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Recipe
6 min read
Sourdough Pizza with Grilled Courgette, Whipped Ricotta & Chilli Oil: The Slow Summer Bake That Tastes Like a Garden
A summer sourdough pizza recipe with grilled courgette, whipped ricotta and chilli oil. Light, seasonal and genuinely worth the wait. Made at home, no fuss.
Photo by AQUA Pizza on UnsplashThere is something about the smell of courgette on a grill pan on a warm July evening that makes you feel like you are doing things right. Add a sourdough pizza base blistering in a hot oven, a soft cloud of whipped ricotta underneath it all, and a drizzle of chilli oil to finish, and you have got one of those meals that genuinely needs no justification.
This sourdough pizza with grilled courgette, whipped ricotta and chilli oil is exactly the kind of thing I end up making during a long summer weekend when there is no rush and the kitchen smells good. The dough ferments through the afternoon, you grill the courgette while it comes to room temperature, and the whole thing comes together in about ten minutes once the oven is hot. It is not complicated. It is just considered. The whipped ricotta acts as the base instead of a tomato sauce, which keeps everything lighter and lets the courgette sit in the spotlight where it belongs. A bit of lemon zest, good olive oil, and a proper hit of heat from the chilli oil rounds it all out. Summer on a pizza.
Dough
- 300g strong white bread flour
- 195g water, lukewarm
- 60g active sourdough starter (at peak)
- 6g (1 tsp) fine sea salt
- 10g (2 tsp) extra virgin olive oil
Whipped Ricotta Base
- 250g full-fat ricotta
- 1 small lemon, zested
- 1 garlic clove, very finely grated
- 15g (1 tbsp) extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Toppings
- 2 medium courgettes, sliced lengthways into 5mm ribbons
- 80g fresh mozzarella, torn
- 30g Parmesan, finely grated
- 2–3 tbsp good-quality chilli oil (to finish)
- A small handful of fresh basil leaves
- Flaky sea salt
- Olive oil for grilling
Baker's Tips
- Use your starter at genuine peak activity for this one, when it has doubled and is still domed. In summer heat, that can happen faster than you expect, so keep an eye on it rather than going purely by time.
- Salt your courgette ribbons lightly after grilling, not before. Salting raw courgette draws out moisture, which is what you want to avoid on a pizza base where you need things to stay dry enough to blister properly.
- If you are baking regularly and want to stop losing track of your dough formulas and timing, DoughRise Pro lets you save unlimited formulas, keep a full bake history, and export your recipes as PDFs. Good for when a recipe like this becomes a regular summer staple and you want it dialled in exactly the way you like it.
METHOD
- Mix the dough. Combine the flour and water in a large bowl and mix until no dry flour remains. Leave to rest for 30 minutes. This short rest lets the flour hydrate before you add anything else, and makes the dough much more responsive when you start working it. You are running at around 65% hydration here, which is manageable and easy to handle in warm conditions.
- Add the starter and salt. Add the active sourdough starter and the salt to the rested dough. Mix thoroughly by squeezing the dough through your fingers until both are fully incorporated, about 3–4 minutes of active mixing. Add the olive oil and work it in the same way. The dough will feel a little slippery at first but will come together with patience.
- Build the dough structure. Over the next 2 hours, perform 3 sets of coil folds at roughly 45-minute intervals. To coil fold, lift the dough from underneath in the centre, let the ends fold under themselves as you lower it back into the bowl, then rotate 90 degrees and repeat. Cover between folds. After the third set, the dough should feel noticeably more elastic and hold its shape when you lift it.
- Bulk and divide. Leave the dough to ferment at room temperature for a further 2–3 hours after the final fold, until it looks puffed and feels lighter and more aerated when you turn the bowl. In July warmth, this can move quicker than you think. Divide into two equal pieces (roughly 285g each) and shape loosely into balls. Place in a lightly oiled container or on a floured surface, cover, and rest for 45–60 minutes before shaping.
- Prepare the oven and toppings. Place a pizza stone or heavy baking tray on the highest rack in your oven and preheat to maximum temperature (ideally 250–270°C / 480–520°F) for at least 45 minutes. While the oven heats, grill your courgette ribbons on a hot ridged grill pan with a little olive oil. You want good char marks and some colour, about 2–3 minutes per side. Set aside. Make the whipped ricotta by beating all its ingredients together in a bowl until smooth and creamy. Taste for seasoning.
- Shape the bases. Lightly flour your work surface. Take a dough ball and, starting from the centre, press outward with your fingers to flatten it gently. Work around the edge, letting gravity help stretch it as you rotate. You are aiming for a roughly 28–30 centimetre round with a slightly thicker rim. Do not use a rolling pin; you will knock out the air you have spent hours building. If the dough springs back stubbornly, let it rest for 5 minutes and try again.
- Top and bake. Lay the shaped base on a well-floured pizza peel or a piece of baking paper. Spread half the whipped ricotta generously across the base, leaving about a 2 centimetre border. Scatter half the torn mozzarella, then arrange the grilled courgette ribbons over the top. Finish with a dusting of Parmesan. Slide onto the hot stone and bake for 8–10 minutes, until the crust is deeply blistered and golden and the cheese is bubbling. Repeat with the second base.
- Finish and serve. Pull the pizza and immediately scatter fresh basil leaves across the top. Drizzle generously with chilli oil and finish with a pinch of flaky sea salt. Eat straight away, ideally outside if the weather is being cooperative. A cold Aperol spritz is not mandatory but it is not a bad idea either.
Why this works
Coil folds build tension and structure into the dough without degassing it. Unlike folding dough flat against the bowl, coil folds work with gravity to redistribute the dough's own weight, tightening the network progressively. Each fold makes the dough slightly stronger and more extensible, which is exactly what a pizza base needs: something that stretches without tearing.
ONTO THE STONE
Want to dial in this recipe for a larger batch or different flour? Use the free DoughRise Baker's Percentages Calculator to scale the dough accurately without losing your ratios.
Happy baking! Find everything you need at doughrise.store
Photo by AQUA Pizza on Unsplash
