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.
I know, I know. The audacity that I post a sourdough pizza dough when I’ve been devoted to this recipe for so long.
But hear me out. My sister was having a dinner party at her farm recently, and she purchased a pizza oven. Naturally, I offered to make some delicious sourdough pizza crust to take the wood fired pizza up another notch.
The crust turned out absolutely delicious. It was soft and chewy and bubbly. All the good things you want in pizza.
But you don’t have to have a pizza oven to get amazing results. This will work just fine in a standard oven or even on the grill.
Top with your favorite ingredients for your next pizza night.
Why you will love this recipe:
Tasty: The sourdough in this recipe adds so much flavor and tanginess.
Chewy: These crusts have the best chewy consistency.
Perfect for a pizza oven or grilling: I love this recipe to make delicious, grilled pizza or wood fired pizza.
Make ahead: Make these days or weeks ahead and have pizza dough ready for a quick and easy meal.
Tips:
- Be careful not to over-ferment the dough. This will leave you with a sloppy mess. Ask me how I know.
- 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 air tight container until ready to use. You can also freeze for later.
- This recipe is great for baking in the oven, a pizza oven, or even on a grill.
Pizza dough Ingredients:
Active sourdough starter: This 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.
Flour: All purpose flour will work just fine.
Water
Salt: This adds a lot of flavor to the dough so it doesn’t taste bland.
Olive oil: This helps the dough to be softer and stretchier.
Tools:
Stand mixer
Measuring cups and spoons or scale
FAQ
Is sourdough good for pizza?
Yes. Sourdough starter and the fermentation process adds another layer of flavor.
Is pizza dough the same as sourdough?
Most pizza dough uses conventional yeast to give it rise. You will have to find a specific sourdough pizza dough recipe like this one to ensure it is sourdough or look on the ingredient list of a pre-made dough.
Why is my sourdough pizza hard?
This could be caused by a few different things, such as overbaking, overworking the dough, or adding too much flour.
How To Make Sourdough Pizza Dough:
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. (This is when you are able to stretch a small amount of dough so thin, you can see through it.)
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 on sauce and top with 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. Our vintage oven has a bottom drawer for broiling and it made the most beautiful pizzas.
Another option is to cook it in an outdoor pizza oven. We had a pizza party at my sister’s house and enjoyed the dough with this method as well! She has an Ooni, and now I’m thinking about getting one for our home. It makes for an easy night of entertaining guests!
How to Store:
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.
Baking Schedule:
9 AM: Create dough.
5 PM: Split the dough and allow to rest before baking.
5:15-5:30: Bake the pizzas.
Pizza Variations:
Pesto pizza: Skip the pizza sauce and use pesto as the base. Top with cheese and your other favorite toppings.
Olive oil, goat cheese, and date sauce pizza.
Chicken Alfredo pizza: Replace pizza sauce with Alfredo sauce and top with chicken, cheese, and any veggies you like.
Meat lovers: Pepperoni, cooked sausage, and bacon work amazingly for this one.
How To Make A Margherita Pizza:
Create dough according to the instructions above.
Preheat oven to 475.
Roll out into circles and create a ridge around the edge.
Spread pizza sauce over all the crust.
Top with freshly sliced mozzarella and very thinly sliced tomatoes.
Bake for 13-15 minutes until pizza is bubbly.
Top with fresh basil and enjoy. You can also sprinkle it with parmesan.
Find More Sourdough Recipes:
- 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 if you gave it 5 stars! Also, tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
Sourdough Pizza Dough
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup starter, 113g
- 4 cups flour, 600g
- 1.5 cups water, 354g
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, 26.6
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
- Be careful not to over-ferment the dough. This will leave you with a sloppy mess. If you can’t bake it after 8 hours of fermentation, you can place it in the fridge to bake a later time.
- 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 air tight container until ready to use. Freeze the dough after rising for up to 2-3 months.
- This recipe is great for baking in the oven, a pizza oven, or even on a grill.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Turned out perfect for our son’s birthday party! We made 6 large out of this recipe x 3.
What size pizza does it make? 12in. Or 15.?
Thanks 🙂
Is it okay to substitute the olive oil for avocado oil
And when you say olive oil, does this refer to extra virgin olive oil?
Yes and yes. Any oil would technically work. The flavor will be a little more mild than with extra virgin olive oil.
I came here looking for a sourdough pizza recipe as I love your recipes. Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin Bread is in the works this morning!
I don’t have an electric dough hook mixer. Will this turn out ok doing it by hand?
Thank you!
Yum! Yes you could, it will just take a while to hand knead it to the right consistency.
Lisa, have you tried this recipe with whole grains at all? I’m going to try it today with all purpose flour. I don’t have quite 8 hours, but my wood stove is going so my house is nice and warm. I’m thinking it will still be good.
I did mix the dough up in bread machine and it came out perfect.
I love all your sourdough recipes, and have made many of them. My issue with this one is that I prefer a crispy crust on a pizza, not a soft and chewy one. Any way to get it crispy?
Roll it really thin maybe? Or try my sourdough starter pizza dough for a crispy crust.
Can I divide the dough before the 8 hour rest?
That should be ok. I always wait to divide my doughs until after the bulk ferment.
Do you have a recipe to make the starter?
Thank you
Yep! You can learn how to make a sourdough starter here: https://farmhouseonboonecom.bigscoots-staging.com/make-sourdough-starter-scratch
I threw this together just this morning, and I have a question about how wet the dough is expected to be? I followed the recipe but the dough was very wet and sticky even after 10 minutes in the mixer. I added about another ⅔ cup of flour, a tiny bit at a time, and left it in the mixer on medium speed for about 10 more minutes. Then I kneaded it for about 5 minutes by hand and it finally came together. It’s possible my measurements were off, but aside from that error, did the dough just need longer in the mixer? I’m used to sourdough recipes being very sticky at first and sometimes taking a lot longer to come together, but this one just seemed way too wet. Would more time in the mixer fix this issue? And again, also just wondering what the dough should feel/look like for this recipe? Thanks!
I love your recipes so much and am excited to see how this one tastes!!
That very well could be. My friend and I were just chatting today about how long it takes for her doughs to come together (for various recipes). She finds that her doughs take 20 minutes before they come together. So it could be that, or it could be needed a touch more flour. Hope that helps and it was delicious.
Thanks Lisa! It was delicious and I’ll be making it again very soon! So easy and yummy!
Wonderful!
Is There any chance that you are cooking in high altitude? Because you would add more liquid than I would in my lower altitude and that might be why my dough is so much wetter.
I am not! My guess is you may want to add a bit more flour or you can try kneading a bit longer. Hope that helps!
The same thing has happened to me when I make this! I’ve added more flour both times and it’s seemed to help! Glad I wasn’t the only one with this happening!
I have noticed that my dough and the dough of my sister-in-law across town will have different wetnesses, and I think some of it may be the differences in our stand mixers. Hers has a bit more power, and on low speed does a better job of incorporating the dough than mine does. So mine usually takes longer to knead and let all of the flour incorporate. It’s at least something to consider!
Lisa. I just made up a pizza dough recipe using sourdough starter. It was good, but not great. I’ll try yours next, and hope for even better results!
Good luck!
Hi Lisa would this work with gf as well
I’m not sure that the recipe could be substituted with gf flour one for one. May need to experiment with it.
Thanks for including the gram weight!
My pleasure!
Yes I love my weight scale when in the kitchen! Thank you!