Sourdough Pizza Crust

Prep: 30 mins

Cook: 0 mins

Rest and Fermentation Time: 28 hrs 40 mins

Total: 29 hrs 10 mins

Servings: 4 servings

Yield: 2 pizzas

This sourdough pizza dough bakes up into a crust with a complex, slightly tangy flavor and a texture that has the perfect balance of chewiness and crispiness. You can use it as the foundation for any pizza toppings you like, and it’s super-easy to make. Because sourdough is slow-rising, it needs time to rest, so be sure to start the process at least a day and a half before you want to eat the pizza—longer if you also need to make the starter.

What Exactly Is a Sourdough Starter for Pizza Crust?

This recipe is made with a sourdough starter—the exact same kind you’d use to to make sourdough bread. So if you already have a sourdough starter in your fridge, you are well on your way to making sourdough pizza crust. In fact, it’s a great way to use up extra starter. If you don’t have starter, see if you can get some from a friend, or make your own with this sourdough starter recipe.

Sourdough is the mother of all doughs. Way before the addition of yeast into baked goods, a simple mixture of water and flour was the base of all bread. Naturally found bacteria in the wheat, along with wild yeast that's in the air, develop when water is added. When left long enough to ferment, the dough rises and achieves its remarkably delicious tang. Thus, sourdough pizza is the original pizza; no yeast added.

In addition to bread and pizza crust, you can use a sourdough starter to make biscuits, pancakes, rolls, pretzels, and any other baked good you'd like to give the wonderful tang of sourdough.

Here’s Why Sourdough Makes the Best Pizza Crust

Sourdough crust has great flavor: Yeasted pizza dough is great, but the flavor of sourdough is much more complex.
Sourdough has spectacular texture: A good sourdough makes for pizza that is airy, toothsome, and crisps up nicely.
It lasts a long time in the fridge: The slower natural yeasts in a sourdough starter help the dough last longer in the refrigerator than regular pizza dough, meaning you can make a larger batch of dough and have a stock of refrigerated oven-ready pizza dough for up to a week. Be mindful that once made, this dough needs at least 24 hours of refrigeration before baking.

The Formula for Sourdough Pizza Dough

The quantities for our tasty dough are in a 1-2-3 ratio: one part sourdough starter—which you need to have ready for this recipe—two parts water, and three parts flour. It’s easily scaled up or down. A kitchen scale is very helpful for making this dough, but we’ve also given volume measurements in case you don’t have a scale.

This dough is pretty soft; if you like it firmer, start with 100 grams of water and add more as you see fit. Different flours can absorb different amounts of water, so your flour may need more or less water to achieve the intended consistency.

Why Is My Sourdough Pizza Crust Tough?

Overworking the dough is the number one culprit when it comes to tough pizza crust. When you are folding and shaping the dough, don't squeeze or press it too hard—you want to keep the air bubbles your sourdough starter created intact.

How Do I Make My Sourdough Crust Crispy?

If you make a lot of pizza, it’s worth investing in a pizza stone or baking steel, which helps the crust get nice and crispy. Be sure to preheat the oven with the stone or steel in it to get it really hot before you slide your pizza into the oven. Also be sure not to over-sauce your pizza or add a bunch of wet toppings, both of which can make your crust soggy.

Tips for Making Sourdough Pizza Crust

How to use 00 flour for pizza dough—00 flour is a very finely ground flour from Italy that is considered to be the best flour to use for pasta and pizza dough. The primary thing to know about using this type of flour for pizza dough is that it absorbs less water than bread flour or all-purpose flour. For this dough, you may substitute 00 flour for the bread flour, but start by adding only 100 grams of water and working up to 110 grams.
About dough hydration—Hydration refers to the baker’s percentage of water compared to flour in a dough. The weight of flour in the dough represents 100% and the weights of other ingredients may be divided by the flour weight to determine their percentages. This recipe makes a 66% hydration dough (120 grams water divided by 180 grams flour equals 0.6666), which is a fairly wet dough. Wetter doughs perform better in home ovens because home ovens do not get ultra-hot like a pizza oven. A superhot oven will cook a pizza in minutes, which is not enough time to cook the water out of a high hydration dough. A pizza takes longer to cook in a home oven, allowing more time for the water to cook out.
Fresh vs. low-moisture mozzarella for pizza—Fresh mozzarella has a higher water content than (aptly-named) low-moisture mozz. Fresh mozzarella is great for Neapolitan-style pies, but if you want cheese with more stretch, flavor, and salt, choose low-moisture mozzarella.

