Sourdough Pizza Crust

Sourdough pizza dough made with active starter and no commercial yeast. This recipe uses 63% hydration and a slow cold ferment, up to 4 days, to develop a crispy, blistered crust with a chewy crumb and genuine sourdough tang.

Makes four 250g dough balls, each yielding one 8–10″ pizza.

5 from 7 votes

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 1

Bake Time 30

Total Time 1 1

Ingredients

600 g bread flour
375 g water room temperature
90 g active sourdough starter
12 g olive oil
12 g fine sea salt

Instructions

Prepare The Dough:

In a large mixing bowl, add 600g bread flour and make a well in the center. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, add 375g room temperature water and 90g active sourdough starter. Stir them to combine then mix in 12g extra virgin olive oil.
Pour the liquid ingredients into the flour and mix by hand until the dough starts to come together. You may need to knead by hand to ensure the dough is completely combined. Once completely combined, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and rest for 30 minutes.

Stretch + Fold:

Dimple the dough by poking it as though you're poking focaccia then sprinkle 12g fine sea salt over the dough and stretch and fold the dough. To do this, grab the dough and gently pull it until the flap is long enough to fold over itself, then fold the flap, rotate the bowl 90 degrees, and repeat 4 times. This makes 1 set of stretch and folds. Cover and set the dough aside for 1 hour.
Uncover the dough and perform another set of stretch and folds, then recover and set aside for another 1 hour. Repeat the stretch and fold process once more, then cover and set aside for at least 2 more hours to complete the bulk fermentation at room temperature.
The bulk ferment is complete when the dough has grown by about 50% and feels airy and slightly jiggly when you gently shake the bowl, time is a guideline, the dough tells you when it’s ready.

Portion + Proof:

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and using a dough scraper and scale, portion the dough into 4 ~250g pieces of dough.
Form each piece into a tight ball by folding it into itself and rubbing the seam along the edges of your palms.
Place the balls on a lightly floured baking sheet, then lightly flour the surface of each ball. Cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap then set aside to proof for 5-6 hours or until the dough balls have roughly doubled in size.

Cold Retard:

Once the dough has roughly doubled, transfer the tray to the fridge to cold proof for 12 hours before making pizzas or up to 4 days. A longer cold retard will result in a more intensely flavored dough, likewise, a shorter time in the fridge will give a more mild dough.

Shaping The Pizza Dough:

Before shaping the dough, the oven should be preheated and heat soaked – place your baking stone or baking steel in the oven and preheat to 550f for at least 30 minutes before baking.

Pull the dough from the fridge an allow to come to room temperature at least 30 minutes before you plan to bake then carefully remove the chilled dough from the tray and transfer it to a floured work surface and flour the top of the dough ball before beginning the shaping process.
Working about 3/4" from the edge of the dough ball, press a ditch with your fingertips to define the crust edge. The distance from the edge will determine the crust size - further away will give a larger crust while closer will result in a smaller crust.
Begin shaping the dough by pressing gently in the center of the dough to flatten the the dough, I like to overlap my index fingers and press my middle fingers together during this stage, it creates a natural curve along my fingertips encouraging the dough into a round shape.
To stretch into shape, you'll be lifting the dough - try to avoid squeezing the crust edge formed in the previous step. Make a fist with your left hand, then place the dough right side up onto your fist. Make a fist with the right hand, and place them together underneath the dough, from there, you'll be gently stretching your hands apart, then rotating the dough a bit, stretching, then rotating to make it around the entire circle. I like to stretch to about 8-9" in diameter per 250g ball - this gives me the perfect mix between thin base and chewy crust.

Bake Sourdough Pizza Crust:

Load your baking steel or baking stone into the oven and preheat oven to 550f or as high as it will go. Allow the oven to heat soak and reach temperature for at least 30 minutes before baking. Prepare a large square of parchment paper and set aside.
Once the oven has been sufficiently preheated, shape the dough following the directions as above or use your own method. Place the shaped dough on the parchment paper.
Spread your favorite homemade pizza sauce on the dough, leaving a gap around the edge of the pie where you've defined the crust.
Add cheese and toppings before loading the dough onto your pizza peel and baking to perfection in the hot oven. I bake my 8-9" pizzas for about 7 minutes at 550f rotating once, halfway through the bake time.

Notes

baker's percentages

100%Bread Flour

63%Water

15%Starter

2%Olive Oil

2%Sea Salt

Expert Tips

Let your dough balls come to room temperature before shaping. Cold dough is tight and will snap back or tear when you try to stretch it. Pull the dough from the fridge at least 45-60 minutes before you plan to bake. Room temperature dough is relaxed, pliable, and significantly easier to stretch to a thin, even round.
Outdoor pizza ovens aren’t the only way to get wood-fired results at home. If you have a Traeger pellet grill, you can configure it to function like a pizza oven and hit temperatures that a standard kitchen oven can’t reach. I’ve written a full guide to my Traeger pizza oven hack – it’s the method I use most in summer.
Cold fermentation controls flavor. The longer the dough sits in the fridge, the more tangy and complex the crust will taste. For a subtle sourdough flavor, bake after 24 hours. For a pronounced tang, let it cold-retard for 48-72 hours. Both produce excellent pizza, it’s a matter of preference, not correctness.
Simulate a wood-fired oven with a second baking steel or stone. Place one steel on the rack you’ll bake on, and a second on the rack directly above it. The top steel radiates heat downward onto the pizza surface, replicating the ceiling heat of a wood-fired oven that’s otherwise impossible to achieve at home. Preheat both for at least 30 minutes.
Whole wheat flour adds a nutty, earthy flavor. Substitute up to 10% of the bread flour with whole wheat, beyond that, the extra bran weakens the gluten structure and makes the dough harder to stretch thin without tearing.