Popeye's Pizza!!

This is a continuation of my sourdough bread episodes, a.k.a. Sourdough Starter from Grapes - Part III. To read more, see Sourdough Starter from Grapes - Part I and Part II.

My family has been begging me for one of my famous homemade pizzas. Well, famous in my house anyway. However, I still had sourdough starter to use up. So I promised them I'd make a "from scratch" pizza crust. Did I mention to them that I would be using some of the sourdough starter from grapes?! Nope, I kept that little secret to myself!

I couldn't stop myself. I decided to sneak it into the recipe, hoping it would be so fantastic that they'd say all my hard work paid off!! I know, I know, wishful thinking on my part. But you can relate, right?!

First I started pre-cooking the meat topping. I had wanted to use Italian sausage, but we were out. However, I did have some ground beef on hand, so I started with that. I cooked the meat along with lots of minced garlic, some onion and, because we were out of fresh peppers, I used my homemade dried pepper.

As the meat cooked I prepared the crust using 3/4 cup of the sourdough starter from grapes. I was actually using my regular pizza crust recipe for this but switched out the water with the starter. Because the starter was already thickened with flour, I didn't need to add any extra for kneading.

I spread the dough out onto a greased pizza stone and pricked it with a fork.

I pre-baked the crust for 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

I added pizza sauce and lots of oregano. And yes, I do love oregano!!

Topped it with some mozzarella ...

Since I rather like spinach on my pizza now, I added that and decided to call it "Popeye's Pizza"! Next I drained the meat and spread it over the top.

Baked it for an additional 10 minutes and done! Slice and eat!

Popeye's Pizza

Brown together and drain:

1 lb. ground beef

2 t. dried pepper

3 t. minced garlic

1 small onion, coarsely chopped

For crust:

3/4 c. sourdough starter, warmed

2-1/4 c. flour

1-1/2 T. olive oil

1-1/4 t. dry yeast

1 T. sugar

3/4 t. Himalayan pink salt

Put crust ingredients in breadmaker pan and use the dough cycle. When cycle is finished, spread onto greased stone and prick with a fork. Pre-bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Toppings:
Pizza sauce
Extra oregano, optional
Cheese
Spinach
Meat

Add toppings to pre-baked crust and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

And the results?

Peter ~ Not totally impressed, but has a homemade taste that feels satisfying.

Keisha ~ Not impressed, wanted more flavor to meat; however, everything was cooked to perfection. Just that taste-wise it wasn't all there.

Roger ~ Good, excellent, but would like me to make my original rising-crust pizza instead.

What do you think? Well, I think they really liked it, but didn't want to admit it. But they were definitely hinting for me to go back to my original crust. I still have more starter to use up though ...


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