Soft, chewy, and tangy, this sourdough pizza dough is the perfect recipe for those family pizza nights. Start the dough in the morning and it will be ready to bake up with your favorite toppings in the afternoon.
Pizza is so great because it is quick to throw together and it makes the perfect base to be topped with whatever you desire. This sourdough pizza crust recipe puts you just a few ingredients away from the most delicious bubbly pizza with a chewy crust. Whether you choose to cook it in an outdoor pizza oven, your home oven, or even a grill, it is sure to come out amazing!
Top your pizza with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and fresh basil for a classic taste, or skip the pizza sauce and use homemade pesto as the base. Make a chicken Alfredo pizza by topping your crust with Alfredo sauce, chicken, cheese and any veggies you like. You can also get a little fancy and try an olive oil, goat cheese, and date sauce pizza. Serve a fresh salad with homemade dressing on the side to round out the meal.
No matter how you choose to adorn your perfect pizza crust, it’s sure to be a crowd pleaser next time you have a pizza party!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Tasty – The sourdough in this recipe adds so much flavor and tanginess. This crust also has the best chewy consistency. There is just something about making your own pizza at home, it’s fun and tasty!
Crowd pleaser – Homemade pizza is so delicious, plus being able to customize it with your own topping preferences makes it great for picky eaters.
Make ahead – Make this dough days or weeks ahead and have pizza dough ready for a quick and easy meal.
Ingredients
Active sourdough starter – Active starter is sourdough starter that has been fed within 4-12 hours, and it’s active and bubbly. You want to use starter that is at the peak of its bubbling in order to give the dough the most rise.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Tools You May Need
How to Make Sourdough Pizza Dough
Step 1: The morning of pizza night, add the ingredients to a stand mixer bowl, using a kitchen scale if you choose to weigh the ingredients.
Step 2: With a dough hook attachment, mix the dough on medium speed until the dough passes the windowpane test, which might take up to 10 minutes.
Step 3: Place in an oiled bowl and cover with a lid, plastic wrap or a plastic bag. Rest at room temperature for about 8 hours or until the dough has doubled in size.
Step 4: Preheat oven to 475. Divide dough into 4 equal portions and allow to rest while you prepare your toppings.
Step 5: Roll out on a lightly floured work surface with a rolling pin. I like to create a bit of a ridge around the outside for hand stretched thickness.
Step 6: Spread pizza sauce on top of the dough and top with your favorite toppings.
Step 7: Bake for 13-15 minutes. (I like to use a preheated pizza stone or cast iron skillet but you can also use a pizza pan). Finish off with a 3 minute broil to achieve the browning on top of the crust.
Tips
- Be careful not to over-ferment the dough. This will leave you with a sloppy mess.
- This dough can be made days or even weeks in advance. If you are planning to use it within a few days, place in the fridge in an airtight container until ready to use. You can also freeze for later.
- Make sure that your dough is at room temperature before rolling. The correct dough temperature allows the dough to relax, and makes it easier to shape and roll.
Recipe FAQs
Yes. Sourdough starter and the fermentation process adds another layer of flavor to pizza dough and makes it easier to digest
Most dough uses conventional yeast like instant yeast to give it rise. Sourdough is made with a sourdough starter, which uses wild yeast and bacteria to leaven the dough.
This could be caused by a few different things, such as over baking, over working the dough, or adding too much flour.
Store dough in the fridge up to a week, or place in the freezer after it has risen and has been divided. Wrap with plastic wrap and then store in a freezer plastic bag.
Pre bake crusts for about 8-10 minutes and then allow to cool. Wrap in plastic wrap and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
More Sourdough Recipes from the Farmhouse
- Sourdough Pumpkin Bread
- Sourdough Sandwich Rolls
- Easy Sourdough Dinner Rolls
- Sourdough Cheese Bread
- Sourdough Cornbread
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love it if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
Easy Homemade Sourdough Pizza Dough Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Kitchen Scale optional
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup starter
- 4 cups flour
- 1.5 cups water
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- The morning of pizza night, add the ingredients to a stand mixer bowl.
- With a dough hook, mix the dough on medium speed until the dough passes the windowpane test, which might take up to 10 minutes.
