Sourdough Pizza Crust

My Sourdough Pizza Crust recipe makes a thin, crispy, and oh-so-flavorful crust that will make any pizza taste like an artisan pizza.

It’s great for preparing in advance, freezes well and makes enough for the whole family.

While today’s recipe isn’t particularly complicated, there are quite a few steps and it does require some patience (it’s quite different from my quick & easy homemade pizza dough that way).

Prep Time: 5hours hours
Cook Time: 16minutes minutes
Rising Time: 1day day

Ingredients

▢ ½ cup(115 g) active sourdough starter
▢ 1 cup(236 ml) warm water (90-100F/32-37C)
▢ 1 Tablespoon(14 g) olive oil
▢ 2 teaspoons(11 g) honey (may substitute sugar)
▢ 2 ¾ cups + 2 Tablespoons(370 g) bread flour
▢ 1 teaspoon(5 g) salt
▢ Additional olive oil for brushing pizza
▢ Pizza toppings: pizza sauce mozzarella cheese

Instructions

Combine sourdough starter, water, olive oil and honey in a medium-sized mixing bowl and stir until well-combined.½ cup (115 g) active sourdough starter, 1 cup (236 ml) warm water, 1 Tablespoon (14 g) olive oil, 2 teaspoons (11 g) honey
Add flour and salt and stir until you have a shaggy dough that clings together. Cover with plastic wrap and allow it to sit for 30-60 minutes (autolyse).2 ¾ cups + 2 Tablespoons (370 g) bread flour, 1 teaspoon (5 g) salt

Stretch & Fold

Use your hands to form the dough into a ball in the bowl.

Run your hands under cool water and grasp the top of the dough and stretch it over the bottom. Turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat this process. Do this twice more until you have made your way all the way around the dough.
Allow dough to rest, covered, in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Repeat step 2 every 30 minutes until dough has increased in size about 50%. I find this typically takes about 3-4 hours for me.
Divide dough into two pieces and place each in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and transfer to the refrigerator to rest overnight or up to 3 days.

Assembly & Baking

Remove dough from fridge and leave it covered to rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes and up to several hours. Preheat your oven to 500F (250C).

Once oven is preheated, lightly oil a pizza pan with olive oil.
Turn out the pizza dough onto the prepared pan and use your hands to gently shape it into a 10-12” (28cm) circle (it will be fairly thin). Fold over or pinch the edges to form a crust.
Brush the pizza all over with olive oil and use a fork to pierce the bottom all over.Additional olive oil for brushing pizza
Transfer pizza to 500F (250C) oven and bake for 8-9 minutes.
Remove pizza from oven and brush all over again with a light layer of olive oil, then add your toppings.Pizza toppings: pizza sauce
Return to the oven and bake another 8-11 minutes, until crust is golden and cheese is melted and bubbly.

Notes

Storing/Making in Advance

Pizza dough will keep in the refrigerator for several days.

If I want to have pizza crusts ready to go, I will follow the recipe through “Assembly and Baking” step 5 (par-baking the crust) then allow it to cool, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for up to several months. When ready to use, simply thaw (or partially thaw) in the plastic wrap at room temperature then proceed with the recipe from “Assembly and Baking” step 6 (brush with oil, add toppings and bake).