Artisan Pizza with Poolish
A high-hydration artisan pizza with poolish, olive oil, and diastatic malt powder.
Poolish is a wet preferment: equal weights of flour and water with a little yeast, left to ferment before the dough is mixed. French bakers use it for baguettes. The name is often explained as a reference to Polish bakers, but nobody has documented that origin. Here it goes into a pizza dough with a long cold rest.
The formula in numbers
- Hydration
- 72%
- Salt
- 2%
- Olive Oil
- 3.2%
- Portion
- 3 × 360 g, about 37 cm
- Fermentation source
- Instant Yeast
- Preferment
- Poolish, 12% of the flour
- Bulk at room temperature
- 20 min
- In the fridge
- 36 h
- Flour strength
- W 280–350
- Flour protein
- 12.5–14.5%
How to prepare it
- Poolish72 g flour, 72 g water, 0.05 g yeast144 g
- Flour530 g
- Water361 g
- Salt12 g
- Instant Yeast0.25 g
- Olive Oil19 g
- Diastatic malt powder13 g
The yeast is dosed for the fermentation times of this formula. The calculator adjusts it to your flour, your kitchen and your schedule.
- 14 h
The preferment
Start with the poolish: 12% of the flour, the same weight of water and a pinch of yeast, stirred into a smooth batter. Cover it and leave it at room temperature for 14 h.
A ripe poolish is domed and crowded with small bubbles. Use it before it sinks back.
- W 280–350
The dough
Strong bread flour, water, salt, yeast, 3.2% olive oil and diastatic malt powder, plus the poolish. Use a flour of W 280 to 350.
Diastatic malt powder is not a sweetener, and malt syrup does not replace it.
- 72% water
Mixing
Stir the poolish into the water, add the flour, malt, yeast and salt and mix until the dough is smooth and strong. Work in the oil at the end. At 72% hydration the dough is soft and a little sticky.
A preferment shortens the mixing, because its flour is already wet.
- 20 min
Dough balls
Rest the dough for 20 min, then divide it into 3 balls of 360 g. Shape them tight and seal the seam well.
A weak seam can tear when you stretch the dough.
- 36 h
Fermentation
Put the balls in the fridge, covered, for 36 h.
The cold rest can run from one day to two. Change the hours in the calculator and the yeast dose follows.
- 6.5 min
Shaping and baking
Let the balls warm up before you open them. Stretch each one to about 37 cm and leave the rim alone, so it puffs up. Bake on a stone or steel at around 285°C (545°F) for about 6.5 min.
In a home oven, use a steel and the highest heat it has.
The most common mistakes
Wrong:Using a poolish that has collapsed
Right:Use it while it is still domed and full of bubbles.
Wrong:Stretching dough straight from the fridge
Right:Let it warm up first, so it stops springing back.
Wrong:Pressing the rim flat as you stretch
Right:Work from the centre and leave the edge alone. The gas in it becomes the puffy rim.
Wrong:Baking on a cold tray
Right:Preheat a stone or steel with the oven for a crisp base.
Recommended flours
Flour for this formula: W 280–350, 12.5–14.5% protein. Ranked by fit, then by availability in your country, then by popularity.
