How to Make Sourdough Discard Pizza Dough
Pizza night just got more delicious! Chewy, bubbly (and complete with that signature sourdough tang!) this sourdough discard pizza dough is quick, easy to make, and whipped up using just a few staple ingredients. A guaranteed family favorite, it’s THAT good.
A Family Favorite.
Of all the sourdough recipes to be found here on the blog, I kind of can’t believe I’ve gone this far without creating a sourdough pizza crust recipe!
This sourdough discard pizza dough is a spin on my regular ol’ pizza dough recipe, but with that signature sourdough tang that I find really delicious. The result is pizza crust that is crispy with a chewy center, just as pizza crust should be. Yum and yum.
I hope you’re family enjoys this as much as we do!
Jump to:
- Quick Recipe Snapshot
- What You’ll Love About This Recipe
- Ingredients You’ll Need
- Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
- Tips for Preparing to Make This Recipe
- Step by Step Photos
- More Sourdough Recipes
- Sourdough Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
- Best Sourdough Discard S’mores Cookies
- Sourdough Mixed Berry Cobbler with Sugar Cookie Topping
- Sourdough Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwich Cookies
- Sourdough Discard Pizza Dough
Quick Recipe Snapshot
TOTAL TIME: About 2 ½ hours, start to finish.
YIELD: 1 large 16″ pizza crust or 2 smaller 8″ pizzas.
STORAGE: Leftovers store well in the fridge for up to 3-4 days.
BEST SERVED: Warm from the oven while it’s still hot and cheesy! Serve it with extra pizza sauce for dipping if you like.
What You’ll Love About This Recipe
Ingredients You’ll Need
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
Tips for Preparing to Make This Recipe
- Rolling the dough to ½ inch thick will yield a typical thick pizza crust. If you prefer a crispy, thin-crust pizza, roll it out even thinner.
- Make sure the oven is HOT before placing the pizza in to cook. This helps ensure a nice crust.
- If you don’t own a stand mixer with a dough hook, you can make the dough in a regular mixing bowl and stir together using a wooden spoon, and knead the dough using your hands.
- This recipe can easily be doubled! You could easily bake half of the dough and then freeze the other half for later use.
- If you don’t have a pizza pan, use a regular cookie sheet. Grease it with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with cornmeal, and then press the dough into whatever shape that will fit.
Be sure to check out the full recipe and ingredient list below!
Step by Step Photos
- Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. (See notes below for using a stand mixer for this step).
- Once kneaded, allow the dough to rise for 1 ½-2 hours until doubled in size.
- Press the risen pizza dough onto prepared pizza pan.
- Add preferred sauce and toppings before baking. Enjoy!
Rachael’s Top Tip!
To determine if your dough is ready to rise, you can perform what is called the “windowpane” test. Tear of a small piece of dough and hold it up to a window, gently stretching it. If you are able to see light come through the dough without it tearing, its ready to go. If not, it needs to be kneaded a little further.
More Sourdough Recipes
Check out these reader favorites, straight from my log cabin kitchen!
Sourdough Discard Pizza Dough
- Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: One 16” pizza crust or two 8″ crusts 1x
Description
Pizza night just got more delicious! Chewy, bubbly (and complete with that signature sourdough tang!) this sourdough discard pizza dough is quick, easy to make, and whipped up using just a few staple ingredients. A guaranteed family favorite, it’s THAT good.
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water (around 110 degrees F)
- 1 packet active dry yeast (2 ¼ tsp)
- 3 tbsp sugar, divided
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ cup sourdough starter
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 ½ cups bread flour
Instructions
- Activate the yeast: In a small mixing bowl, combine the warm water, 1 tablespoon sugar, and active dry yeast. Stir gently and then set aside for 5 minutes to allow the yeast to bloom.
- Prepare remaining ingredients: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment or a large mixing bowl, add the bloomed yeast mixture. Add the remaining 2 tablespoon sugar, olive oil, sourdough starter, salt, and flour.
- Knead the dough: Turn the mixer on low speed and begin to mix all the ingredients together. Knead for 5-7 minutes; a dough ball should form and the dough should turn smooth and glossy. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, it is ready to rise!
- Rise: Place the pizza dough into a well oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a tea towel. Store it on the kitchen counter to rise for 1 ½-2 hours before prepping it to bake.
- Bake: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Punch down the dough to release any air bubbles. Using a bench scraper or sharp knife, divide the dough in half if making 2 pizzas. Gently flatten each dough ball into a disk.
- Using a rolling pin, roll the pizza dough into a large circle, about ½ inch thick.
- Using your fingers, push dents into the surface of the dough to prevent bubbling. To prevent the filling from making your pizza crust soggy, brush the top lightly with olive oil. Add your favorite pizza sauce and toppings and bake in preheated oven for 13-15 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.
- Slice and serve immediately. Enjoy!
Notes
- Kneading: If you don’t own a stand mixer with a dough hook, you can make the dough in a regular mixing bowl and stir together using a wooden spoon, and then knead the dough using your hands.
- If you don’t have a pizza pan, use a regular cookie sheet. Grease it with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with cornmeal, and then press the dough into whatever shape that will fit.
- Yeast: If using instant yeast, skip the initial step of activating the yeast, and continue on with step 2.
- Storage: Cover leftover pizza tightly and store in the fridge to reheat later. I have stored baked pizza slices in the freezer for later use for around 3 months.
Instructions for Freezing Pizza Dough
- Lightly coat all sides of the dough with nonstick spray or olive oil (I typically use olive oil or avocado oil spray). Place the dough into individual Ziploc bag(s) and seal tightly, squeezing out all the air to prevent freezer burn. Freeze for up to 3 months.
- To thaw, place the frozen pizza dough in the refrigerator for about 8 hours or overnight.
- When ready to make pizza, remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature and rise for 30 minutes to 1 hour on the counter.
- Preheat the oven and continue with the above outlined steps to baking the dough.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Rise Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Bread Recipes
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American, Italian
Nutrition
- Calories: 273
- Sugar: 5
- Sodium: 309
- Fat: 5
- Carbohydrates: 50
- Fiber: 2
- Protein: 7
If you loved this recipe for easy sourdough pizza crust, make sure to come back and leave a comment and a 5 star rating! I would love to hear how this recipe turned out for you.
Easy, delicious, and honestly just perfect.