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.
If yo plan on using it in a few days do you let it ferment on the counter at 8 hours first ?
Yes.
This is my new favorite pizza dough recipe!! I bake it with a pizza stone and it always turns out so delicious! To get it so it doesn’t stick I have to roll it out on a floured surface and use corn meal on my pizza peal to transfer it to the stone. I don’t usually like homemade pizza but I love this recipe.
I’ve made this several times and my husband and I both LOVE it! However, it consistently takes around 30 minutes in the stand mixer before it passes the windowpane test, am I doing something wrong?
No, sometimes it can take longer! I have had it do that with me too.
This is my go-to pizza crust! Love it! I’ve had zero issues with it. On another note is the nutrition for one ball of dough or for the entire recipe?
Ugh so frustrating I used weight and it is soooo messy. Most baking is way more accurate with weight
Even after 10 mins + my cough never passes the windowpane test idk and it’s my 3/4 time making it.
Gruf
I would switch to kneading by hand or performing stretch and folds.
Question could the dough be cooked on a grill? We have a special pan for the grill so you know what the cooking directions would be?
You could try! I’ve not personally tried it, but it should be similar to other cooking directions for a grill.
I made the recipe and followed the instructions exact. I found that the dough did not have light airy bubbles. There are not stretch and folds in the recipe, should I have done some?
I baked it at 550F and it baked nice on the bottom, but was a bit gummy and not airy.
Any suggestions?
Second time using this recipe and it is a sticky mess. Doesn’t roll out and I followed the recipe to a T.
this was a perfect dough for pizza . thank you so much for also giving the option to increase the recipe.My family enjoyed it so much.
My first attempt at this recipe was a complete failure, and my first mistake was using the “Jump to Recipe” to quickly print the steps in the recipe. This led to my second mistake of not noticing you changed the online recipe to require selecting the “Metric” option for weight measurements–the default is “US Customary” for volume. Other recipes I have successfully used from your site had the weight values in grams displayed next to the volume measurements, so I incorrectly assumed you forgot to include the equivalent grams for this recipe. I used 1.5 cups of water and 4-cups of All-Purpose Flour measured by volume, and after eight hours, I threw the “sticky mess” out because it was obvious I did not use enough flour. I read a recent reply indicating the results of two attempts were “a sticky mess”, and I suspect volume measurements were also used. Just a suggestion.. Maybe make “Metric” the default and “US Customary” the selected option with a note stating additional flour may be needed. Tomorrow, I will attempt the recipe again using the metric option to list all weight values in grams, and I suspect I will be eating a delicious pizza for dinner.
I’m sorry you had troubles with this recipe. Unfortunately, we cannot go back to putting them side by side. For some reason, when clicking on the 2x or 3x, it does not double the gram measurements and that has messed up several recipes for people. We are trying to work out the best solution. Believe it or not, we have more people who use cups than grams, so that is why cups is listed first!
For my second attempt at this recipe, I used the “Metric” option to list all ingredients by weight in grams. The pizza dough turned out a lot better, and the pizza was delicious. I am new to sourdough baking, and I have found that using weight instead of volume for the ingredients leads to a more successful outcome.