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.
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.
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
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!
How to Make Sourdough Discard Pizza Dough
- Begin by activating the yeast using warm water and sugar. Make sure the water is warm, around 105-110 degrees (You can use a food thermometer to easily check the temperature). Cold water will not activate the yeast! In a small bowl, combine warm water, one packet of yeast, and 1 tablespoon sugar. Let the yeast mixture sit for few minutes to bloom.
- Prepare remaining ingredients: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment or a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, and remaining 2 tablespoon of sugar. Add the oil, sourdough discard, and bloomed yeast and water mixture.
- Turn the mixer on low and begin to mix all the ingredients together until a dough ball forms and is smooth and glossy, about 5 minutes.
- 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!
- 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 1-2 hours before prepping it to bake.
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.
Baking Your Sourdough Pizza
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- Punch down the dough to release any air bubbles.
- 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 for 13-15 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
- Slice hot pizza and serve immediately. Yum!
Note: 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.
Storage and Freezing Instructions
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.
Freezing: This pizza dough freezes beautifully! If you are making the dough to freeze immediately, follow these simple steps:
- Lightly coat all sides of the dough with nonstick spray or olive oil. 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.
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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: 1 16 inch pizza crust or 2 8 inch 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 packet active dry yeast (2 ¼ tsp)
- 3 ½ cups bread flour
- 3 tbsp sugar (divided)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 tbsp oil
- ½ cup sourdough discard
Instructions
- Begin by activating the yeast using warm water and sugar. Make sure the water is warm, around 105-110 degrees (You can use a food thermometer to easily check the temperature). Cold water will not activate the yeast! In a small bowl, combine warm water, one packet of yeast, and 1 tablespoon sugar. Let the yeast mixture sit for few minutes to bloom.
- Prepare remaining ingredients: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment or a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, and remaining 2 tablespoon sugar. Add the oil, sourdough discard, and bloomed yeast and water mixture.
- Turn the mixer on low and begin to mix all the ingredients together until a dough ball forms and is smooth and glossy, about 5 minutes.
- 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!
- 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 1-2 hours before prepping it to bake.
- Bake the pizza: Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- Punch down the dough to release any air bubbles.
- 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 for 13-15 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
- Slice hot pizza and serve immediately. Yum!
Notes
Note: 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.
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: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Bread Recipes
- 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.
