Sourdough Pizza Crust

Sourdough is a unique flavor. It has a slight yeast flavor paired with a slightly sour flavor. It is the best dough to work with. It is so forgiving and absolutely delicious.

Once the dough has fermented to develop that unique flavor you can make so many things with it. One of our favorites to make is pizza. It has a nice crisp outer crust and a light, airy, and slightly tangy crumb. It is certainly my preference over the common yeast dough. I just love the flavor better. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love the yeast dough pizza crust just as much as everyone else. There is just something about that flavor profile of the sourdough pizza crust that just makes it that much better.

If you are not familiar with starting, maintaining, or working with sourdough you can check out my “sourdough starter” blog post to get the full rundown on sourdough. It is so easy to work with and is so forgiving in recipes. Now, don’t mistake sourdough with the typical yeast dough. You want to keep as much of the air pockets in sourdough as possible, unlike the yeast dough where you remove most of the air pockets. The air pockets are what give the sourdough its unique texture.

So let’s get right into the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups water – warm
3/4 cup sourdough starter
2 tbsp olive oil
3 – 4 1/4 cup flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp coarse salt OR 3/4 tsp fine salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a bowl (or stand mixer with dough hook) combine the water, sourdough starter, and oil. Mix to combine.
2. Add the flour, sugar, and salt to the water mixture and mix on low until combined. This should take around 3 minutes or so. If the dough is to wet, add in 1/4 of the flour until the dough starts to pull from the sides of the bowl. The dough should be slightly sticky but not stick to your fingers when touched.
3. Remove the dough to a large glass bowl and let rest for 20 minutes lightly covered with a tea towel.
4. After the 20 minute rest you are going to perform a stretch and fold. I go over how to do this in my video if you need a visual on exactly how to do this. What you are going to do is wet your hands with water. Take one side of the dough and gently pull upward until the dough can no longer stretch. Becareful not to rip the dough. It should stretch about 8 to 10 inches. Now, pull the dough over the dough in the bowl and lay it over the dough. Turn your bowl a quarter turn and do the other three sides of the dough until all four sides have been stretched and folded. Do this every 20 minutes for 1 hour.
5. When all four sides have been stretched and folded you are going to cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm place for the next 8-10 hours or up to 24 hours. I typically do a 24 hour rise because I want the full benefits of the sourdough ferment. During this time your dough will rise and fall and be full of beautiful bubbles.
6. Preheat your oven to 475* and place your cast iron pan or pans in the oven to get nice and hot. If you are not using a cast iron pan you can heat up a sheet tray.
7. When ready to make your pizza remove the dough from the bowl onto a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough in half or you can make 4 individual pizza’s. Place each dough section on a spot of flour to prevent sticking while you work with one section of dough at a time.
8. Flour the dough lightly along with your rolling pin, if you are using one, and either pat out or roll out your dough to your desired thickness. I roll the dough out to fit the pan I am using. I always use a 12 inch cast iron skillet to make pizza.
9. Now that you have your first dough section ready, remove the pan or cast iron pan from the oven carefully with a heat safe towel. Carefully place your pizza crust into the pan. It is going to start to cook and rise slightly. Drizzle with olive oil and add your favorite sauce, toppings, and cheese to the crust. I would recommend having your toppings, sauce, and cheese prepared beforehand so this step goes smoothly. You want the pan to stay nice and hot.
10. Place in the oven and cook for about 12 to 15 minutes or until the crust is golden and the cheese is melted and bubbly. During this time you can prepare the other half of the pizza crust. Just follow the same steps.
11. Remove from the oven when done and cut and serve.

• I always heat up two cast iron pans when I preheat my oven. This way, while one pizza cooks, I am preparing the other pizza and they are going to be done around the same time.
• If you are using a sheet tray you can either spray with oil spray or line with parchment for easy removal later.
• There are no strict rules on the toppings you can put on your pizza. You add what ever toppings you like.
• Remove the pizzas from the pans before cutting. You don’t want to cut up your pans or sheet trays.