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 love this recipe! It’s such a quick way to make pizza dough Friday mornings for my fam to enjoy Friday evenings 🙂 I love that you can throw it all in the mixer and that’s it! Note: I do substitute the oil for softened butter and I also add seasonings into the mixture. It makes the most fluffy dough and is always a hit! 🍕
My dough was very sticky and hard to roll out/shape without sprinkling more flour over it, it looked great while rising I’m not sure what I did wrong? Any tips?
It may have over fermented if you’re having trouble after the rise.
I’m wondering how big the pizza crust will be with each pizza dough ball. Family size pizzas?
Medium sized!
Just curious as I don’t have a stand mixer. Hand mixer or by hand is my only option. Should I change the mixing time or method?
Yes, it will take longer but you can knead by hand. It will not work with a hand mixer.
Can the pizzas be pre-shaped then refrigerated?
Yes!
Can I ask what your hydration is for your sourdough starter? I feed mine a 1:3:3 ratio when I make this pizza and I follow this recipe to a T and I still have to add extra flour. Like it’s not a couple tablespoons, it’s almost a 1/2C of flour. I’ve done both grams and cups and I’m still at a loss. Regardless this pizza is delicious, we’ve started doing pizza night with our toddler once a week for the past two months and love it!
Mine is like yours. If you need to add more flour that is fine!
Are the 2 tablespoons of oil used for coating the bowl only or putting it in with the other ingredients to make the dough?
The two tablespoons of oil go into the dough! You need just a dab of oil to coat the bowl.
I love this recipe! Sourdough pizzas are always a hit in our household. Thank you Lisa!
I made this over the weekend and my pies were more individual size and when baked the crust was perfect but the middle was still doughy. I preheated my stone in the oven but couldn’t transfer the dough so I placed on a pizza wire rack and placed that on the stone. Will try again.
Is this an active starter or discard recipe. Can it be used with both?
It’s an active starter!
Hi Lisa,
First of all, I have to thank you. I was (still am, but things are improving) dealing with some health issues and wasn’t able to eat any grains without feeling really ill. I continually seem to develop new food allergies and sensitivities. Due to my ever dwindling list of foods I was able to eat, I was really feeling overall unwell and was malnourished. I had a dietitian recommend trying sourdough and it has restored my energy and overall feeling of daily well-being. Your recipes and books have made learning how to ferment grains and make sourdough so easy and accessible. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for teaching all of this so well. I’m giving this recipe 5 stars purely based on the fact that other than this recipe, everything I’ve ever made of yours has been 5 stars and I don’t rate you recipes as often as I should, and I’m sure this is my fault. Others are making it with no problems. It has to be something I am doing wrong.
As hinted at above, I have tried making this recipe twice and each time I have followed the recipe to the letter and it has turned out flat and dense. The dough itself after fermenting turns loose and I have a horrible time trying to get it to form. Honestly, it ends up turning out almost entirely inedible. I can’t even make bread crumbs out of it, it’s so dense and hard. This is really the only recipe of yours I’ve had a hard time with and since it’s turned out the same way twice, I thought I’d ask to see if you or anyone has an idea why this might be happening. In case it’s important, both times the dough was fermented close to 24 hours. Could I be over fermenting it? And if so, why have I been able to ferment some recipes longer that have very similar ingredients and ratios and it’s been totally fine but this one is not? Any help or ideas would be appreciated. Thank you!!!