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.
So..I over proofed my sourdough bread dough and saw that I can make pizza dough so it doesn’t go to waste. Do I follow these same instructions minus the dough making? Is there anything different I need to do? My dough has been in fridge for 1 day. Thanks!
That’s a great idea! I would think you could follow the same instructions. Baking time may need to be adjusted depending on how thick the crust is. Let us know how it turns out!
For those of you who are very very new to baking like me, make sure you check out your stand mixer’s recommendations for mixing dough. My kitchen aid stand mixer could not mix this dough on medium speed – it started smoking. It needed to be on a lower speed with breaks to cool down.
It is not passing the window pane test. It’s been mixing for over 10 min.
I also didn’t know it was for “active starter” so I used discard. Should I add yeast?
I made my dough earlier with only reading the actual recipe.My bad but I was in a hurry I just sat down and read through some of the comments and saw one that had issues with her dough rising and you asked her if she used active starter… The actual recipe I printed out doesn’t state weather to use active starter or discard. I didn’t use active. 😩
Oh no! It may still turn out okay. I do have a discard pizza crust recipe on the blog as well. If it is discard, I will always clarify that in the recipe. Otherwise, you can assume it is active. Hope it turns out okay!
Hi Lisa!
Can’t wait to try this pizza crust! I have 2 questions….
1. Does red sauce cause any issues with this crust like it does with using straight sourdough starter? Like with the crust falling apart?
2. Is it bad to use olive oil at this temp (475) since it has a lower smoke point? Have you used avocado oil instead?
Thanks for all your helpful tips!
The red sauce doesn’t pose any threat to the crust when I use straight sourdough starter. I use olive oil and don’t have a problem with it, but you could also use avocado oil too.
Thanks for getting back to me! So I made my dough yesterday and let it sit out on the counter for 8 hours then transferred it to the fridge over night and plan to make it tonight. The dough is HUGE!!! Is this normal? I hope I didn’t ruin pizza night lol.
Update….
Pizza night was not ruined. It turned out so yummy!!! My husband and friend loved it! I only used about half the dough and I look forward to making another pizza in the next couple of days. Thanks Lisa for this amazing recipe!
Can I par-bake these and freeze? My kids like to make pizzas after school and it would be very convenient if they could pull out par-baked crust and make their own pizzas.
I’ve never tried that, so I can’t say for sure if it would turn out or not. If you try it, let us know!
Yes, I’ve done a par bake then froze. They came out great for mini pizzas for my husband.
I over fermented it 😕. But only left it for 6 hours. It was pretty sticky but I managed to separate and get it on parchment covered cookie sheets in the fridge. Any advice from here on out?
The time you ferment it can depend on the temperature of your home. The warmer it is, the faster it will ferment!
Does the oil go into the mixture or is it just for oiling the bowl? I wasn’t sure if it is an actual ingredient or not and didn’t want to make it wrong.
Yes it goes into the dough. You’ll also want to oil your bowl.
I’m on hour 7 and it hasn’t risen at all. What could’ve gone wrong?
Did you make sure to use active sourdough starter? Is the temperature in your home nice and warm? These things can affect the ability to rise.
Hi! I make this often and love it!
I froze some last time and want to make it tonight. How would I go about defrosting it?
take it out in the AM and let it be in the fridge or on the counter during the day?
Then just roll it out, top and bake?
I would probably take it out in the morning and leave it on the counter so it has time to thaw. Then just roll it out and bake.
Is this the same if we refrigerate for a day? Just take it out a few hours before ready to bake? Does the end result turn out the same with refrigeration?
Yes! I would think it would work out fine. If you try it, let us know!