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Here is my guide for making sourdough pizza crust at home. As far as sourdough pizza recipes are concerned, this one is as simple as it gets — it’s made with all-purpose flour and there is no autolyse or preferment. Everything gets mixed together at once and you are on your way! Ready? Wake up your starter! Let’s do this 🍕🍕🍕
One of the most frequently asked questions I’ve received these past few weeks is: “Have you ever replaced the yeast in “X” bread recipe with sourdough starter?”
And specifically: “Could I use sourdough starter in your pizza dough recipe?”
Yes! And today, I’m going to show you how. The process is very similar to how I make yeast-leavened pizza, and the resulting pies are similar: ballooned and blistered edges with crisp but pliable crusts. In the recipe below, there are instructions for making three favorite pizzas 🍕🍕🍕:
- Classic Margherita
- Kale and Crème Fraîche
- Naked Pizza with Spicy Scallion (or Ramp!) Oil … made this on Instagram over the weekend
Simple Sourdough Pizza Crust: The details
This sourdough pizza crust is …
- Basic! Given supply constraints, I didn’t get creative with the flour mix here. This dough is made with 100% all-purpose flour. You absolutely can use bread flour or tipo 00 flour (read more about tipo 00 flour here) if you can get your hands on either. If you have been having a hard time finding flour, Baker’s Authority is a great option — great prices, too, even with shipping tacked on.
- 75% hydration. This is a classic sourdough formula: 375 g water, 500 g flour.
- Simple! As with all of the sourdough recipes on this site, there is no autolyse or preferment or levain. I do call for some stretches and folds, which build strength in the dough. I like to do 4 stretch and folds, but even if you can only perform one stretch and fold, your dough will benefit.
Can you Freeze Sourdough Pizza Dough?
Yes. In my experience, the pizzas made from frozen dough do not spring as high upon being baked, but they still taste delicious.
Also, in my experience, the more time dough spends in the freezer, the more air bubbles the dough seems to lose. After 1 week in the freezer, my dough will bake up beautifully. After 3 weeks in the freezer, my dough will be less bubbly and will bake into a thinner and crisper crust.
To freeze sourdough pizza dough: make it through step 4 in the recipe below or until after you transfer the portioned rounds to quart containers. At this point, transfer the quart containers to the freezer for as long as 3 months. To thaw, remove a container (or more) and let thaw in the refrigerator for 1 day or thaw at room temperature for 8 hours. Then, proceed with the recipe.
5 Keys to Excellent Pizza Every Time
Regardless if you are using yeast or sourdough, these (for me) are the keys to making excellent pizza at home every time.
- High-hydration Dough: When handled properly, doughs with a high proportion of water relative to the flour bake into beautiful, ballooned-pocketed crusts.
- Refrigerator time: After the first rise, time (at least 6 hours, but up to 3 days) in the fridge further develops flavor and improves the texture of the pizza dough.
- 1 hour at room temperature: If time permits, letting the dough come to room temperature an hour before baking, allows for easier shaping — room temperature dough will more easily stretch into a round than cold dough.
- Minimal handling of dough: Using a delicate hand to shape the dough, preserves the air pockets created during the fermentation process. I learned this from Jim Lahey. (Read more about this here.)
- Baking Steel: As you might know, I am a huge fan of the Baking Steel. In sum: steel is a better conductor of heat than stone — i.e. it transfers heat to the dough faster — which promotes great oven spring which translates to glorious bubbles throughout the dough. (Read more about the Baking Steel here.)
To be clear, I do not think you need to use a sourdough starter to make excellent pizza at home. A high hydration dough + leavening of choice + proper handling will give you excellent pizza every time, including that baked in a skillet: How to Make Excellent Skillet Pizza.
Here’s my guide to making yeast-leavened pizza dough at home: How to Make Pizza {*New video added*}
PS: If you are new to sourdough, I have a free email course that covers the basics: Sourdough: Demystified.
Here’s the simple sourdough pizza crust play-by-play: As always a scale is essential for best results. You need water, flour, salt, and sourdough starter.
Combine 375 g water, 100 g sourdough starter, and 10 g salt in a bowl.
Stir to combine; then add …
… 500 g all-purpose flour.
Stir until you have a sticky dough ball.
Transfer to a straight-sided vessel (if possible) and let rest for 30 minutes. Then, “stretch and fold” the dough (see video for guidance) 4 times at 30 minute intervals. Cover the vessel. Let it rest for 6 to 12 hours (see recipe notes for timing) or until the dough…
… has about doubled in volume. (This is a little bit more than double.)
Turn dough out onto a work surface. Use flour here as needed.