«This dough is easy to work with and results in a wonderfully chewy, light, and airy texture with a subtle hint of sourdough tang. It holds up well to toppings and doesn’t get soggy. I fed my starter the night before and used it the next morning to make the dough.» —Danielle Centoni

A Note From Our Recipe Tester

Ingredients

180 grams (1 1/3 cups) bread flour
120 grams (1/2 cup) water
60 grams (1/4 cup) sourdough starter
5 grams (1 teaspoon) fine salt
15 grams (1 tablespoon) extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for the containers

Steps to Make It

Make and Ferment the Dough

Gather the ingredients.
Thoroughly combine the flour, water, starter, salt, and the oil in a medium bowl (preferably a glass bowl that will allow peeking to check on the fermentation activity). The dough will look rough and shaggy and feel soft and sticky.
Cover the bowl with a damp towel or plastic bag and rest for 20 minutes at room temperature.
Moisten your hand with a little water, scoop your hand underneath the dough, and gently grasp one side of the lump. Lightly stretch the dough in your hand away from the main mass, then fold it over. Repeat this motion on different sides of the dough three or four more times. Don't overwork it, as the goal is to keep as much air in it as possible.
Flip the whole mass of dough such that the seams of your folds face down against the bottom of the bowl. You should notice that the shaggy dough becomes considerably smoother. If the dough still looks as shaggy as before, fold the dough again.
Rest the dough for another 20 minutes, then stretch and fold again as you did the first time.
Cover once more and ferment at room temperature for at least 4 hours. Your dough will probably not rise significantly, but you should see bubbles forming on the surface and underneath. If you do not see bubbles, give the dough more time to ferment until you do.
After 4 hours of fermentation, lightly flour a work surface. Invert the bowl above the floured area and wait for the dough to release itself from the bowl. Divide the dough in half.
Using the same stretch and fold technique (minus the wet hands), shape the pieces into 2 rounds.
Lightly coat the inside of 2 round 1-pint storage containers (preferably with lids) with the olive oil. Place a dough ball seam-side down into each one. Cover with lids or plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours before using. Dough that is kept in the refrigerator for longer will continue to develop flavor and has a shelf life of a week.

Make the Pizza

To make the pizza, remove the dough from the refrigerator and place it on a well-floured surface. Coat the dough lightly all over with flour as well. With your hands, gently flatten and stretch the dough into a thin circle about 10 to 12 inches in diameter. Don't overpress it, as keeping as much air in is what will give the dough a delicious and chewy texture.
Add sauce and toppings as desired and bake according to your preferred method, or simply bake in a 450 F to 500 F oven for 6 to 8 minutes, or until crispy. Serve immediately.

How To Store and Reheat Leftover Pizza

Refrigerate leftover pizza in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

To reheat leftover pizza, place a slice in a cold skillet set over medium heat. Once the bottom of the crust starts to crisp, about 4 minutes, add a teaspoon of water to the side of the skillet (it should not touch the pizza). Cover the pan and cook for 1 minute, then remove the lid. If any water remains in the skillet, allow it to cook off before removing the pizza.

Flavorful Toppings for Your Pizza Crust

Here are a few easy suggestions to top your pizza crust:

Pesto, tomatoes, and Parmesan: Spread store-bought or homemade pesto on the unbaked crust. Add slices of fresh tomatoes and sprinkle with a handful of Parmesan cheese. Bake at 450 F until crispy.
Pears and brie: Top your crust with slices of pears and brie cheese. Bake at 450 F until crispy. Garnish with fresh arugula and a drizzle of olive oil.
Tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella: Spread prepared tomato sauce (pasta sauce is fine as well) on the unbaked crust, and add slices of fresh mozzarella. Garnish with fresh basil. Bake at 450 F until crispy.
Asiago and prosciutto: Top your pizza with slices of Asiago cheese and bake at 450 F until crispy. Once cooked, add generous amounts of prosciutto, a dash of freshly ground pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil.

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories	234
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 6g	8%
Saturated Fat 1g	4%
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Sodium 487mg	21%
Total Carbohydrate 38g	14%
Dietary Fiber 2g	6%
Total Sugars 0g
Protein 6g
Vitamin C 0mg	0%
Calcium 10mg	1%
Iron 1mg	4%
Potassium 63mg	1%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.