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Hi Bold Bakers!
This simple sourdough pizza crust is everything you could want to support your delicious sauce, cheese, and toppings! But how do we get from the (sourdough) start(er) to finish?!
At the beginning of the quarantine, everyone universally decided to master “beginners” sourdough bread. They spent weeks tending to their starter, basically treating it like a pet! (Guilty, mine is named Breddie Vedder since Kevin is a huge fan of Pearl Jam, and my friends have also gotten creative by calling their starters names like “Mike D from the Yeastie Boys” and “Carrie Breadshaw.”)
But it’s been quite a long time, if you still bake sourdough occasionally but have left your sourdough in the fridge too long, and it has a boozy layer. Rather than dealing with it, maybe you’ve just shoved it back further into your fridge. Don’t worry; it takes just a few hours to bring it back to life, and it will be ready to use to make some INCREDIBLE Neapolitan style pizza from your own kitchen!! It gives my Best-Ever No-Knead Pizza Dough a run for its money.
Want to level up your sourdough baking? Check out the internet’s MOST detailed and thorough Sourdough Q&A that myself and my team of sourdough experts created with hundreds of your questions and answers that we have received.
What Is Sourdough Pizza Crust?
Sourdough pizza crust is simply a crust that uses a sourdough starter instead of yeast to leaven the crust. The end product is a delicious crust that is both crispy and chewy and has all those natural airy bubbles.
Can I Use All-Purpose Flour Instead of Bread Flour To Make Sourdough Pizza Crust?
Technically, yes. BUT I strongly suggest using bread flour. Bread flour will give your dough more of a chew and bubblier texture than all-purpose flour.
[ Looking for something faster? Try my 15-Minute Pizza Dough (No Yeast)! ]
Bread flour has 11-13% protein, more than 10-12% that’s in all-purpose flour. This means bread flour absorbs more liquid and creates more gluten strands to yield a more stretchier texture with more airy bubbles.
What You Need To Make Sourdough Pizza Crust
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Mixing Bowl
- Sourdough Starter
- Parchment Paper
How To Make Sourdough Pizza Crust
Say goodbye to takeout! This crust makes the most irresistible pizza that you’ll want to make weekly (or even more)! You’ll want to make this dough the day before you plan to make pizza. (And don’t forget to get the full recipe with measurements, on the page down below)
First, mix the sourdough pizza dough:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together your starter, water, and olive oil. You’ll want to make sure your starter is fed and active!
- Add the flour and salt and stir to combine. The dough will feel soft and sticky, and that’s perfect.
- Cover the bowl with cling wrap and a kitchen towel and let it rest for 30 minutes.
Now, stretch and fold the dough:
- After 30 minutes, wet your hand with a little water and scoop underneath the dough, gently grasping one side. Lightly stretch the dough in your hand away from the main mass, then fold it over. Repeat this motion on the different sides of the dough 6 or more times. (Check out the video to see exactly what I mean!)
- Flip the entire mass of the dough so that your folds’ seams face down against the bottom of the bowl. The dough will start to look smoother now.
- Repeat this process 3 more times. First, rest the dough for 30 minutes, stretch and fold, and rest again. In the end, your dough will be pliable and elastic — this helps develop the gluten.
- After repeating the process 3 times, cover the dough and let it ferment for 4 hours at room temperature.
Shaping the pizza:
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and divide the dough evenly into three 8½oz (240g) rounds.
- Lightly coat the inside of 3 one pint storage containers with oil and place the dough balls, seam-side down, into each one. Cover with lids.
- Important: Refrigerate the dough for at least 24 hours before using it. This lets the dough develop flavor. You can keep the dough in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or you can freeze it at this time and keep it for up to 4 weeks. You’ll want to see the dough has at least doubled in size!
- To make the pizza, remove the dough from the fridge and place it on a well-floured piece of parchment paper (I use semolina as it helps slide the dough around, and it adds a bit of crunch after baking). Coat the dough all over, lightly, with flour.
- Using your hands, gently flatten and stretch the dough into a thin circle that is about 10 inches (25cm). Form a thicker border around the edge for a lovely, bubbly crust. Add pizza sauce, cheese, and any toppings you like!
- Bake in a preheated 550°F (288°C) oven for only 8-10 minutes.
Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips For Making Sourdough Pizza Crust
- The slower natural yeasts in the sourdough starter give the dough a longer shelf-life in the refrigerator, so make a batch and divide it for later use! The flavors will get better as it’s allowed to ferment for longer. The dough can be frozen for up to 4 weeks!
- Bread flour is the way to go with this recipe. All-purpose will work as well, but bread flour will really make your crust chewy and bubbly.
- Shape the dough on a floured piece of parchment paper so you can easily transport the pizza in and out of the oven. Make sure you trim your parchment to the perfect size, though.
- Dusting with flour is an option, but you can also use semolina or even rice flour to shape and move your pizza.
- Top with my 5-Minute Pizza Sauce
How Do I Store Sourdough Pizza Crust?
You can store raw sourdough pizza dough in your refrigerator, covered, for up to 5 days, but the dough can also be frozen for up to 4 weeks.
