High Protein Sourdough Pizza Sticks
Sourdough pizza sticks baked upside down in a hot dog bun pan with a Greek yogurt dough, Italian sausage, pepperoni, and mozzarella which adds up to sixteen grams of protein per stick.
Servings: 10 pizza sticks
Calories: 275kcal
Equipment
- USA Pan New England Hot Dog Bun Pan, 15 by 6 inches other pan 9x9 or 10x10
- - Stand mixer with dough hook or your hands
- kitchen scale highly recommened
- Instant read thermometer
- Wire cooling rack
- Rolling Pin
- Instant read thermometer
- Skillet
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 285 grams bread flour 2 and 1/3 cups
- 150 grams nonfat Greek yogurt 2/3 cup, warmed for 30 seconds in the microwave
- 100 grams active peaked sourdough starter scant 1/2 cup
- 75 grams water room temperature (1/3 cup)
- 15 grams olive oil 1 tablespoon
- 6 grams fine sea salt 1 teaspoon
- 4 grams sugar 1 teaspoon
For the Filling
- 340 grams mild Italian sausage pork or chicken (12 ounces)
- 150 grams pizza sauce scant 2/3 cup
- 140 grams shredded low moisture mozzarella 1 and 1/4 cups
- 60 grams mini pepperoni or pepperoni cut up generous 1/2 cup
- Butter softened, for the pan
Instructions
- Warm your yogurt in the microwave for 30 seconds.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the bread flour, salt, and sugar and mix briefly on low to distribute. In a separate bowl whisk together the Greek yogurt, sourdough starter, water, and olive oil until smooth, then pour the wet ingredients into the flour.
- Mix on low speed until a shaggy dough forms, about 2 minutes, cover and let rest about 30 minutes. This dough hydrates differently than a regular pizza dough.
- Knead on medium speed for 5-6 minutes until the dough is smoother, pulls away cleanly from the sides of the bowl. You are looking for dough that stretches without immediately tearing. It should feel tacky but not sticky.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and rest for 1 hour.
- Do one set of stretch and folds, working around the bowl and pulling the dough up and over itself four times. Cover again.
- Bulk ferment at room temperature for 6 to 8 hours, until the dough has risen noticeably and looks puffy and alive. Go by the look of the dough rather than the clock, since kitchen temperature changes everything.
- At this point you can shape immediately, or cover the bowl tightly and cold ferment in the refrigerator overnight for deeper flavor. If the dough has been refrigerated, pull it out and let it rest at room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes before rolling. Cold dough will tear instead of stretching.
- Remove the sausage from its casings if you are using links, then brown it in a skillet over medium heat, breaking it into small crumbles as it cooks. Drain thoroughly on paper towels if you are using pork.
- Butter the wells of the hot dog bun pan, taking the butter all the way up the sides to the rim. If you used a lean chicken sausage, butter the bottoms of the wells as well.
- Divide the mini pepperoni and the cooked sausage evenly among the ten wells, pushing everything all the way into the corners so the end sticks are not left bare.
- Pipe about half the pizza sauce over the meat, scatter the mozzarella evenly over the top, then pipe the remaining sauce over the cheese.
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a rectangle about 15 by 6 inches, matching the baking surface of the pan. Lay it over the filled pan in one motion and leave it where it lands. Do not slide or press it around, which drags the filling out of position. Ease the edges gently into the corners with your fingertips.
- Dock the dough all over with a fork, the same way you would dock a pizza crust. This keeps large bubbles from lifting the dough away from the filling underneath. Gently push the dough down into the fillings, too hard and it will squish out.
- Bake at 425 degrees F for 18 to 25 minutes, until the top is firm with no give in the center and the internal temperature reads around 190 degrees F. Start checking at 18 minutes if your oven runs hot, since the cheese is against the hot metal on the bottom where you cannot see it. You should be able to watch the edges.
- Let the pan rest on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then invert onto the rack so the filling side faces up. Cool for another 10 minutes before slicing.
- Slice down the ridge lines the pan pressed into the bread to get ten even sticks. Serve warm with extra pizza sauce for dipping.
Notes
Sausage
Mild Italian sausage works in either pork or chicken, and a mix of the two is great if that is what you have. Chicken keeps the sticks leaner while giving you nearly the same protein. If you are using pork, drain it well before it goes into the pan, because rendered fat left behind will pool under the filling and fry the bottom of your dough instead of baking it. Hot Italian is an easy swap if your family likes heat.
The Filling Is Yours
These amounts are a guide, not a rule. Sausage and roasted peppers, buffalo chicken, pesto with fresh mozzarella, or plain cheese for the selective eaters all work exactly the same way. As long as each well keeps its own filling roughly contained, the slab will slice cleanly.
Pepperoni
Mini pepperoni sits flat in a well this narrow and crisps at the edges. Regular slices torn into quarters work just as well, so use whichever you have.
Second Proof
There is no real second proof in this recipe and the bread still bakes up tall and soft. If your kitchen runs cold or your starter has been sluggish, you can let the assembled pan sit for 30 minutes before baking, but it is not a required step.
Make Ahead
Cold ferment the dough overnight rather than assembling the pan ahead. If you need a head start, brown and drain the sausage a day early and keep it refrigerated.
Storage
Store cooled sticks in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, or at room temperature for up to 2 days. Because there is cooked meat and cheese in these, anything beyond 2 days should be refrigerated.
Freezing and Reheating
Cool completely, then freeze the sticks in a single layer on a sheet pan for about an hour until solid before transferring them to a freezer safe bag. They keep for up to 3 months. Reheat on a sheet pan at 375 degrees F for 8 to 10 minutes from the refrigerator or 12 to 15 minutes from frozen. An air fryer at 350 degrees F for about 5 minutes crisps the cheese back up beautifully. Skip the microwave.
Protein
Each stick carries approximately 16 grams of protein, close to 6 of which come from the dough itself before any filling goes in. Bread flour and nonfat Greek yogurt do that work with no protein powder anywhere in the recipe.
