Luke Stuart, founder of the award-winning WhitePepper Chef Academy & Cookery School at Lytchett Matravers shows you how to make sourdough pizza with toppings

To make a starter* (which is what makes the dough rise) combine 50g flour (organic) with 50g water (bottled), once or twice a day (keep adding to the mix) over a 7-10 day period. Once the starter floats in water, it is ready to use. If you haven’t time to do this, then use dried yeast. If you go over to my website you can see me make this pizza in my kitchen at WhitePepper.

Prep time: 7 days + 3 hours Cooking time: 10 minutes. Makes 4 pizzas

Ingredients

500g strong flour

300g water

75g starter* (or 3g dried yeast, follow instructions on packet)

6g sea salt, crumbled

For the toppings:

Large ball of mozarella

Some grated pecorino

Jalapeno Pesto

Blitz together the following: 25g jalapenos; 20g fresh basil; 1 garlic clove, crushed; 20g pinenuts; 50g olive oil; pinch of salt; squeeze of lemon juice

Pecorino Yoghurt

Mix together:250g natural yoghurt and 75g pecorino (grated)

Method

1 Combine flour and water and stir, roughly. Cover and allow to sit for 45 minutes (autolyze stage - this will improve the crust).

2 Add starter (or dried yeast) to dough and then the sea salt.

3 Knead the dough for approximately 20 minutes.

4 Place dough into a clean bowl, cover and prove until doubled in size (about 45 minutes).

5 After the bulk rise, divide into four pieces and shape into dough shells.

6 Rest the shells, covered, for at least an hour (the longer the better).

7 Pound and stretch the dough; creating a thin base and slightly raised edges for the crust.

8 Place the pizza bases on baking paper (lined with a little semolina) or a pizza stone/peel. Spread with the jalapeno pesto (I use this instead of a tomato puree). Garnish sparingly with the mozarella and a little grated pecorino.

9 Bake in a very hot preheated oven (250°C/Gas Mark 9) for 10 minutes.

10 Before serving add a dollop of the pecorino yoghurt on each pizza.

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