Portion into 4 equal pieces, again using flour as needed.
Ball up and transfer to quart (or other similar-sized) containers (I love these deli quart containers). Transfer to the fridge, ideally for at least 6 hours and up to 3 days.
An hour prior to baking, remove a round (or more) of pizza dough, and place it on a floured work surface. If you have a Baking Steel, place it in the upper third of your oven, and heat the oven to 550ºF. (See recipe for other options.)
Delicately stretch the dough into a round, trying as best you can to preserve those air pockets.
Top as you wish. This one is spread with tomato sauce and topped with fresh mozzarella, parmesan, olive oil, and sea salt.
Transfer pizza, parchment paper and all to a preheated Baking Steel or stone in a 550ºF oven. Bake 5 to 6 minutes or until cooked to your liking.
Slice and serve.
A little fresh basil is always nice.
This is the beauty of the Baking Steel: oven spring!
Another favorite: kale + crème fraîche:
Another favorite: “naked” + spicy scallion (or ramp) oil:
Simple Sourdough Pizza Crust
- Prep Time: 24 hours
- Cook Time: 5 to 6 minutes
- Total Time: 1 day + 1 hour
- Yield: 4 pizzas
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What you need to make this recipe…:
- …a sourdough starter. Here are three sources:
- …time. Once your starter is ready to go, this recipe requires an initial 6 – 18 hour rise, followed by at least 6 hours in the fridge or up to 3 days.
Timing/Schedule:
The more I make sourdough, the more I realize that the timing of each bake depends so much on the time of year and the temperature of my kitchen. In the summer, because it is warm and humid, the first rise (bulk fermentation) of all my sourdoughs takes between 6 – 8 hours; in the winter the first rise takes 12 – 18 hours.
It is best to rely on visual cues. For the bulk fermentation, you want the dough to double (a little more or less is fine). This is why I cannot recommend using a straight-sided vessel (as opposed to a bowl) enough. It makes gauging the first rise easier.
If at any point you are worried the dough will over-ferment — say, for example, the dough is close to being doubled in volume but you need to go to bed — stick the vessel in the fridge and pick up the process in the morning. (Note: If your dough rises above double, don’t despair … my dough has tripled in volume during an overnight rise, and the resulting dough still had plenty of oven strength and spring.)
Schedule: I like mixing this dough in the evening, performing 4 stretch and folds before I go to bed (if time permits), then letting the dough complete its bulk fermentation at room temperature (68ºF) overnight. In the morning, it’s typically ready to be portioned and stashed in the fridge. Sometimes I’ll use the dough that same evening; sometimes I’ll use it the following day or the next. I encourage using the dough within 3 days.
In short: If you want pizza for the weekend, mix your dough on either Wednesday or Thursday.
Flour choice:
- Due to supply issues, I’ve been making this recipe with all-purpose flour, and it works beautifully. You absolutely can use bread flour or tipo 00 flour if you can get your hands on either. If you can’t, know that all-purpose (unbleached) flour works great here. If you use 00 flour, you’ll likely need to reduce the amount of water. I would start with 350 g, and adjust moving forward based on your results.
Favorite Pizza-Making Tools:
- Baking Steel
- Pizza Peel
- Parchment Paper: I bake my pizzas on parchment paper on my Baking Steel. Parchment allows for easy transfer from peel to steel.
- Cast Iron Skillet: If you do not have a Steel or stone, you can use a cast iron skillet. Rub a half teaspoon of oil over its surface, transfer a stretched dough round to the skillet. Top as desired. Bake at 450ºF for about 15 minutes.
- Quart Containers for storing dough
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 375 g water
- 100 g sourdough starter
- 10 g salt
- 500 g all-purpose or bread flour
For each Margherita pizza:
- 2 tablespoons tomato sauce
- 1 to 2 oz mozzarella
- handful of grated Parmigiano Reggiano (less than an ounce)
- drizzle olive oil
- pinch sea salt
For each kale and crème fraiche pizza:
- extra-virgin olive oil
- a couple handfuls of baby or Tuscan kale
- 1 to 2 cloves garlic
- Sea salt, such as Maldon
- 2 tablespoons crème fraîche
- grated Parmigiano Reggiano, about 1/4 to 1/3 cup
For each naked pizza with ramp or scallion oil:
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup minced scallions or ramps
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 to 2 tablespoons crème fraîche
- handful grated Parmigiano Reggiano
- sea salt
Instructions
- Mix the dough. Place the starter, salt, and water in a large bowl. Stir with a spatula to combine — it doesn’t have to be uniformly mixed. Add the flour. Mix again until the flour is completely incorporated. Transfer to a straight-sided vessel (if you have one.) Cover vessel with tea towel or cloth bowl cover and let stand 30 minutes.