- Place in an oiled bowl and cover with a lid or plastic wrap. Rest at room temperature for about 8 hours.
- Preheat oven to 475.
- Divide the dough into 4 equal sections and allow to rest while you prepare your toppings.
- Roll out on a lightly floured surface. I like to create a bit of a ridge around the outside for hand stretched thickness.
- Spread pizza sauce and top with your favorite toppings.
- Bake for 13-15 minutes (I like to use a preheated pizza stone or cast iron skillet but you can also use a pizza pan.). Finish off with a 3 minute broil to achieve the browning on top of the crust.
Notes
- Active starter is sourdough starter that has been fed within 4-12 hours, and it’s active and bubbly. You want to use starter that is at the peak of its bubbling in order to give the dough the most rise.
- Be careful not to over-ferment the dough. This will leave you with a sloppy mess.
- This dough can be made days or even weeks in advance. If you are planning to use it within a few days, place in the fridge in an airtight container until ready to use. You can also freeze for later.
- Make sure that your dough is at room temperature before rolling. The correct dough temperature allows the dough to relax, and makes it easier to shape and roll.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made the dough a few days ago and it has been fermenting in the fridge…just put it together and oh my….this was amazing. It will be hard to beat…I’ve definitely found my pizza dough recipe…WOW….amazing
Glad it worked so well for you. Love that you left it in the fridge for days. Yay for meal prep.
Does this recipe make 4 12 inch crusts?
Yes. 10-12 inch crusts.
Hi Lisa,
I don’t have a hand mixer. Could you possibly mix all of the ingredients together and let it sit as a shaggy mixture for an hour to reduce the amount of kneading time? Or would this hurt the dough consistency in the long run?
Thanks!
I would think that would work fine.
Could I make this pizza dough recipe with inactive sourdough starter? Also, could I let it rise in fridge overnight? how would I adjust the rise time etc?
It would depend on how inactive the starter is. I would think it would take a longer to rise. The time would really depend on how long it takes to about double in size.
I don’t have a stand mixer so I put the ingredients in my bread machine for 30 minutes and it passed the window pane test. Going to mix up more for tomorrow’s supper
I just finished mixing up the pizza dough and noticed that in your comments you mentioned that it could be frozen after the rise. This is prior to baking it, correct? How do you recommend freezing the dough? Putting it in containers or bags? And then do we just let thaw and bring to room temperature before baking in the future? I love this idea of having future dough ready for use!
Yes. It can be frozen prior to baking. Wrap in plastic wrap and then in a container or zip-lock bag. Yep, then just thaw the dough and roll out.
Should I let thaw out overnight in fridge ? Or on counter? How long does it usually take to thaw out on counter before ready to use? When should I take out of freezer if I want to bake the pizza at 5:00pm for supper let’s say?
Question. All the bread recipes I have used 4 cups AP flour weighs 480g. Are you using different flour? Thanks.
This is a measurement from freshly milled flour that I then measured into cups. If that makes sense.
In germany we have no Bread flour. Just just white spelt instead. The dough was really flobby after rising ( just did 3 hours) could this have been because of it or other factors. Will still try and bake it tomorrow morning. Im really exited how it will turn out! Lots of love from Germany
Lisa, can I put thisin my bread machine to save time? I hope to get a Stand mixer for Christmas with a bread hook
I did in my bread machine and the dough came out perfect!
I also don’t have a stand mixer – did you use the dough setting on your bread machine and let it run the entire cycle?
Hello Lisa,
Having to adjust the recipe for my daughter who can only eat certain flours. I feel like the dough is coming together but it doesn’t pass the windowpane test no matter what I do – could this be because we are having to use certain flours?!
Thanks so much!
It could be. What type of flour did you use?
Rye is my sourdough & then the other flour I used was Cassava.
Ah ok that would be why. Rye has only a little gluten and cassava is gluten free. The windowpane test determines if the gluten formation is adequate. So those two flours wouldn’t make the necessary gluten strands to pass. Hope that helps.
By far the best sourdough pizza dough I’ve made yet! And I’ve tried quite a few. Thank you!
What a compliment. Thank you for sharing. Glad you enjoyed the recipe.