Flavorful Sourdough Pizza Dough (Printable)

A naturally fermented, chewy dough with a crisp crust, perfect for crafting artisan-style pizzas at home.

# What You'll Need:

→ Dough

01 - 3⅓ cups bread flour
02 - 1⅓ cups plus 1 tablespoon water, room temperature
03 - ½ cup active sourdough starter
04 - 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
05 - 1 tablespoon olive oil, optional for softer dough

# How-To Steps:

01 - In a large mixing bowl, combine bread flour and water. Stir until just combined. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.
02 - Add sourdough starter and salt to the flour mixture, along with olive oil if using. Mix by hand or with a stand mixer until a sticky dough forms.
03 - Knead the dough for 5–7 minutes until smooth and elastic, or use the stretch-and-fold technique every 30 minutes for 2 hours, completing 4 folds total.
04 - Cover the bowl and let the dough rise at room temperature for 6–8 hours, or until doubled in size and bubbly.
05 - Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide in half for two large pizzas. Shape each piece into a tight ball.
06 - Place the dough balls on a tray, cover, and let rest for 1–2 hours at room temperature, or cold ferment in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours for deeper flavor.
07 - Preheat your oven to the highest temperature (ideally 475–500°F) with a pizza stone or steel inside.
08 - Stretch each dough ball into a 12-inch round. Add your favorite toppings.
09 - Transfer to the hot stone or steel and bake for 10–15 minutes, or until the crust is puffed and golden with crisp edges.

# Expert Suggestions:

01 -
  • The sourdough starter does the heavy lifting while you sleep, developing deep, complex flavors that taste impossibly good.
  • You'll get that crackling, golden crust with an airy interior that makes people think you baked it in a proper pizzeria.
  • Once you nail the timing, you can cold ferment it in the fridge for up to 48 hours, which means fresh homemade pizza whenever the craving hits.
02 -
  • Your sourdough starter needs to be visibly active and bubbly before you use it—if it's sluggish or hasn't been fed in days, the dough won't rise properly and you'll wonder why yours doesn't look like the pictures.
  • The long fermentation is the entire point; rushing this or using warm conditions to speed it up trades flavor and texture for speed, and you'll taste the difference immediately.
  • Cold fermenting in the fridge actually makes the dough easier to stretch and gives you more window to bake it, plus the flavor deepens into something remarkably complex.
03 -
  • If your kitchen is cold (under 65°F), fermentation will crawl—move your dough near a window in direct sunlight or drape the bowl with a kitchen towel to create a warmer microclimate.
  • Invest in an oven thermometer because most home ovens run 25-50°F cooler than they claim, and you need genuine heat to get that crust crispy before the toppings burn.
  • Overproofed dough (left to rise too long) will deflate when you stretch it and bake into a flat, dense pizza—if your dough looks puffy and soft and jiggles when you tap the bowl, it's ready to shape and bake immediately.
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