It seems I’ve really gotten into a sourdough kick over the past couple months. I’ve baked some bread, made English muffins, baked some cookies, made some crackers, experimented with spaetzle…and now I decided to tackle pizza! I’ve always found the thought of making homemade pizza from scratch to be somewhat overwhelming. But I figured now was the time to teach myself how to make sourdough pizza.
As with most of my sourdough projects of late, I hopped onto Zoom with my bestie and we worked through the recipe together. What’s nice about doing it together is that we compare the results and discuss the steps as we go, so we figure things out faster.
How to make sourdough pizza
The first and most important thing you need is a healthy and active sourdough starter. If you’re new to sourdough and don’t have a starter going, check out my post about that here. It can take up to a couple weeks to have a really active starter.
The night before doing this recipe, you’ll want to feed your starter so it’s active and bubbly in the morning when you start making your dough. It’s okay if the starter has fallen by the morning; we don’t need this at the height of its activity.
This recipe makes one regular size pizza. You can either double it if you’d like for two pizzas, or split the dough in half when you roll it out for two individual size pizzas.
This recipe can be made with a simple pizza pan and does not require a pizza stone or any other specialized equipment—but if you have those, you can use them.
Step one: Make your dough
In a bowl, combine 1/4 cup of your starter, 240 grams (2 cups) of flour, 3/4 cup water, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. (I didn’t have olive oil on hand so I used vegetable oil and the results were fine.)
Mix it with a spoon until you get a shaggy dough, then mix it a bit more by hand using the stretch-and-fold method. If you find your dough is too sticky, you can work some extra flour in. Tacky dough that feels sticky but doesn’t actually make a mess of your fingers is fine; sticky dough that adheres to your fingers is too wet.
Step two: Two sets of stretch and folds
Let the dough rest for about 10 minutes, then do a set of stretch and folds.
Let the dough rest for an additional 10 minutes, then do a second set of stretch and folds.
Step three: Let rest and rise
Place the dough ball in a lightly oiled bowl (to prevent the dough from sticking to the bowl) and let it sit at room temperature for about 8 hours, or until it’s approximately doubled in size.
Step four: Stretch out dough and form your crust
Preheat your oven to 475 F.
If you’d prefer to make two individual sized pizzas, split the dough ball in two.
On a floured surface, roll out your dough until it’s thin and the size of your pizza pan (or the size that you want). Roll up the edges to make a ridge around the pizza.
Step five: Top and bake your pizza
For my pizza, I spread on some pizza sauce (which is my pasta sauce repurposed for pizza), pepperoni, mushrooms, and cheddar cheese.
Bake for 13-15 minutes or until the crust looks cooked and the cheese is bubbly. Turn on the broiler and let broil for about 3 minutes to darken the top of the crust.
Remove from oven and let sit for a couple minutes before slicing and enjoying.
Sourdough Pizza
Ingredients
Method
- Place all ingredients in a bowl. Stir with a spoon until it comes together as a shaggy ball
- Gently work the dough with your hands. If the dough is too wet, add flour as you go. It should be tacky, but not sticky. When you pull your hands away, the dough should stick to itself, not clump on your fingers. Sometimes I need to add a lot of extra flour.
- Once you have a tacky ball of dough, let it rest for ten minutes. Then do a round of stretch and folds, going around the dough two or three times. You may need to add a little extra flour.
- Let it rest another ten minutes, then do another round of stretch and folds, adding flour if needed.
- Transfer the dough ball to a lightly oiled bowl (to prevent dough from sticking to the bowl), cover with plastic wrap or a towel, and let rest for eight hours, or until dough has doubled in size.
- Preheat oven to 475℉. Roll out dough on a floured surface, stretching it to larger than your pizza pan. Transfer dough to pan and roll the edges to form a crust around the pizza.
- Add sauce and toppings.
- Bake for 13-15 minutes at 475℉, or until cheese is bubbly and crust is beginning to brown. Turn on the broiler in the oven and let it broil for about 3 minutes, to brown the crust a little more.
- Remove from oven and let sit for a few minutes before slicing and serving.
I loved the way this dough came out! I want to try stuffing the crust with mozzarella next time 🙂
This pizza was delicious! Love the stuffed crust improvisation.
Looks delicious!