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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 of the best pizza sauce or this homemade tomato sauce, pepperoni pizza or pizza rustica next!
Table of Contents
Why you will love this sourdough pizza crust recipe:
- It’s easy, it’s fast, and you can use your sourdough starter discard! There are no fancy folds, no bulk fermentation . Just divide, shape & proof. This recipe is one of my favorite ways to use my discard!
- Amazing flavor development without kneading. With all the fermentation in the fridge, you have no extra hands-on time or monitoring required for this dough.
- The ideal make-ahead pizza dough. Once the dough is in the fridge, it will be ready when you are! Sure it takes a little planning but you could make a double batch and keep two wrapped tightly in plastic wrap in the freezer.
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!
Chef Lindsey’s Recipe Tip
If you are using a pizza stone, flour a pizza peel or dust with cornmeal. If not, sprinkle cornmeal on a metal baking sheet or pizza pans. A cast iron skillet can also mimic a pizza stone in a pinch. Give the pizza peel a little shake to check and make sure that the pizza moves freely on the pizza pan. If not, lift and toss a little flour or cornmeal under the spot that is sticking. It helps keep you safe too, because a hot oven is key for getting that perfect chewy and crispy texture.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can use a fed or unfed sourdough starter, which means, yes, you can use your discard!
You can leave the dough in the refrigerator for up to 72 hours. I find 36–48 hours ideal for the best flavor and texture. After 72 hours, the dough may become overproofed and develop a sour flavor that’s too strong. You can also take the dough, wrap it in plastic wrap and then put it in your freezer and it’ll keep frozen for two months, so you can enjoy fresh homemade pizza anytime. I do recommend freezing the dough immediately for the longest storage.
I use a pizza stone in the video, but you don’t have to. You can also preheat a rimmed baking sheet turned upside down. Slide the dough onto the baking sheet. You can also just build the pizza on a baking sheet and bake it all together. It won’t have quite the same effect as the one I baked on the stone, but it will be good!
If you tried this recipe and loved it please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the comments below. I love hearing from you; your comments make my day!
Sourdough Pizza Dough
Ingredients
- 13 ⅓ tablespoons 00 flour Caputo
- 20 tablespoons bread flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ⅙ teaspoon dry active yeast
- 9 tablespoons water
- 5 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 10 tablespoons sourdough starter fed or unfed (discard)
Instructions
- Oil a baking sheet or baking dish with canola oil. Set aside.
- 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.
- Combine the water, olive oil and starter in a small bowl. With the food processor running, pour the wet ingredients through the feed tube.
- Allow the food processor to run until a ball forms and then let it run another 30 seconds. Stop the food processor.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Refrigerate 24-72 hours. The longer it sits, the more the flavor will develop.
- Before you use it, take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 2-4 hours. Further baking instructions can be found in my pepperoni pizza post!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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.
When you freeze the pizza dough, what will be the process for getting it ready to make the dough ready for pizza? how long to thaw? do we need to leave it in refrigerator for 48-72 hours?
I don’t have pizza stone. can i use baking sheet?
Thanks
Hi-how to do you shape the pizza.? Does it need to poked with fork in the middle so crust doesn’t poof like bread? What temperature to bake it and does it need to be prevailed for a few minutes before adding sauce and other toppings. How long do you bake it? Thanks
Hi AJ! Great questions. I suggest watching my Youtube video. It will answer all of those questions and more!
Can we use soft wheat pastry flour instead of 00 caputo
You can certainly try! Whole wheat flour has different hydration needs so sometimes if you don’t add water and you substitute it 100%, you can end up with a dry dough.
Is 00 caputo more close to all purpose flour?
.
What day discard should be used for pizza dough
It should be from the day before. Any older it isn’t as active, so I would feed it before using it. You can also use active starter if you want.
Thanks. So can I use first day discard also, correct?
Yes, you can
i am not sure why you use dry yeast and sourdough starter .. that seems to be a lot of pizza recipes I see but I personally only use activated sourdough starter instead (at a rate of 20%) and it turns out to be a hell of a lot more digestible !! Mix all the ingredients and after it’s rested for 30mn … shape them as 250 to 300g dough boules, cover with cling film and let rest on an oiled metal plate in your fridge .. for lovely pizza the next day ! so much more flavor !
I explain why in the video. I also say you can omit it. It is all about timing.
Aelise- What do you mean by “at a rate of 20%”? I want to also make it without added yeast.
It is not clear what she means, which is why what she wrote isn’t an actual recipe. However, she probably means the starter weight is 20% of the weight of the flour. I am assuming she is using bread percentages or bakers math, but it isn’t clear. If you want to omit the yeast you can without adding any additional starter because starter changes the hydration. I say it in my video. Please watch my videos for more clarity.
Thanks much
Wait. People are using sourdough culture in brownies!? Ummm. I have a lot of comments there, but I’ll keep them to myself. (That’s a first, I know…) But using leftover sourdough culture for a pizza dough? Now that is something I can talk about from now until the cows come home. What a great idea! We all need more pizza. And I’ve been tossing some culture lately, so now I know how to use it! Also, have you tried brushing the 1″ edge (crust) with olive oil + salt + italian seasonings? You’re a professional baker, so I’m going to assume yes…but if not then do it. Like today. It’s a Friday. You know you want pizza and beers tonight. 🙂
Sourdough in brownies is upsetting right? Like it’s not just me??? And I have not tried brushing the crust with EVOO and then adding salt and seasoning, but THAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN. All I can say is thank you on behalf of me and my bf. Have you made a stuffed crust pizza? I haven’t had one since 1998 but I dream of them sometimes lol
Hah! I haven’t tried making a stuffed crust yet…but that’s mainly because I can’t wrap my head around the sheer amount of cheese that you need. I feel like that’s one of those things you just order so you can’t see how much goes into it! Also, sweet dreams are made of cheese…
You make a fair point here. I do think it is one of those things where it is best not to see the actual quantity used, so that you can actually still enjoy it! It’s kind of like how I felt the first time I saw how much sugar goes in preserves and jam. Because I quite enjoyed the happy place where I thought preserves were healthy! lol