A truly easy pizza dough recipe, this is a great use of sourdough starter and has amazing flavor.
❤️ Why you’ll love this recipe
- So simple. Just combine all the ingredients in a bowl, knead briefly, and let the dough rise. It’s ready in one day so you can enjoy pizza tonight.
- Tasty The end result is a slightly crisp, chewy pizza crust that’s perfect for your favorite toppings.
- Perfect use of sourdough starter when you’re tired of bread. (We use this recipe almost every week in the summer when bread isn’t as appealing.)
🧂 Ingredients
This is an overview of the ingredients. You’ll find the full measurements and instructions in the printable recipe at the bottom of the page.
You’ll need the following for this easy pizza dough recipe:
- bread flour
- bubbly, active sourdough starter
- water
- salt
- sugar
- (plus tomato sauce, cheese, and anything else you need as pizza toppings)
🥣 Equipment
- large mixing bowl
- wood spoon
- pizza stone, baking steel, or baking sheet
- parchment paper
- a pizza peel or other way to transfer the dough in and out of the oven
🍴Instructions
Step One: Mix the dough
Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, mixing gently with a spoon. If the dough seems too dry and a ball is not forming, add more water one teaspoon at a time.
Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
After this brief rest, its time to knead.
Step Two: Knead
Knead the dough on the counter until it feels smooth and isn’t sticky anymore. This should take about five minutes. You can also use a stand mixer with a dough hook on low for 1-2 minutes.
This dough only needs a short knead, so I do it by hand. A stand mixer would also work well for this. (Read this if you need tips on kneading with your stand mixer.)
You know you have sufficiently kneaded when the dough goes from sticky to smooth.
Step three: Rise
Once you are done kneading, shape into a dough ball and place the dough into a clean, lightly oiled bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. The dough rises at room temperature for three to four hours or overnight in the fridge. It will double in size, and look like this:
Step FouR: Stretch and bake
Take the dough out of the fridge and divide it into thirds (or halves or quarters, depending on how thick you want the crust to be and how big your baking sheet is). Preheat the pizza stone to 500 degrees. Let it come to room temperature before stretching the dough.
Stretch the dough into the desired shape. Place it on parchment paper that is sprinkled with cornmeal. Top the pizza dough and bake it at 500 degrees for 9-12 minutes on a pizza stone, until the crust is browned and the center of the pizza is baked.
🥫 Storage instructions
Pizza dough can be stored in the fridge for up to three days or in the freezer for up to two months. If you’re storing it in the freezer, be sure to tightly wrap the dough in plastic wrap or place it in a freezer-safe bag.
To reheat frozen pizza dough, let the dough ball thaw overnight in the fridge. Then, let it come to room temperature on the counter before stretching and baking according to the recipe instructions.
🔍 FAQs
I prefer bread flour for a chewy crust, but all-purpose will work just fine. You’ll need to reduce the water a little. If you want to add a little whole wheat flour, that’s okay too.
Let it come to room temperature if you’ve refrigerated it. Stretch it into a 10-inch disc, let it rest, then come back and stretch it thin.
That’s up to you and how much you stretch it out. Yes, it will stretch out quite thin.
👩🏻🍳 Expert tips
- Brands of flour and measuring techniques vary, so you may need to add a little more flour or water to the dough. No big deal. Let the appearance be your guide. If it looks dry, add more water. If it’s too sticky to handle, add more flour. Just be sure to do so slowly.
- If you don’t have a pizza stone, use a baking sheet. It won’t get quite as hot, but it will still work.
- If you want to use your sourdough starter that’s been sitting in the fridge, bring it to room temperature before using it in this recipe. You can use a discard starter if you add yeast. But the dough will rise and be bubbly with an active starter.
📘 Related Recipes
🍽 Serve it with
Your favorite toppings! Some ideas:
- Sliced tomatoes, fresh basil, fresh mozzarella, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
- Fresh argula, proscuitto, and shaved provolone
- A simple kid friendly pizza of pepperoni and chees
📖 Here’s the recipe
Sourdough Pizza Crust
Equipment
- Mixing bowl
- Wooden spoon
- Plastic Wrap
Ingredients
- 3½ cups of bread flour or 00 flour
- 1½ cups of fed sourdough starter see notes if you want to use discard starter
- ¾ cup water
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2½ tablespoons sugar
Instructions
Make the dough
- Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, mixing gently with a spoon until a ball forms. If the dough seems so dry that a ball is not forming, add more water a teaspoon at a time. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Turn dough out onto counter and knead until dough feels smooth to the touch and loses its stickiness, about five minutes.
- Place dough in a clean oiled bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to rise 3-4 hours at room temperature, or overnight in the fridge.
Make the pizzas
- Remove dough from fridge and divide into thirds (or halves or quarters, depending on the desired thickness of your crust and size of your baking sheet). Preheat pizza stone to 500 degrees. Allow to come to room temperature before stretching the dough.
- Stretch dough into desired shape and place on parchment paper sprinkled with cornmeal. Top pizza dough and bake at 500 degrees on pizza stone for 9-12 minutes, until crust is browned and center of pizza is baked.
Thank you for the recipe….I made it ~! The dough was AMAZING to work with…. but I made a mistake by not letting the dough come to room temperature when I stretched it out onto my pans (had company, got distracted, then just had to get dinner made so I took a chance). The dough stretched beautifully, but when it went into the oven it shrank quite a bit…so I think next time I will make sure it’s nice and relaxed and at room temp before it goes into the oven…. I’ve been making homemade pizza for years…but just started getting into sourdough and I’m SO glad I found your recipe this will be my new pizza dough recipe for SURE~!!! THANKS ~!!