Soured Milk Pizza Crust

When we first started our journey with raw milk (more about that later) I occassionally found myself with a small amount of milk left over that, well, just wasn’t super fresh anymore. Enter this wonderful, light and fluffy soured milk pizza crust! I actually made this recipe using soured heavy cream (not sour cream like you’d put on tacos… it hadn’t gotten that far.) The crust is very workable, and bakes up like a dream!

Light and Fluffy Soured Milk Pizza Crust

Ingredients

• 2 cups unbleached flour + 1/2 cup for kneading
• 1 cup room temperature raw soured milk or raw soured heavy cream (you can use buttermilk or 1 cup whole pasteurized milk or heavy cream + 1 tbsp vinegar as well)
• 1 packet dry active yeast
• 2 tbsp olive or avocado oil, divided
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp raw honey
• cornmeal for dusting the pizza pan

Directions:

1.) Preheat your oven to 450°F.
2.) In a small glass bowl, add yeast packet and 1 tsp honey to raw soured milk (or cream). Allow to rest at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes.
3.) Transfer the milk into a large mixing bowl. Slowly combine 2 cups of unbleached flour, 1 tbsp of oil, and 1 tsp salt, stirring and scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl with a wooden spoon until fully incorporated. This should form a loose ball. Allow to rest, lightly covered, 5 to 10 minutes.
4.) Flour a large cutting board or other work surface of your choice with 1/2 cup flour. Turn out dough onto surface and knead for around 8 minutes, at which point the dough should feel much firmer and should try to retain its shape.
5.) Return dough to bowl and drizzle with remaining 1 tbsp oil. Cover bowl lightly and allow to rest at least 30 minutes, up to 45 minutes. The longer the dough rests, the fluffier the pizza crust will be.
6.) Dust pie pan with cornmeal, spreading evenly. Turn out dough ball onto pizza pan, stretching to your desired shape and thickness. It may help to oil your hands as well to prevent sticking. Prick dough with a fork in several places to assist with even baking. Add your desired toppings.
7.) Bake pizza at 450°F for 12-14 minutes,  until edges of crust are just slightly browned.