Sourdough Pizza Dough Recipe

This sourdough pizza dough recipe is easy, fast, and all made in the food processor. It’s flavorful, chewy, and crispy — and it even uses sourdough starter discard!

Sourdough bread may go in and out of style, but pizza will never leave us! So here it is: the easiest, fastest sourdough pizza dough EVER. It’s all made in the food processor, so you don’t have to knead it, and who doesn’t want an exciting sourdough taste in their crust? Makes your pizza so many levels more delicious than a bland cheese-vehicle.

This crust will transform your whole pizza experience! It’s chewy and crispy in all the right places. Don’t believe me, check it out for yourself. Then hop on the homemade pizza train and make some homemade tomato sauce, pepperoni pizza or pizza rustica next!

Professional Tips

• Shaping dough is tricky, avoid using a rolling pin. The trickiest part is shaping the dough. Please don’t use a rolling pin; it hurts my heart and keeps it from getting that beautiful NY Slice crust. 
• Stretch the dough gently to avoid deflating bubbles. Bubbles are what get you that beautiful, airy crust!
• Final proof 1–2 hours at room temp before baking. If you watch my pizza dough tutorial, that dough was sitting out at room temperature for 2 hours so it is super soft and pliable, which is awesome for making and baking!

Ingredients

• 00 Flour: 00 Flour is also called Caputo. 
• Bread Flour
• Kosher Salt
• Sugar
• Dry Active Yeast
• Water: I always use tap water for feeding sourdough starter, but I live and work in New York City. If you live somewhere with hard water (a lot of minerals), you should use distilled water, bottled water or filtered water. High mineral content will inhibit fermentation and tighten the gluten structure, resulting in less airy dough. Chlorine can also inhibit the growth of yeast and bacteria. If you are concerned, you can boil and cool tap water to room temperature or set tap water in a container for 24 hours to naturally dechlorinate.
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Sourdough starter fed or unfed (discard): This recipe assumes that you have an active sourdough starter, which is doubling in 12-14 hours. If you are lost, start with my sourdough starter recipe.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Variations

• Can I make this pizza dough with just sourdough starter and no yeast? You can totally omit the dry active yeast and just use sourdough starter as your leavening, but it’s gonna take a little bit longer and it might be more like 48 hours in the refrigerator.
• Use all bread flour. If you don’t have 00 flour, you can use all bread flour instead! I’d still use bread flour over all purpose flour if you can help it.
• Ratios for feeding your starter can vary! In many ways the particular ratio that you choose to feed your sourdough starter is a personal choice. The important thing to remember is that no matter the chosen ratio, you can make any type of levain from that active starter. I talk about this a little in my sourdough focaccia recipe, but here are the ins and outs of how to feed sourdough starter!

How to Make Sourdough Pizza Dough

Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below!

Step 1: Oil a baking sheet or baking dish with canola oil. Set aside.

Step 2: Fit a food processor with a blade, any blade. It doesn’t matter. Seriously. Add 00 flour, bread flour, salt, sugar and yeast. Fix the top and pulse to combine the ingredients.

Step 3: Combine the water, olive oil and starter in a small bowl. With the food processor running, pour the wet ingredients through the feed tube. 

When I made it for the video, I added the starter after the water and oil — and it was something special trying to get it through the tube. Don’t be like me.

Step 4: Allow the food processor to run until a ball forms and then let it run another 30 seconds. Stop the food processor.

Step 5: You’ll need a lightly floured work surface! The dough isn’t that sticky, so you don’t need a ton of flour. Using a spatula, scrape all the dough onto the counter. With a bench scraper, divide it into two equal pieces.

Add just a little bit of bench flour to your lightly floured surface as needed.

Step 6: Form each one into a ball by folding all four sides into the center. Flip it over seam-side down. Tighten the dough balls by pulling the dough towards you, rotating and then pulling it towards you again. Shape it into a smooth round.

You can also shape it using the bench scraper. Just watch my sourdough pizza dough tutorial on youtube. I prefer a thin crust, but you can make it as thick as you like.

Step 7: Place each ball on the oiled sheet. Rub some oil on the top of the dough. Wrap each tightly in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator.

This prevents skin from forming on the dough.

Step 8: Refrigerate 24-72 hours. The longer it sits, the more the flavor will develop.

Step 9: Before you use it, take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 2-4 hours. 

Assemble your pizza with your favorite toppings on a piece of parchment paper on a cutting board for easy transfer. I always recommend fresh basil, fresh mozzarella cheese, and homemade pizza sauce!

Frequently Asked Questions

Before You Go

I hope you enjoyed this professional chef tested recipe. Check out our other delicious, chef-developed bread recipes, including some of our favorite sourdough recipes.