Sourdough Pizza Crust Recipe (Step-By-Step Guide)

If you enjoy a delicious pizza, you will love our Sourdough Pizza Crust recipe with our step-by-step guide for making Sourdough Pizza dough at home. Perfectly crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, this crust works for any topping and delights every sourdough lover.

Follow our simple instructions to turn out the perfect pizza crust every single time. Enjoy a fantastic movie night with your family and let everyone add their own toppings to make individual pizzas!

Why We Love Our Sourdough Pizza Dough Recipe

We crave a great pizza, and making them at home is fun and delicious. These Pizza Knots make a great kiddo activity or finger food appetizer. And, this Baked Pizza Casserole is a delicious, stick to your ribs, meal. However, when you want pizza, there’s no substitute.

Our Sourdough Pizza crust is soft and tender crust can be made into a thick Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza or thin pizza and will make 1 large pizza (24”), two 12” pizzas, or even 4 6″ pizzas for family pizza night. Your choice.

What is the difference between bubbly sourdough starter and sourdough discard?

Active, fed sourdough starter, also called wild yeast, is bubbly and alive because it has been fed within the last 24 hours. Sourdough starter discard is an unfed starter that is removed to decrease the amount of starter right before you feed it.

If you need to make a sourdough starter, I show you how here.

Ingredients for Sourdough Pizza Crust Recipe

• Active Sourdough Starter – This recipe is for an active, bubbly starter, not for sourdough discard. I recommend feeding your starter the night before or the morning before you want to make pizza.
• Warm Water. You want the water to be the perfect temperature for activating and growing yeast, which is right at 95ºF. Test it with an instant-read thermometer.
• All-Purpose Flour – Simple white flour, bleached or nonbleached. 
• Salt – Kosher, fine sea salt, or table salt all work in this recipe.
• Olive Oil – We use extra virgin olive oil. Choose one that you like the flavor of.

How To Make A Sourdough Pizza Crust

This is a simple sourdough pizza crust. The folds and dough rest time make it look involved. However, we’re just building up the strength of our dough. We have three separate rise times called bulk fermentation and fold the dough in on itself in between each. The following is our step-by-step guide.

Step 1: Mix the starter with water.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the sourdough starter, and water. Mix and let it sit for 5 minutes. (The mixture will look like a milky mixture.)

Sourdough starter

Combine starter, water, and flour

Add flour and mix

Sticky dough

Step 2: Add Flour to the Sourdough Pizza Dough.

Add half the flour, and mix well. The mixture will be sticky. I love using the Danish Dough hook. Once the flour is all incorporated, add the remaining flour, salt, and olive oil. Mix well until you have no more dry flour.

Add remaining flour

Incorporate remaining flour

Step 3: 1st Dough rise.

Cover the bowl and let it rise in a warm, draft-free place for 45 minutes for the first rise.

Step 4: 1st Pizza dough stretch and fold.

Uncover the bowl and stretch the dough. Using your Danish Dough whisk or your hands, take the dough in front of you, and pull and fold back on the dough. Repeat the stretch 3 more times, turning the bowl 90 degrees each time.

Step 5: 2nd Dough rise.

Cover the dough and let it rise for an additional 45 minutes.

Step 6: 2nd Stretch and fold.

Uncover and stretch the dough like in step 5.

Step 7: 3rd Dough rise.

Cover the dough and let it rise for 60 minutes. At this point, the dough will be nice and airy, go to step 10. If it feels sticky, stretch the dough like in step 5, cover it, and rise for an additional 30 minutes. During this last rise, preheat the oven to 425 °F.

Step 8: Make your pizza!

Lightly flour your work surface and roll the dough for one large pizza or, divide it according to the size of your pizza pan using a rolling pin. Place it on your pizza pan. Add your favorite toppings and bake for 12-14 minutes.

Roll out crust

Rolled Pizza Dough

Popular Variations & Additions

Make it spicy. Add some red pepper flakes or chili powder to the dough.

Make it deluxe. Add some fresh grated Parmigiano to the dough.

Change the shape – You can use any baking pan to make your pizza. We use a sheet pan which makes it easy to cut and eat.

How To Store Sourdough Starter Pizza Dough

Unbaked sourdough pizza dough will continue to ferment until it’s baked. Prepare the dough through Step 7 and then cover the unbaked dough shaped on a pan or place unshaped dough balls in an oiled bowl covered with plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator for up to 18 hours. After that, you run the risk of over-proofing the dough. 

Can I Freeze Raw Pizza Crust?

Yes, you can freeze raw pizza crust. I recommend freezing it before letting it rise. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, then parchment paper, aluminum foil, or a freezer-safe container, for up to three months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator or at room temperature and start your 1st rise as explained in Step 3.

Best Sourdough Pizza Crust FAQ

How do you tell if sourdough is underproofed or overproofed?

Can Sourdough Starter Pizza Dough be made ahead of time?

Make head convenience. Keep the dough in your refrigerator after the last stretch and fold for one or two days until you are ready to use it. Let it come to room temperature and roll.

Hostess Tips and Tricks

Overnight Sourdough Pizza Crust – Like our Overnight Sourdough Bread recipe, sourdough pizza crust can be placed in the refrigerator for a longer ferment time (rise).

Use leftovers: Roll the dough, spread some butter, and sprinkle some cheese for cheese sticks/bites.

Do not overproof your dough. If the dough rests too long, the yeast continues making carbon dioxide but the gluten bonds are beginning to weaken. The bread looks puffy but deflates and sags because the dough is no longer strong enough to hold its shape.