Sourdough pizza, five days in the making

Marta's Choice · Sept 24 to 27Chicken Alfredo with Crispy BaconAlfredo, chicken, crispy bacon, melted cheese and fresh parsleyOn until Sunday, or until it sells out.

Also on every week: a plain cheese pizza and a pepperoni pizza.

Thursday to Saturday
from 2 pm
Sunday
from 11 am

Kitchen last call is 15 minutes before close.

Overhead view of this week's square sourdough pizza: chicken, crispy bacon, an Alfredo drizzle and chopped parsley

It starts with flour, water and patience

Sourdough is both the bread and the starter that makes it. Mix flour with water, leave it alone, and the wild yeast and friendly bacteria already living in the flour and the air get to work. They make the dough rise, and they make the complex, tangy flavor you can't get from a packet.

Marta Drevniak runs our kitchen and makes the pizza dough and the focaccia every morning. She earned her pizzaiolo certification at Sourdough Willy's in Kingston. The weekly special is Marta's Choice: she picks it, and nobody finds out what it is until Thursday.

A staff member smiling in front of the tiled pizza oven as a pan pizza goes in

From starter to slice

Every crust takes at least five days. Here is what happens on each of them.

  1. Day1

    Mix

    We mix a big batch of dough with our sourdough starter as the base, cover it, and put it in the refrigerator for a day or two. That slow, cold bulk ferment breaks the dough down and is where the flavor starts.

  2. Day2

    Start the next batch

    Another batch goes in. There are always several batches at different stages in the kitchen. It's the only way a five-day pizza can be on the menu four days a week.

  3. Day3

    Pan and stretch

    The two-day-old dough comes out of the fridge much bigger, bubbly and very much alive. We portion it into greased pans, let it rest, then stretch it all the way to the corners. It rises on the rack overnight, ten hours or more.

  4. Day4

    First bake, then freeze

    In the morning every pan is baked to golden, the first of two bakes. Once cool, the crusts are wrapped and frozen for a day or two. Like a sauce that tastes better the next day, the sour deepens in the cold.

  5. Day5

    Top, bake, serve

    Out of the freezer and unwrapped, then topped with our homemade sauce, cheese and whatever the week calls for. Twelve minutes in the oven. Cut and serve.

Fair questions

Why do you sometimes run out?

The pizza is made from scratch, the process is long, and we only have so much cold storage and oven space. That puts a real limit on how many crusts we can make in a week.

Why can't I call ahead?

We're just not there. And honestly, for the reasons above, we might never be.

What if I need to grab and go?

There are always bake-at-home sourdough pizzas in the market, and house focaccia by the round.

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The tiled dome of the pizza oven with a fire glowing inside, under string lights and white subway tile

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