Poolish Pizza Dough Starter

About Poolish

Poolish is a way to ferment your dough to enhance the flavor and texture of your pizza crust. It started in the early 1840s in Poland and was invented by a man named Boris Zang. It spread to Austria and then France where Parisian bakers adopted the use for their breads. Biga is another dough starter. Biga is Italian and is a bit different than poolish. Biga also looks interesting, and I may try making it at some point in the future.

Poolish is similar to a sourdough starter, however, a sourdough starter will take much longer to ferment (about 10 to 14 days) and uses wild or natural yeast while poolish takes between 12 and 24 hours and uses commercial yeast. Poolish is what makes the bubbles, or air pockets, in the crust and gives it that extra bump in flavor.

Making the Poolish

The first time I made a poolish, I had been reading quite a lot about it and, as a pizza lover, I was very intrigued.

I made the poolish the day before we planned on having pizza. This isn’t anything new because I always make the dough the day before and would put it in the fridge overnight to ferment and give it a slow rise. The poolish was actually even easier to start than my normal way of making pizza.

Poolish needs a lot of moisture: 1:1 water and flour. You can use any good pizza recipe. You use a partial amount of the recipe for the poolish and then the rest for the final dough. I started by mixing the following ingredients together: Flour, water, a little yeast, and honey. I left the poolish covered at room temperature for 1 hour - and then in the fridge for about 20 hours.

Here’s the poolish after about 20 hours.

We have lift-off! Such beautiful bubbly poolish.

This crust turned out perfectly crispy and delicious! It also had those wonderful air pockets in the crust. ❤️

Final Dough

For the final dough, I added in more flour, yeast, and a bit of salt to the poolish about an hour and a half before we were ready to start baking the pizza. After resting and rising, it was a beautiful stretchy and light pizza dough and ready to form into a round.

If you thought your pizzas were pretty good before, you need to try poolish. I know it will take your pizza-making skills over the top.

Tip: Use my very easy recipe for sauce on my Margherita Pizza page.

Yield: 1 medium pizza

Author: Karen - Oventry.com

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Poolish Pizza Dough

This is what gives the pizza crust those amazing air pockets and extra flavor.

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 7 MinInactive time: 22 HourTotal time: 22 H & 22 M

Ingredients

Poolish Starter

• 1 cup flour (00 pizza flour)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 tsp yeast
• 1/2 tsp honey

Final Dough

• 1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp flour (00 pizza flour)
• 3/4 tsp yeast
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp olive oil - and more for coating the bowl.

Instructions

Poolish Starter

1. Stir the flour, water, yeast, and honey together in a container and cover it with the lid. Leave at room temperature for about 1 hour. Then place in fridge for 16 to 22 hours.
2. Continue to next section...

Final Dough

1. Leave the poolish in the fridge overnight and take it out about an hour before you’re ready to make your dough. The poolish should have risen to double its size and should be very bubbly.
2. Make sure the poolish is at room temperature before you start adding in the rest of the ingredients. Now you’ll add only the remaining amounts for your final dough.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the yeast and flour together. Add the poolish and stir to combine. Add the salt and olive oil and mix well.
4. Remove the dough from bowl and place it on a lightly floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes. Use a little olive oil on your hands if the dough is too sticky to handle. Cover and let rest for 5 minutes.
5. Prepare a large clean bowl with about a teaspoon of olive oil and set aside.
6. Place dough on lightly floured surface again and knead for a few minutes, using a little more flour if needed. Use the fold over method. Grab the dough and fold it over itself, grab it by another end, fold it over, etc. I go around in a circle folding it onto itself from all sides. Shape into a ball and place in the prepared well-oiled bowl. Move the dough around in the bowl to make sure all sides are well oiled. Cover and let rise for 1 hour or until dough has doubled in size.
7. Shape dough into one medium sized pizza. Add your toppings and bake on a preheated pizza stone at 525° F for 7 to 10 minutes or until done.