Make More Sourdough!
And don’t forget to buy my Bigger Bolder Baking Cookbook!
Full (and printable) recipe below!
Try These Recipes!
Watch The Recipe Video!
The Simplest Sourdough Pizza Crust Recipe (With A Perfect Chew)
Ingredients
- ½ cup (4oz/120g) sourdough starter
- 1 cup (8floz/240ml) warm water
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2⅓ cups (12oz/360g) bread flour*
- 2 teaspoons salt
Instructions
Mixing The Sourdough Pizza Dough
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the starter, water, and olive oil.
- Add the flour and salt and stir to thoroughly combine. The dough will feel soft and sticky but that is exactly how it should be.
- Cover the bowl with a cling wrap (or a shower cap) and a kitchen towel and rest for 30 minutes.
Stretching And Folding The Dough
- Wet your hand with a little water, scoop your hand underneath the dough, and gently grasp one side of the dough. 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 6 or so more times. (See video above for step by step.)
- Then, flip the whole mass of dough such that the seams of your folds face down against the bottom of the bowl. At this point, the dough will have become considerably more smooth, which is the goal.
- Repeat this process 3 more times: Rest the dough for another 30 minutes, then stretch and fold again exactly the same as before. All in all, you will have rest the dough for four 30 minutes increments and stretched and folded in between. In the end, the dough will be very pliable and elastic.
- Cover once more and ferment for 4 hours at room temperature. Your dough will probably not rise significantly but that is perfectly fine.
Shaping Your Pizza
- Lightly flour a work surface and turn out the dough. Divide the dough evenly into three 8½ oz (240g) rounds.
- Tightly coat the inside of 3 one pint storage containers with oil and place a dough ball seam-side down into each one. Cover with lids.
- Important step: Refrigerate for at least 24 hours before using. The dough kept in the refrigerator longer will continue to develop flavor and has a shelf life of 5 days. It can also be frozen at this time for up to 4 weeks.
- To make pizza, remove the dough from the refrigerator and place it on a well-floured piece of parchment paper. 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 inches (25cm). Form a thicker border around the edge for a lovely, bubbly pizza crust. Add pizza sauce, cheese, and desired toppings.
- Bake at 550°F (288°C) for only 8-10 minutes. Enjoy immediately.
I made pizza this week using the dough from this recipe–two days in a row. I divided the dough in half instead of thirds because I wanted bigger pizzas. It was wonderful to work with. I took the dough out of the refrigerator two hours before I was ready to use it, because I read somewhere that you should let the dough get to room temperature. It pressed out beautifully. It is a process though getting this dough ready because I had to feed my sourdough starter twice to get it ready prior to mixing the dough. I let the… Read more »
Hi, if that’s supposed to be an easy sourdough pizza recipe I will not go anywhere near a more challenging recipe from you. Having nearly thrown the whole sticky mess at the wall after midnight and the fourth gooey stretch, I can attest that the actual final pizza making bit is so much easier than yeast based recipes and it was thumbs up all round. Next time will quadruple quantities and freeze since amount of work much the same.
Hi Gemma! This is the best pizza crust!! My husband and I love this recipe!! He told me that “We never have to go out for pizza again!” I have really enjoyed my baking journey with you! I have also mastered sourdough with your help too!!
Love this recipe. Been making it for all of covid now. It is amazing how much better it tastes after 3-4 days in the fridge. If anyone is disappointed with taste, have some patience!
Wow. So tasty. Great flavor and crunchy crust.
Hi Gemma! I have made this dough three times and it is wonderful!! I even taught a friend how to make it! I have a question about the stretch and fold… My dough does become smooth, but it never looks like yours. In other words, I can lift the entire ball of dough out of the bowl when I am doing the 3rd stretch and fold and it doesn’t relax. Is this normal? Can I do something to fix it? Or, maybe it doesn’t matter?
Came out flat twice. Very wet. Second time I floured the board when shaping. First time used a cast iron pan heated on stovetop. Not good. Second time a pizza pan and prebaked 5 min before topping. Better but still flat. Starter is OK. We’re making good bread. Using straight bread flour. Next time after I shape it, should I let it warm up before baking?
Disappointed my crust/dough did not rise and get the airy texture as in the video?
Did I over work it?? Should it come out of the fridge in the morning to rise again??
Should I leave the formed crust to puff up a bit before topping and baking?? Maybe bake it naked for a few minutes before adding sauce etc?? Want the crust to be the star!!!!!
Amazing. We doubled the recipe. And we also did half whole wheat and half unbleached white. It was amazing.
I’ve been baking SD bread weekly for the past few months… I think maybe I’ve hit the 15 loaf mark, and I’ve gained some confidence along the way. This pizza dough recipe came in handy for using some excess starter that’s been accumulating. I’ve made the recipe twice now. I followed the recipe exactly for the first go round and the pizza was a BIG hit ! ! ! YUMMMMM ! The second time I used 75g of the flour in Spelt, the rest Bread Flour. The dough was too dry at first, so I added water till it felt… Read more »