Sourdough Woe Intro

I have been having trouble with my sourdough starter, probably because I am bad at taking care of it properly. I looked up how to revive a starter and spent some time trying to make it happy again. Yesterday, it finally looked pretty good again. I had about 1 cup of happy starter, so I added 1/3 cup flour and 1/2 cup water to 1/2 cup of starter and set that aside in the refrigerator to do its thing, and used the rest to make a small ball of dough.

Sourdough Pizza Crust Non-Recipe

For my pizza crust, I added to the remaining starter 1/2 cup water, a dash of salt, a splash of olive oil, and enough flour for the right consistency. Yeah, more super-scientific measurements. Sorry.

Based on past experience, I set the bowl near the wood stove and expected to wait overnight for it to raise. However, the happier starter took off a lot faster than expected when I checked it during the night. I put it in the refrigerator to slow it down until I was ready to deal with it today, but it still expanded to press against the plastic wrap cover in the middle. Yay for happy starter!

The dough didn't behave so well forming a crust, but I got it in the pan and then worked it into a slightly-rounder shape after snapping the photo above.

Lazy Pizza Sauce Recipe

My sauce recipe today was an 8-oz. can of tomato sauce warmed (appropriately enough) in a sauce pan. I added 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, and I meant to add 1 teaspoon garlic powder. I grabbed the wrong canister and added garlic salt instead. It's too salty and not enough garlic. Oops. Don't make my mistake!

Non-Cheese Review

Anyhow, I spread that mixture on the adjusted crust and then added my cheese substitute: Forager Project Organic Mozzarella Vegan & Dairy free Cultured MOZZARELLA Cheese Alternative (doesn't that look like a bad Amazon product name when written like that?) made from cashew milk yogurt. Hmm.

Other toppings: turkey pepperoni and leftover sweet Italian sausage from the last time I made a pizza pie. Freezing extra is handy. What's left over from this time will probably get added to scrambled eggs tomorrow morning.

At any rate, the pizza went into the oven at 425°F for about 15 minutes until the crust to looked slightly browned and decidedly crispy. The photo below does not do it justice.

The Forager cheese substitute melted better than either variety of the Daiya stuff I have been using, and it looks more like real cheese, too. I'd call that a win. Aside from the garlic salt mistake, I'll probably try this again. It could use more toppings next time, like mushrooms and sliced olives and diced bell peppers.

Irrelevant Commentary

I haven't posted a Sunday Supper this week because I re-ran some old recipes. It's been a fun project, but I don't think it'll be a regular weekly installment in the long term. We'll see, though. I have a couple non-sourdough bread recipes to try, and I'll probably experiment more with crock pot dinners, especially if I can find one that doesn't run too hot for all-day cooking. Good night, everybody!