Ken Forkish’s Pizza Dough Made From “Extra” Levain Starter

If you’re new to the pizza or baking game, you might not be familiar with the concept of a levain starter, nor think it has anything to do with pizza. But for Hawaii-based New York Times bestseller and chef Ken Forkish, incorporating a levain – an offshoot of a mature sourdough starter – into pizza dough does wonders to enhance its taste and aroma. All you need is flour, water, and time for the ingredients to incorporate the wild yeasts in the air and ferment before it's added to the dough for extra tasty results.

As the author of “Evolutions in Bread,” “The Elements of Pizza” and “Flour Water Salt Yeast,” which won both James Beard and IACP awards, we trust Ken’s methods. And if his recipe writing expertise weren’t enough, he’s also the founder of Ken’s Artisan Bakery and Ken’s Artisan Pizza, the latter of which was named one of the best in the country by 50 Top Pizza in 2022.

This recipe requires more time and planning than Ken’s “I Slept in But I Want Pizza Tonight” Dough, but trust us: it’s well worth it. A little effort goes a long way, and as Ken writes in “Flour Water Salt Yeast,” “You too can enjoy the pleasure that begins with a leap of faith and ends with figuring out what to do with the culture once it’s active.” Get ready for a pie with a greater depth of flavour that will have you (and your guests) clamouring for more.

Reprinted with permission from The Elements of Pizza by Ken Forkish, copyright © 2016. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.

Difficulty

Servings

Three 269-gram dough balls for three 12-inch (30-centimetre) pizzas

Prep Time

5 hours and 15 minutes to 6 hours and 15 minutes

(not including sourdough starter and levain prep)

By Ken Forkish

Ken Forkish’s Pizza Dough Made From “Extra” Levain Starter

Note

This recipe takes time. Before you start cooking, you’ll need a levain, which you can make the night before cooking if you have an active, mature sourdough starter that’s ready to go. (If you’re not up for making a starter from scratch, you can buy one online or your favourite local bakery may be willing to share a bit of theirs.) To make a levain, you’ll need: a heaping 80 grams of your starter, 160 grams of strong white “00” flour and 160 grams of lukewarm water for a total of 400 grams with a 50 % hydration. We’ve slightly modified this recipe from Ken’s original to get a hydration of 64 %, rather than 67 %. For the other ingredients, the percentages are as follows: strong white bread (“00”) or pizza flour (100 %), fine sea salt (2.7 %), and active extra levain starter (38 %).

1. Mix the dough: Pour the 125 grams of 27 °C (80 °F) water into a large bowl or dough tub.

Add the fine sea salt to the water and stir or swish it around in the bowl until it dissolves. Add the levain starter and mix thoroughly with your hand until the starter and water are completely blended.

Tip: This pizza dough is stiffer than Ken’s bread doughs; you will need to work a little harder to mix this by hand, but it’s easier if you add the flour in two stages than if you add it all at once.

2. Add a bit less than 200 grams of the flour to the bowl and mix by hand.

Once the loose flour is integrated and you have formed a mass of dough, add the remaining 100 grams of flour and complete the mix. Use the pincer method to integrate the loose flour into the dough.

Tip: For the pincer method, make a claw-like shape with one hand, then pinch and squeeze 5 or 6 times across the entire length of the dough mass.

3. Cover the bowl or tub with plastic wrap or a dish towel and let it rest for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, fold it over itself a few times until you’ve formed a cohesive round of dough. Cover again and let rest for 1 hour.

4. Divide your dough: Using a digital scale and dough scraper, divide the dough into 3 equal portions of 269 grams each.

Shape each into a round ball. Place the dough on a large plate, small baking sheet, or in a dough box and cover with plastic wrap, a dish towel, or the lid to prevent the dough from drying out.

5. Dough ball rise: Let the dough sit out for 4 to 5 hours at room temperature.

Make pizza within the next 2 hours, or you can refrigerate the dough after it has sat out for 3 hours and make pizza later that day or within the next 2 days. (Just be sure to take the dough balls out of the refrigerator 1 to 2 hours before cooking). Have fun, enjoy, and if you don’t know where to start when it comes to toppings, we’ve got tons of recipes!

Ken Forkish

Ken Forkish is the founder of Ken’s Artisan Bakery and Ken’s Artisan Pizza. He trained at the San Francisco Baking Institute, the CIA Greystone, Toscana Saporita in Italy and l'Institut Paul Bocuse in France. He is the best-selling author of “The Elements of Pizza” and “Flour Water Salt Yeast,” which won both James Beard and IACP awards. 

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