Recipe 7 min read

Sourdough Pizza Bianca with Burrata, Courgette Ribbons & Lemon Oil

A summer sourdough pizza bianca recipe: blistered white base, torn burrata, shaved courgette and zingy lemon oil. Simple, seasonal and genuinely delicious.

Photo by Brenan Greene on Unsplash
Photo by Brenan Greene on Unsplash

There is a particular kind of summer evening that calls for this pizza. The kitchen is warm, the windows are open, something good is on the speaker, and you want something that feels a bit special without needing to be a chef about it. Pizza bianca , a white pizza, no tomato sauce , is exactly that. A blistered, chewy sourdough base brushed with olive oil and garlic, topped with torn burrata, shaved courgette ribbons and a drizzle of lemon oil right before it hits the table. It looks like you really made an effort. You did not have to.

White pizzas get overlooked because people assume they are just pizza without the good bit. They are wrong. Without the sauce, the base has to do real work, and a sourdough base is genuinely up to the job. The fermentation gives you flavour the dough would not have otherwise , a subtle tang, a slight chew, that gorgeous char on the underside when the heat is high enough. This is a 65% hydration dough, manageable enough that you are not fighting it across the worktop, but with enough water to get that open, airy crumb. June is a good time to make this. Courgettes are just coming into season, burrata is always the right call in warm weather, and the whole thing comes together in a way that feels genuinely summery rather than forced.

Prep30 mins
Ferment6–10 hrs
Cook10 mins
Total8–12 hrs
Yield2 pizzas
DifficultyIntermediate

The Dough

  • 350g strong white bread flour (or 00 pizza flour)
  • 230g water, room temperature
  • 70g active sourdough starter (at peak, bubbly)
  • 8g (1½ tsp) fine sea salt
  • 10g (2 tsp) olive oil

White Base

  • 3 tbsp good olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, very finely sliced
  • A few sprigs of fresh thyme
  • Flaky sea salt
  • 75g low-moisture mozzarella, torn (goes on before baking)

Toppings (after baking)

  • 2 balls burrata (125g each)
  • 2 small courgettes, shaved into thin ribbons with a peeler
  • Zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon
  • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • Small handful of fresh basil leaves
  • Flaky sea salt and black pepper
  • Optional: a few toasted pine nuts or a pinch of chilli flakes

Baker's Tips

  • Your starter needs to be genuinely active for pizza dough , not just recently fed, but at or near peak. If it floats in water, it is ready. If you are unsure about your starter's timing or want help dialling in your fermentation schedule around your day, the DoughRise Coach can build you a personalised bake plan that actually fits your life.
  • Shave the courgette ribbons the day you are eating, but salt them lightly and leave them in a colander for 20 minutes first. They lose excess moisture, which stops them going watery on the warm pizza.
  • High heat is everything here. Whether you are using a pizza stone, a steel, or a heavy baking tray, get it ripping hot in the oven for at least 45 minutes before you bake. The base needs immediate high heat from underneath to get that char and stop it going soggy.

METHOD

  1. Mix the dough. In a large bowl, combine the flour and water and mix until there are no dry patches. Cover and leave to rest for 45 minutes. This is your autolyse, and it makes the dough noticeably easier to work with afterwards.
  2. Add starter and salt. Add the active sourdough starter to the rested dough and squish it through with your fingers until it is fully incorporated. Then add the salt and olive oil and do the same. The dough will feel a bit slippery at first. Give it a couple of minutes of folding in the bowl until it starts to feel cohesive again.
  3. Bulk ferment with folds. Cover the bowl and leave at room temperature (ideally around 24–26°C) for 4–6 hours. During the first two hours, do a set of stretch and folds every 30 minutes , four sets total. After that, leave it alone. You are looking for the dough to grow noticeably, feel airy when you handle it, and have visible bubbles at the edges. Use the bulk fermentation calculator if your kitchen runs warmer or cooler than that , timing shifts more than you think.
    4. Why this works

    The stretch and folds during the early bulk are building the gluten network without any heavy kneading. Each fold aligns the gluten strands and strengthens the dough's structure, giving you that chew and the ability to hold gas bubbles as fermentation progresses. Stopping the folds after two hours lets the dough relax and the fermentation do its thing without you overworking it.

  4. Divide and ball. Tip the dough out gently onto a lightly oiled surface. Divide it into two equal pieces (about 330g each). Shape each piece into a tight ball by pulling the dough underneath itself, then place them in lightly oiled containers or on a floured tray covered with cling film. Leave at room temperature for 1–2 hours until they have relaxed and puffed slightly, or refrigerate overnight and bring to room temperature for an hour before shaping.

    5. INTO THE OVEN

  5. Preheat hard. Put your pizza stone, steel or heaviest baking tray on the top shelf of the oven and set it to its highest temperature , usually 250–280°C (fan or conventional). Leave it for at least 45 minutes. This is not optional. A cold surface is why home pizza bases go pale and sad.
  6. Shape the base. Working on a well-floured surface, take one dough ball and press it out from the centre with your fingers, rotating as you go. Avoid using a rolling pin , you want to keep some of those gas bubbles in the dough. Stretch it to roughly 28–30 centimetres. It does not need to be a perfect circle. Uneven edges are part of the charm.
  7. Dress the base. Mix the olive oil with the sliced garlic and brush it generously over the shaped base, right to the edges. Scatter over the thyme leaves, a pinch of flaky salt, and the torn low-moisture mozzarella. Do not overload it , this is a white pizza and restraint is correct here.
  8. Bake. Slide the pizza onto the hot stone or tray using a floured pizza peel or the back of a flat baking sheet. Bake for 7–10 minutes until the crust is deeply golden and charred in spots and the cheese is bubbling. The base should be firm enough to pick up without flopping.
  9. Make the lemon oil. While the pizza is baking, whisk together the extra virgin olive oil, lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon juice. Season with a little salt and black pepper.
  10. Finish and serve. Pull the pizza from the oven and immediately tear a ball of burrata over each one , it will start to melt into the heat beautifully. Lay over the courgette ribbons, drizzle generously with the lemon oil, scatter over the basil leaves and any optional pine nuts or chilli. Eat straight away, outside if at all possible.

Want to dial in this recipe? Use the free DoughRise Hydration Calculator to calculate exactly the right ratios for your flour and batch size.

Happy baking! Find everything you need at doughrise.store

Photo by Brenan Greene on Unsplash

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