By Cassandra Hewitt

Everyone has their favourite pizza, whether it’s classic cheese or something fancy and artisanal. The beauty of pizza is that it can be adjusted for any flavour palate or availability of ingredients. If you aren’t harvesting your own wild game, do what we did and ask a hunter to share their harvest. Often, they will be thrilled to share some of their protein. A big thanks to Todd Zimmerling, President and CEO of Alberta Conservation Association, for sharing his harvest with us for this recipe.

This easy-to-make pizza will take those family pizza nights to the next level and can be made in a standard oven if you don’t have a pizza oven.

While making dough can be a lot of fun, it takes time and precision. Measurements were provided in grams due to the different hydration levels of flour. If you wish to forgo this step and go straight to adding toppings, buying pre-made pizza crusts or dough balls from your local store are good options.

Ingredients:

Pizza Poolish Starter

• 200 g (200 mL) warm water, 110°F
• 5 g (3.5 mL) honey or maple syrup
• 5 g (8.69 mL) dry yeast
• 200 g (394 mL or 1.58 cups) “00” flour
• Pizza Dough

Pizza Poolish Starter

• 300 g (300 mL) room temperature water 
• 250 g (329 mL or 1.31 cups) strong flour
• 250 g (493 mL or 2 cups) “00” flour, you can substitute all-purpose flour
• 20 g (1.1 tablespoons) salt

Pizza Toppings

• pizza sauce
• mozzarella
• fresh basil
• wild game (we used venison garlic sausage and venison pepperoni)

Directions:

Pizza Poolish Starter – Prep time: 5 minutes; proof time: 16–24 hours

The day before making pizza, you’ll need to make your Pizza Poolish Starter. In a large bowl, mix water, honey, and yeast. Next, add flour and mix well. Let stand for one hour at room temperature then cover and place in the fridge overnight (16–24 hours). Do not leave over 24 hours or it will become acidic.

Pizza Dough – Prep time: 5 hours

About five hours before you plan to eat, you’ll need to make the Poolish into dough. Remove Poolish from the fridge and let stand at room temperature for one hour. Add room temperature water into the Poolish and mix well, then add in your dry ingredients with salt being the last. Mix well and let the mixture stand for another 30 minutes. Form a single dough ball. To add surface tension to the dough, remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a lightly floured surface. Pull the dough towards you with both hands until your dough ball has a smooth surface. Once the desired texture is achieved, place the dough back into the bowl, coat with olive oil and leave covered in the fridge. After one hour, remove the dough ball from the fridge, divide into five equal parts (about 250–280 g or the size of a baseball or snowball) and add surface tension to each ball as above, cover and proof for two hours at room temperature.

Pizza – Prep time: 5 minutes; cook time per pizza: 2 minutes in pizza oven or 15–20 minutes in standard oven

Note: If using a standard oven, preheat to 550°F. If using a pizza oven, preheat at 750°F for 30 minutes.

After the dough balls have proofed, place a ball on a well-floured surface. Starting from the centre, carefully press the dough outwards with your fingers until it is roughly a pizza shape, 8–10 inches in diameter. Start by adding the sauce and then the toppings, finishing with cheese. Place on a ventilated pizza pan and place in the oven to cook. If using a pizza oven, watch that the edges are evenly cooking by turning every 30 seconds (or few minutes in standard oven), this will also help ensure the bottom is crispy.

Tips

Make it your own. Experiment with different kinds of sauces, meats, veggies, and more.

Keep for later. Freeze the pizza and vacuum pack for on-the-go meals. Thaw the pizza outside the bag and reheat in the oven for a quick bite on busy days.

Invest in your recipes. If you want to step up your game without investing in a pizza oven, try a pizza stone. They are easy to use and clean, and will create a soft and fluffy interior and crunchy exterior. Preheat the stone to get it up to temperature and then using a pizza peel place your pizza directly onto the stone.

Make some dough. YouTube is a great place to start if you are looking to make your own dough.