- Stretch and fold: after 30 minutes have passed, reach into the vessel and pull the dough up and into the center. Turn the vessel quarter turns and continue this pulling 8 to 10 times. See video for guidance. Let the dough rest for another 30 minutes; then repeat the stretching and folding. If possible, repeat this cycle twice more for a total of 4 stretch and folds. By the 4th cycle, you will notice a huge difference in the texture of the dough: it will be smoother, stronger, and more elastic.
- Bulk fermentation: Cover vessel with a tea towel or bowl cover and set aside to rise at room temperature (70ºF/21ºC) for 4 to 18 hours (the time will vary depending on the time of year, the strength of your starter, and the temperature of your kitchen; see notes above) or until the dough has roughly doubled in volume. (Note: Do not use your oven with the light on for the bulk fermentation — it is too warm for the dough. When determining when the bulk fermentation is done, it is best to rely on visual cues (doubling in volume) as opposed to time. A straight-sided vessel makes monitoring the bulk fermentation especially easy because it allows you to see when your dough has truly doubled.)
- Portion and shape: Turn the dough out onto a work surface and shape into a rough ball, using as much flour as needed — the dough will be sticky. Using a bench scraper, divide the dough into 4 equal portions. Sprinkle portions with flour. With floured hands, roll each portion into a ball, using the pinkie-edges of your hands to pinch the dough underneath each ball. Transfer each round of dough to a plastic quart container, cover, and store in fridge for at least 6 hours or up to 3 days or transfer to the freezer for up to 3 months (see notes in post about thawing).
- Make the pizzas: Pull out a round (or more) of dough from the fridge one hour before you plan on baking. Dust dough with flour and place on a floured work surface. Let sit untouched for about an hour (a little longer or shorter is fine). Place a Baking Steel or pizza stone in the top third of your oven. Set oven to 550ºF. Heat oven for at least 45 minutes but ideally 1 hour prior to baking.
- Gently shape dough into a 10-inch (roughly) round handling it as minimally as possible. (See video for guidance.) Lay a sheet of parchment paper on top of a pizza peel. Transfer the dough round to the parchment-lined peel.
- Top and Bake:
- To make a classic Margherita-style pizza: Spread 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce over the surface of the dough. Top with mozzarella to taste. Sprinkle with parmesan to taste. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt. Shimmy the pizza, parchment paper and all into the oven. Bake pizza until top is blistered, about 5-6 minutes. Transfer to cutting board. Sprinkle with basil, if you have it. Cut and serve. Discard parchment paper.
- To make a kale and crème fraîche pizza: Place the kale in a small bowl, drizzle with olive oil, season with sea salt, and toss. Spoon crème fraîche over the dough leaving a 1/2-inch border or so—I use about a tablespoon per pizza. Sprinkle with minced garlic and a handful of grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Top with the kale. Shimmy the pizza, parchment paper and all into the oven. Bake pizza until top is blistered, about 5 – 6 minutes. Transfer to cutting board. Cut and serve. Discard parchment paper.
- To make a naked pizza with scallion oil: Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a skillet with 1/4 cup of minced scallions (or ramps!) and 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes. Keep it over low heat while you make the pizza. Spoon crème fraîche over the dough leaving a 1/2-inch border or so—I use about a tablespoon per pizza. Sprinkle with a handful of grated parmesan. Shimmy the pizza, parchment paper and all into the oven. Bake pizza until top is blistered, about 5 – 6 minutes. Transfer to cutting board. At this point, the scallions should be starting to “frizzle”. If they aren’t, crank up the heat until the oil is sizzling. Spoon a few tablespoons of the hot oil over the pizza (you’ll have extra oil). Sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt. Cut and serve.
- Category: Pizza
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American, Italian
Keywords: sourdough, pizza, simple, margherita, mozzarella
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
Richard says
More puddle than pizza dough. Has anyone had success with this dough? Disappointed.
★
alexandra says
Hi Richard! At what point was it a puddle? When you mixed it? Or was it after the bulk fermentation? If the first part of the recipe went fine, as in if the mixing, stretching and folding, etc. went fine, the issue likely is that your dough over-fermented during the bulk fermentation. Unfortunately if it over ferments, there is no salvaging.
How many hours was your bulk fermentation?
Sharon says
Mine was more on the wet side too from the beginning. I think it’s because I used a different flour than what she used. If you start with a flour that has a lower protein content, you might need to reduce the amount of water used. I will be trying again with either King Arthur Flour or Trader Joe’s all purpose flour and I think that will help
alexandra says
Hi Sharon! Thanks for this. Yes, if you found the dough wet, hold back 25-50g during the mixing process; you can always add more water slowly while you are mixing if the dough seems too dry.
