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.
Made this by hand as I have no mixer. The dough seemed quite wet but I stuck with it and did plenty slap and folds until the dough came together into a sticky ball. Put it in an oiled bowl like it says to and left to rise for 4.5 hours (my home is 23 Celsius) I also left it in my warm oven for some of the time after I had baked my bread. The dough was much easier to handle after the bulk ferment, I floured the top and bottom before dividing into 4. Each pizza was cooked at 230c for 13 mins and they came out perfect! Topped with homemade pizza sauce, cheese, mushroom, olives and home cooked ham.
PSA: my kitchen aid was bouncing so much from mixing this dough that it yeeted itself off the counter! Watch your mixer so it doesn’t do that!!
Aside from that, great recipe.
Lisa, I love your recipes. Your online sourdough recipes got me started on sourdough 2 years ago & still coming back to your recipes as simpler. THANK YOU. I BOUGHT YOUR SOURDOUGH BOOK TODAY. As today, I again made your pizza dough using freshly fermented starter. After fermenting the dough for 8 hours, it had more than doubled, rising almost to the top of the bowel. It was also incredibly bubbly & glistening. Thought it would be a mess but it poured onto a floured board & divided into 4 balls beautifully. Had planned to make pizza immediately, but delayed.
Thank you for this easy recipe.
I would like to mix dough then put it in the fridge overnight and take it out the next day to rise to double. Then after I separate and roll into 4 dough balls can those be put back in fridge for 3-5 days before use?
Yes, absolutey.
Do you use all purpose flour or pizza flour?
I use all purpose!
I recently got a zojirushi bread machine, do you think the dough setting would be similar to the stand mixer? Or does this dough require a more vigorous mixing?
I have not personally used that brand of bread machine, so I am unsure. This dough is fine to use a lighter kneading, similar to a dough hook in the stand mixer!
I changed this to metric to be able to weigh my ingredients. I accidentally mixed on the lowest setting of my mixer for 10 min and it was still a sticky, sloppy mess. I added a couple tablespoons of flour and mixed on medium until it got close to window pane, about 5 more minutes, and my mixer was super hot. My dough looks a lot looser than yours and I’m wondering if I should have added more flour… I’m pretty new to sourdough and hesitant to change recipes too much. Do you weigh your flour when you make it or just use scoop and level? Do you think I should have added flour or is it possible I over mixed it? I’m hoping it rises for dinner time…
Can I prepare the dough, put it in the fridge without sitting out for 8 hours, and then take out the next day to sit out for 8 hours?
Yes, that’s fine!
How do you store the dough in the fridge and freezer?
You can store in a dough ball before it ferments. Take it out and let it rise on the counter for the day before baking with it!
What is the window pane test?
The window pane test is the process of stretching a small piece of the dough apart to try and see through it like a window pane WITHOUT the dough breaking from being stretched. It signals the baker that the dough has been kneaded enough and is ready to rest.