Sourdough Pizza Crust

Sourdough Pizza Crust is everything you need to create the perfect artisan pizza. It’s flavorful, crisp, chewy, and sturdy enough to hold up to all the toppings you could want.

Each time I make bread I am always amazed by how the most simple ingredients can be manipulated to make something so delicious and useful. This pizza crust is no different. It’s a variation on my sourdough bread recipe and the process is very similar but without the shaping or final rise.

When I first started baking with a sourdough starter, I found the waiting times inconvenient. I couldn’t believe that it could really take two days to make a loaf of bread! Now, I consider the long rising times to be one of the best parts of sourdough baking. Not only do you end up with products that have so much more flavor, I’ve found that the long periods of waiting really work into my routine much better. It takes a little while to get use to the planning ahead that is required when working with sourdough. Once you get the hang of it, I think you’ll learn to love the mix it and forget it nature that is sourdough baking.

Making Your Pizza Dough

All you really need to make a Sourdough Pizza Crust is a mixing bowl and your hands. I start by measuring out my starter, olive oil, water and salt into a mixing bowl. use your fingers to break up the starter and mix everything together. I then add the flour and continue to mix with my hands until all of the flour is well hydrated. You shouldn’t see any dry bits. At this point you want to cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes.

Side note: If you do not have a kitchen scale, I can’t recommend one enough. When you weigh out your ingredients, there are no measuring cups to fuss with or wash, everything simply goes in one bowl to be mixed together. While I try to keep my kitchen knick-knacks to a minimum, I love investing in solid pieces that I will rely on every day and a kitchen scale falls into this category.

Stretching and Folding your Sourdough Pizza Crust

While most pizza crust recipes will tell you to knead the dough, whether by hand or with a mixer, this recipe requires neither. We’re going to develop the gluten by stretching and folding our dough. If you’ve been making sourdough bread you are probably already familiar with this technique. Stretching and pulling the dough is an efficient way to activate and strengthen the gluten and is so much easier than kneading! To do this, start with one side of the dough, grab it with wet fingers, and pull it up out of the mixing bowl. Stop pulling if you feel like the dough is about to break. Fold the dough back over and press it into itself. Turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat this process three more times.

You will stretch and fold your dough a total of three times, about every thirty minutes. Each time you’ll notice that the dough becomes a little smoother and more pliable and by the last time you’ll have a beautiful and supple dough. Pizza dough will be a little bit wetter than bread dough but should still form a smooth ball. That extra hydration results in a nice chewy crust with lots of air bubbles!

Now you’ll want to cover the bowl again and set the dough aside to rise for 4-6 additional hours. To make pizza for dinner, I usually plan on mixing my dough around 9 am, knowing that it will sit for about 6-8 hours in total before I shape my crust. Two hours where we are stretching and kneading the dough every thirty minutes, then 4-6 hours while it rises undisturbed.

Shaping your Sourdough Pizza Crust

After the bulk rise, your pizza dough will look very different. It will have grown significantly and air bubbles should be visible just under the top of the dough. When you press gently on the dough, it should be full of air, no longer dense. Go ahead and dump your dough out onto a lightly floured surface. This recipe makes two 12-inch round pizzas, so at this point you’ll want to divide your dough in half.

Grease a cookie sheet or pizza pan by rubbing olive oil over the surface, then place half of the dough in the middle. Use your fingers to gently press the dough out from the center towards the edges of the pan. If the dough becomes too elastic, give it a 10-minute break to allow the gluten to relax, and continue shaping. Once the dough is about 12 inches in diameter and has an even thickness, it is ready to top and bake!

I typically make one pizza at a time, and unless your oven is large enough to fit both pizzas on the same rack, I highly suggest doing the same.

Sourdough pizza crust is wonderful with any toppings you could imagine. I love to keep it simple with sliced tomatoes, mozzarella, olive oil, salt and pepper and fresh basil. It’s the perfect summer pizza. It also holds up wonderfully when we go all out and add crumbled sausage, peppers, cheese, ham, etc. I would love to hear what you choose for your toppings! Make this sourdough pizza crust your new Friday tradition!