Dee Baker says
I’m trying this for the first time today for pizza tomorrow. I wish I’d done the bakers percentages before mixing. It’s not 75% hydration, which is already very wet for sourdough beginners, it’s almost 78% when you account for the 100% hydration starter. I’ve got some high hydration boules under my belt, so I did some Rubaud mixing and will definitely do the stretch and folds throughout. I’ve had a lot of wet failures with pizza that tasted great but handled terribly so I’m hoping this is better.
alexandra says
OK, Dee, keep me posted on how it turns out! How did the dough feel when you were doing the stretches and folds?
Dee Baker says
Wet wet wet. It was really hard to build any structure in. I use a 100% hydration half rye half AP starter which was at peak. It tasted great, and maybe the 6 balls I put in the freezer will shape better if I don’t defrost them long.
alexandra says
OK, interesting. I imagine the half rye starter is playing part of a roll in the wetness, but not all. Next time, I would reduce the water by 25-50 g.
Bonnie says
Thank you Alexandra for this and your focaccia recipe! I have made this pizza recipe now with a sourdough started fed on 25%rye/25%highpro/50%AP flour 4 times and each time its great! I noticed that the time I used fed starter with my robust starter (my small stock starter can double in 3-4h at 68F room temp), it was more wet. Now I adjusted to use 50%discard and 50% fed and follow the rest of the steps and it’s great! It’s less wet since the discard is less active. The discard makes a more sour tasting dough, but my family loves it!
★★★★★
alexandra says
Wonderful to hear all of this Bonnie! So interesting. Thanks so much for taking the time to share all of this … so helpful for others.
Maggie says
This dough recipe is nicely bulk fermenting on the counter. This is my 3rd time making this dough – the first two with spelt starter were perfect! Trying this one with rye starter, but King Arthur all purpose white flour. Looking forward to pizza / game night tomorrow.
★★★★★
alexandra says
Oh yay! So nice to hear this, Maggie! Would love to hear how the rye starter works out with this one. Happy pizza + game night 🍕🍕🍕🎉🎉🎉
Theresa says
I tried 3 sourdough pizza recipes before I discovered this one – and my search has ended. We have a winner. The taste is perfect, the texture is sublime – I rolled mine out with a rolling pin but still got lovely gas pockets. I made 4 pizzas – they vanished within 15 minutes. No more gloopy sourdough with uncooked patches ever again! Thanks Alexandra!
★★★★★
alexandra says
Wonderful to hear this, Theresa! Thanks so much for writing.
Molly says
I sprayed a silicone mat for rolling out and cooked them on a hot grill. I put the toppings on immediately after flipping. The crust puffed up beautifully and was delicious. I know I will use this recipe often for lots of diverse uses.
★★★★★
alexandra says
Molly! I love this. So smart. Thanks so much for sharing your method, and thanks for writing. Yay for grilled 🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕
Lauren says
Are you using an active starter or discard?
Thanks!! Excited to try
alexandra says
Hi Lauren! I’m using active, fed starter — I typically use starter 4-6 hours after a feeding, when it has doubled in volume.
AJ says
Hi, I let mine bulk ferment for 8 hours, had the bubbles and everything. When I pulled it out , it was so much stickyer in comparison to your video. I used 00 flour, maybe that’s why? What can I do to straighten it out at this point? Or do I need to start over?
alexandra says
Arjun, yes, I imagine it’s because of the 00 flour. Did you portion the dough and refrigerate it? If your dough still had strength and elasticity when you were shaping it, it will be fine. If it was totally slack, it may have overfermented, in which case it is not salvageable.
So, if you think the dough is still good, when you are ready to shape it, I would use flour as needed — you may need to be a little more generous with the flour to make the dough easier to manage.
AJ says
Thank you! — I did portion it and put it in the fridge. I had to use generous flour just to be able to shape it into a ball. Once into the fridge, it turned back into a puddle – hours later, but bubbling was occurring. I pulled it out about 16 hours after I put it into the fridge and reshaped into balls with more flour. Lets see how it plays out. Crossing my fingers it’ll work.
★★★★★
alexandra says
OK, keep me posted AJ! I’m a little worried the dough over-fermented, but my fingers are crossed for you. If the dough is too tricky to shape, you could try baking one of the rounds in a cast iron skillet… simply pour a teaspoon or so of olive oil into the skillet, drop in the round, turn to coat, and don’t touch it for an hour; then use your hands to spread the dough in the pan, top it and bake it. 450ºF for 10-15 minutes.
