Leftover refrigerated pizza dough with ham, bocconcini, ham, and Kalamata olives

A blogger friend reckons if I leave pizza dough in my refrigerator for a week or more it will sour and the pizza base will have a sourdough-like taste. So this is an experiment. I am enjoying this pizza dough venture 😃🤤 I’m grateful to my friend GC for getting me on to it.

What I didn’t expect was how much gas was formed by the yeast as it fermented carbohydrates. If I remember my chemistry it should be carbon dioxide so I’m sorry for contributing to a little more CO₂ in the atmosphere.

Pizza dough bubble after a week in the refrigerator

When I pierced the bag, there was definitely yeasty goodness feelings as I could smell the yeast. I don’t know that the pizza base tasted any different. It was nice and crisp and I really enjoyed it. This was a mighty fine pizza.

Ingredients

Week old pizza dough
Packet tomato paste
Mozzarella slices
Semi-dried basil
Leg ham
Bocconcini
Mushrooms
Kalamata olives

Ham Bocconcini Kalamata olives Mushroom Pizza

Instructions

Heat the oven to as high as it will get.
Get the refrigerated pizza dough to room temperature.
Shape with some extra flour to avoid stickiness.
Flatten the dough into a shape which experienced pizza makers will ensure is a circle but for me as a newbie is a shape which I call artistic as an excuse for poor technique.
Put the flattened dough onto a lightly floured circular baking sheet.
Spoon and spread tomato paste over the dough.
Lay on some mozzarella slices.
Sprinkle on some semi-dried basil leaves.
Place some torn leg ham on the pizza base cover it as evenly as possible but not completely because then it would have been easier to buy a slice of compressed ham with a diameter of 25 cm and it wouldn’t look at fetching.
In between the bits of torn ham add some torn bocconcini balls but reserve an entire bocconcini ball for the centre of the pizza.
In between the ham and bocconcini with some artistic overlap; add sliced Kalamata olives and slices of mushroom.
Drizzle a little olive oil over the top to keep the mushrooms moist.
Put the uncooked pizza into the oven and cook for between 12 and 15 minutes.
Slice the pizza with the Chinese pizza cutter (also known as a Chinese meat cleaver with a curved edge).
Contemplate putting half the pizza onto a plate and covering with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for breakfast.
Eat half the pizza and then succumb to your inner pig and eat the rest of the pizza, smiling broadly and thinking happy thoughts because good food like homemade pizza should NEVER be thought of as fast or junk food. It is nourishing and nutritious and good for you.
Be thankful for all the good people in your life.