If using the pizza stone, transfer the dough(the best way is using a pizza paddle but you can also using an especially flat sheet tray) onto the pizza stone. If using a cast iron, place the cast iron with the assembled pizza into oven. Bake the pizza at 500 degrees F for 10-12 minutes. Allow the pizza to cool slightly and serve with the pistachio tapenade to finish.