Rachel says
Can I make this with whole wheat flour?
★★★★★
alexandra says
Hi Rachel! I wouldn’t recommend using 100% whole wheat flour as I think the result will be quite dense. I would start with no more than 25% whole wheat flour. Do you have bread flour or ap flour on hand?
Lucinda says
Is there anyway you can freeze the dough and then take one out the next week
alexandra says
Hi Lucinda! Yes! There are freezing instructions in the post above.
Abhi Carrino says
Hi Ali,
I recently tried your focaccia and it was the best I have tried so far so I decided to give this pizza recipe a go. I used wholemeal flour, my rye sourdough starter and I reduced the water to 350(started with 330 and used 350).
During stretch and fold, my dough was fine and getting smoother but after bulk fermentation(4 hours as its hot here in the UK) it just fell apart. It had no stretch and was a wet puddle.
I have managed to divide it into 4 using lots of flour but couldn’t shape it into a ball and now its in the fridge overnight.
Any ideas on what went wrong as I did reduce the water level. I don’t think I over fermentated it because as soon as it doubled I moved to shaping?
Thanks,
Abhi
alexandra says
Hi Abhi! It sounds as though the dough may have over fermented. Question: when you made the focaccia, what type of flour did you use? And what type of starter?
I’m wondering if the combination of the wholemeal flour and rye + hot weather caused the dough to ferment especially fast.
Yamini says
Hi is it necessary to refrigerate the dough before making pizza or can v directly use it after bulk fermentation. Thank you
alexandra says
Hi! I don’t think you have to refrigerate, but I think refrigerating will give you a slightly better result. If you want to use it right away, I think after you shape the ball, I would let it rest for 45 minutes to an hour before baking it.
Karo8519 says
Hi,
If i do not have industrial oven should I bake base first or all together and what temperature? I have done it before but it was soggy in the middle😔
I bake bread all the time but i would like to get the pizza base right too too.
Thank you
alexandra says
Hi! Do you have a pizza stone?
Your idea is good if you have not been satisfied with previous attempts. I’ve never done that, but I could see it being effective.
Anu Sharma says
Ali: This is the best pizza recipe. We no longer order pizza from outside, and my family loves the naked and kale pizza. So so delicious!! Thank you for sharing!
★★★★★
alexandra says
So wonderful to hear this, Anu! Thanks so much for writing. I love the naked pizza too 🍕🍕🍕🍕
María says
Hi Ali,
I’m new to the sourdough world and am excited to try this recipe.
The sourdough starter that I’ll use, is it fed or discard?
Thank you!
alexandra says
Hi Maria! It’s fed starter. Wait till it doubles in volume; then use it. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Amanda says
I’ve made this twice now. The first time was way too wet so I lost probably half my dough to my hands while stretching and folding the first night. The second time I added quite a bit more flour to the initial mix and then oiled my hands before each stretch and fold. Much better!
I love the video and the instructions are so clear. Despite our small first batch, it was so perfectly delicious we knew we had to try again. Thanks for the great recipe!
I’d like to know if it’s necessary to divide the dough into 4 parts before stashing in the fridge. It takes up so much more room that way. If not, what would I do? Punch it down after the first rise then stick it in the fridge?
★★★★
alexandra says
Hi Amanda! Glad you’ve been able to make the recipe work for you. It sounds as though you could reduce the water a bit from the get go to make the dough a little more manageable.
Regarding your question, I suppose you don’t have to divide the dough into 4 portions. So yes, I would punch down the dough; then stash it in the fridge.
Just keep in mind this: when you divided the dough into 4 pieces after the bulk fermentation, you deflate the dough a bit. When the dough is in its own container before you bake it, you’re simply removing it, placing it on a floured work surface, and barely handling it — so you won’t deflate the air bubbles created during the proofing phase … I worry that if you shape the dough into rounds right before baking, the dough might not have as many air bubbles … just a thought.
Totally worth experimenting! Report back if you give it a go.
Lilu says
I’ve used this recipe 3 or 4 times and I love it (have some in the bulk fermentation stage right now). I use the exact proportions as posted; yes, the dough is wet at first, but by the second stretch and pull it’s really built up its structure nicely. I also double the recipe and use 1/2 that evening and use the other 1/2 up to 5 days later… man, is it tangy at that point. Seriously the best pizza crust I’ve ever had, even better than our local “gourmet” pizza joint with their own signature pizza crust. Thank you!
★★★★★
alexandra says
So nice to hear this, Lilu! Great to know that doubling the recipe works well, too. And I’ve been able to push the time in the fridge to 4-5 days as well and yes: tangy is right!