Sourdough Pizza Crust

Jump to Recipe

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.

An overview of this recipe is also available as a web story.

Now, for those of you who are ready to make the best pizza of your life, lets see how to do it.

Recipe Ingredients

ingredients for sourdough pizza crust in bowls on a white surface.

Active sourdough starter (100% hydration)
Warm water
Unbleached Bread flour (see Tips and Tricks below for alternate flour options)
Salt
Olive oil
Cornmeal

How to make the best Sourdough Pizza Crust:

sourdough starter and water in a mixing bowl. Dough with hook in mixer.

Start with an active starter. Add the water and some of the flour to make a sponge.
Allow the sponge to rest for 30-60 minutes before mixing the dough.
Add olive oil, salt and the rest of the flour to the dough.
Knead with the dough hook for 5 minutes. The dough should gather on the hook and clear the sides of the bowl. Alternately, mix and knead the dough by hand.

a blob of pizza dough on a white surface.

The dough will be quite sticky right after it’s mixed.
The dough will become more elastic and cohesive over the 3-5 hours of fermentation.

Over 3-4 hours of fermentation the dough will become lighter and more elastic.
Every hour of so stretch and fold the dough to redistribute the yeast and aerate the dough.
After fermentation the dough should be aerated and elastic. It’s ready to shape or the dough can be refrigerated for up to 2 days before using.

Pizza dough divided in two. Folding and shaping rounds of pizza dough.

Divide the dough into two equal portions
Fold piece of dough onto itself for form a small packet.
Flip the dough over and form the dough into a tight ball.
Let the dough balls rest for at least 10 minutes and up to 30 minutes before shaping.
Once the dough is ready, visit this post to see exactly how to shape pizza dough by hand.

a pizza without topping on a wooden peel and a pizza with topping on a wooden peel.

Place the dough onto a wooden pizza peel or the back of a sheet pan heavily dusted with cornmeal. The cornmeal will act as ball-bearings so you can slide the pizza. You’re now ready to top and bake (or grill) your pizza.
You can bake your sourdough pizza dough 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!

Recipe Tips and Tricks

Make sure your starter is fed and very active before mixing the dough.
This sourdough pizza dough recipe was developed using a 100% hydration starter. You’ll need to adjust the water or flour if your starter is not 100%.
This recipe was developed using unbleached bread flour. The recipe also works well with semolina or 00 pizza flour.
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.

A timeline for making Sourdough Pizza Crust 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.

Recipe FAQs

Why does my sourdough pizza dough come out bready?

If you add too much flour or not enough water to the dough the pizza can bake up dry and bready. A wetter dough will make a lighter and crisper crust. Do not knock all the air out of the dough before shaping. If you vigorously knead the dough before shaping you’ll end up with lots of tiny air bubbles and a bready texture.

Can sourdough pizza dough be made in advance?

Yes. Sourdough pizza dough can be held in the refrigerator for up to 2 days or frozen for several weeks.

Should you punch down sourdough pizza dough?

There is no need to “punch down” pizza dough. After the initial fermentation gently fold and stretch the dough to redistribute the yeast. By gently folding the dough you retain some of the air bubbles that formed during fermentation and your pizza will have a lighter and crisper crust.

I know you hate to throw away that sourdough discard. Check out these recipes that use sourdough discard.

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.

Can You Freeze Sourdough Pizza Dough?

Yes, you can freeze Sourdough Pizza Dough. Make sure your starter is very active so you have plentiful yeast in the dough. Bring the dough through the initial fermentation. Form it into a tight ball, wrap it in plastic and put it into a freezer bag.

If you love this recipe as much as I do, I’d really appreciate a star rating and a quick comment. Ratings and comments help my recipes show in search results. Thanks!

Print Recipe (email required)

4.67 from 200 reviews