Sourdough Pizza Crust makes everyone’s favorite food even better. It takes several hours to make the dough, but the vast majority of the time is hands-off.
If you still need to make your sourdough starter, go ahead and use this recipe for Easy Pizza Dough in the meantime.
You can learn How to Make a Sourdough Starter for next time. Then I can show you how to Feed and Maintain Sourdough Starter or How to Keep a Small Sourdough Starter.
Now, for those of you who are ready to make the best pizza of your life, lets see how to do it.
Scroll through the step by step photos to see how to make the best Sourdough Pizza Crust:
Once the dough is ready, visit this post to see exactly how to shape pizza dough by hand.
You can bake the pizza in a very hot oven, or you can grill your pizza over charcoal for the best pizza in the world. The lightly charred crust is a thing of beauty!
A timeline for making Sourdough Pizza from scratch:
- Feed your starter the day before or early in the morning of the day you want to make the dough. You want to make the dough with an active starter.
- Make the dough in the late morning or early afternoon. The entire process can take up to 5 hours so allow enough time if you plan to use the dough the same day it is made.
- The dough will ferment for about 3-5 hours over the course of the afternoon. The more active your starter is and the warmer the ambient temperature, the faster the dough will ferment. In cold months allow closer to 5 hours for fermentation.
- 30 minutes before you’re ready to bake (or grill!) the pizza, begin the process of shaping the dough.
- If you want to work ahead, you can make the dough, allow it to ferment and then refrigerate for up 2 days. Take the dough out of the refrigerator and go right ahead and shape the pies.
I know you hate to throw away that sourdough discard. Check out these recipes that use sourdough discard.
Since you’ve got your starter fed, peruse the entire list of My Best Sourdough Recipes. Have fun!
Hey, since the grill (or oven) is still hot, why not try this light & luscious Dessert Pizza with fresh berries and Greek yogurt drizzle.
You can also use this dough to make Philly Cheesesteak Calzones or Breakfast Calzones with chorizo & eggs.
If you love this recipe as much as I do, I’d really appreciate a 5-star review.
Sourdough Pizza Crust
Sourdough Pizza Crust makes everyone's favorite food even better. It takes several hours to make the dough, but the vast majority of the time is hands-off.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (8 oz, 224g) active sourdough starter (100% hydration)
- 1 cup (8 oz, 240ml) warm water
- 3 cups (15oz, 420g) bread flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- cornmeal for dusting
Instructions
- Combine the starter, water and 2 cups of the flour. Mix on low speed with the paddle until the flour is incorporated. Cover the bowl and set aside for 30 -60 minutes.
- If using a stand mixer, change to the dough hook. With the mixer running on low, add the salt, olive oil and the remaining the flour. Mix on medium speed until the dough begins to clear the sides of the bowl and gathers on the hook. Increase the speed to medium-high and knead for 5 minutes. If mixing by hand add as much of the flour as you can using a spoon or spatula, then turn the dough out onto a floured surface to finish kneading in the rest of the flour.
- Dump the dough onto a floured surface and knead into a smooth ball. Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and turn it over to coat the surface. Cover the bowl and set aside at room temperature.
- After 30 minutes uncover the bowl, lift one side of the dough and fold it into the middle of the dough. Repeat with the other three sides of the dough then flip the dough over. You're basically turning the dough inside-out to redistribute the yeast and stretch the gluten. Cover the bowl and after 30 minutes repeat the procedure. Cover the bowl and after 60 minutes repeat the procedure again.
- Cover the bowl and set aside for another 60 minutes. By the end of 3 hours the dough should be lively, elastic and airy. If the dough is still sluggish give it another hour at room temperature. At this point you can refrigerate the dough for up to 2 days or you can go ahead and make the pizzas.
- Dump the dough onto a floured surface, do not knead. Using a bench scraper or sharp knife, cut the dough into 2 equal pieces. Form each piece into a tight ball by cupping the dough in the palms your hands and moving the dough in a circular motion. This is a soft dough so this step will help make forming and moving the pizza easier. Cover the dough and allow it to rest for 20 minutes. If the ball flattens right away and the dough still seems very soft, form the ball again and give it another 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, if you're baking the pizza in the oven preheat to 500F. If you have a pizza stone preheat that too. If you're grilling the pizza, light the grill.
- Using the tips of your fingers, gently flatten and press the dough into a disc. Use your fingers to stretch the dough into a 12-14” "round. You can also try to drape the dough over your two fists and pull from the edges to slowly enlarge it to a 12" round. Avoid using a rolling pin because you don't want to deflate all the air bubbles in the dough. Visit this page to see step by step photos of how to shape pizza dough by hand.
- Place each crust onto a wooden peel or pizza pan sprinkled heavily with corn meal. Proceed to top and bake/grill or as you like.
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Tapiola
Sunday 5th of September 2021
I have a recipe I usually use that calls for overnight fermentation, but this worked perfect for a day when I woke up and HAD to have pizza same day for dinner! I don’t own a mixer so all kneaded by hand and it came out just great. Nice crispy crust off of my baking steel. Thanks for posting!
Daleen
Thursday 19th of August 2021
Hey all the from South Africa, Can I ask what does 100% hydration refer to ? would it mean equal parts starter, flour and water when feeding ? Would I be able to use "00" flour for this recipe Thanks
Stevi
Sunday 29th of August 2021
@Daleen, Hi Daleen, When using percentages also called "bakers percentages" or bakers math in dough making the percentage is based on the weight of the total flour in the recipe. Like if the recipe calls for 1000 grams of flour, 20% starter, 65% water and 2% salt; the recipe would include 200 grams starter, 650 grams water and 20 grams salt. . . Since there is already 100 grams each of flour and water in the starter you would add only 900 g flour and 550 g water. . . A good refreshment regimen for starter is 1:2:2 being 1 part starter, 2 parts flour and 2 parts water, by weight like: 75:150:150 in grams. Your starter should be 50/50 flour/water (100% hydration) generally unless you have a specific recipe calling for a different ratio.
Eileen Gray
Thursday 19th of August 2021
100% hydration means you feed your starter with equal parts starter-water-flour. For my full size starter I feed with 4 oz of starter, 4 oz of water and 4 oz of flour. Any type of wheat flour can be used for feeding.
Denise Severson
Saturday 19th of June 2021
pizza perfection; highly recommend!
Susan Goulding
Sunday 13th of June 2021
I have to say I’ve fallen in love with sourdough using your recipes! Thanks so much :)
Eileen Gray
Sunday 13th of June 2021
You are welcome!
Hannah
Sunday 16th of May 2021
Having tried the burger buns with success, it was time for pizza dough! This is the best recipe for sourdough pizza I have tried so far. I think I rolled the dough too thinly and so it didnt puff as much as we like but the result was still excellent!