Sourdough Pizza Dough Recipe (2024)

Adding instant yeast is a typical "no fail" solution that is oddly often added to sourdough recipes. By definition, your final product is no longer a "sourdough" or wild yeast creation if you add cultivated yeast. In the above recipe, increase starter to 1 cup, omit the instant yeast, use room temp water, let the dough sit out in a deep bowl, covered with plastic film. The next day do a double fold to increase the structure of the dough. proceed with step 3 - no kneading.

I agree with Pedro Pan; add the extra starter and skip the yeast. You get a true superior sourdough product, with a rise-time of 10-14 hrs, and no refrigeration required. Win-win, and more space in the fridge!

Using Chad Robertson's "Tartine" starter,I followed Pedro Pan's suggestion for increasing the starter and eliminating commercial yeast. Under refrigeration (the method I prefer), the dough balls can rest for up to three days. Leftover dough balls (misted with olive oil) can easily be frozen for future use. To use, thaw dough (still wrapped) overnight in refrigerator. Take out of refrigerator 60-90 minutes prior to baking, transfer to small floured bowl and let rise slightly.

If you increase the whole grain component of your bread recipe, you need to increase the water (hydration) as well, since whole grains absorb more water than white flour. You might want to start gradually to get a feeling for the texture and wetness of the dough so that you can gradually adjust as you replace some white flour with whole wheat.

from a purist.......if you publish a recipe as sourdough, please omit yeast as a leavening.....sourdough starter is alive with microorganisms that will do the rising trick beautifully with all kinds of flour

Made this again. With due respect to Pedro (see Most Helpful tab), 1 cup of SD starter is not necessary. And no kneading doesn't work very well as the dough then is too tender for stretching. I made it again with a heaping 1/4 cup fed starter (no yeast), mixing it with the water then adding the flour and salt. I didn't bother with adding the oil. I mixed then kneaded in the bowl about 3-4 minutes; covered bowl on counter, 16 hours, cut and formed balls; fridged 2 days. Cooked up well.

Great article but I'm disappointed Sam is incorporating regular yeast in a "sourdough" recipe for pizza dough. And adding flour in addition to the starter for his pancakes. No need! Next time you visit San Francisco, Sam, take my sourdough workshop and we'll set things right! :)

I don't think the water content is sufficient to make a pliable dough. When I tried it I had to add quite a bit more water.
Did anyone else have this experience?

This story about sourdough starters is really interesting. But, I'd like to know if I can use whole wheat flour for this recipe. Please tell me what you know about using whole wheat flour for sourdough starter recipes. Thank you.

I tried this recipe as a 100% sourdough crust and it produced my favourite pizza crust ever. I have a well-established sourdough culture which I use to bake bread 1-2 x a month. At the end of a 4-day 12-hour feeding schedule, I used some leftover starter for this recipe: 90g starter/500g flour/15g salt/approx.350g water (i aimed for maximum hydration). Left out 3h: it was nearly doubled. Shoved in the fridge for 12+hours, brought out 3h before cooking and divided. Superlative crust; very chewy.

00 designates a very finely milled flour typically from Italy. The most popular brand is Caputo 00 that typically comes in a blue or red bag & can easily be found on Amazon. They do offer a 3rd option called Caputo 00 Americana which is designed for regular ovens that operate in the 500-600º F range. The Americana does brown up better. The red & blue are typically used for Neopolitan pizza ovens which hit the 900º range.

Increase starter to 1 cup, omit the instant yeast, use room temp water, let the dough sit out in a deep bowl, covered with plastic film. The next day do a double fold to increase the structure of the dough. proceed with step 3 - no kneading.

You can indeed use whole wheat flour or a mix of WW+ white+ rye, or any other combination of flours that you like. Iit really depends on what you are baking.
Once you get a good starter going, you can use that as a base for other mixes.

I cut this in half for 1-10x17 sheet pan pizza. Used 2 cups"00" flour and 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour, adding enough water to make a slightly tacky dough. Let rise on counter, punched down, refrigerated until 1 1/2 hours before dinner; punched down again and let rise again on counter. Pardon me for being a Sourdough Barbarian, but the yeast made it easier to make a very tasty pizza in about 6 1/2 hours, start to finish. Baked at 450 for 18 mins, well-oiled pan on bottom of oven.

Why the added yeast or long rise time? My sourdough chef is alive. When we gently work the flour, water, olive oil, and salt into the chef and let it autolyse (sit for 20 to 40 minutes) before kneading it, the dough is a stellar consistency, wetter or drier depending on the air but easily adjustable with a splash or a dusting after autolysis. Then, no matter when the 500° oven is fired up, even just 2 hours after kneeding, the dough relaxes easily and the thin crust puffs airily in the oven.

It's too bad to see all the negativity about the addition of commercial yeast. As Chad Robertson of Tartine (and indeed, any professional baker) well know, the combined efforts of a sourdough culture and commercial yeast culture are beautiful in their own right---see the section on baguettes in "Tartine Bread". Try it both ways and decide for yourself.

I have a love hate relationship with this recipe. It’s annoying and complicated and the results are fabulous.

Not noteworthy enough to repeat. I didn't even notice that there wasn't a recommended baking temperature.

Adding yeast defeats the objective… it will out compete the sourdough species. Daft.

Yes, you can freeze this dough! I like smaller/personal pizzas so I divide this into 4 balls (approx 250 grams each) and wrap and freeze the ones I don’t use. Also I used to use cornmeal on my wooden pizza peel but found flour works much better. I give the peel a little shake after putting on toppings to make sure the pizza is sliding freely (adding a little flour under the edges if it’s not) before sliding onto the pizza stone in the oven (we use an outdoor ooni - best pandemic purchase!).

I’ve probably made a hundred pizza doughs and this was my all time favorite. Skipped the packaged yeast and let it rise at room temp for a couple hours, then in the fridge overnight, and then a couple more hours on the counter before making the pizza. Just a wonderful texture and flavor that crisped up nicely. Cooked for 7 min at 550 on a pizza stone.

I started baking with my own sourdough starter four months ago and I've been obsessive about it. I was hesitant to follow this recipe as is because of the commercial yeast in it, but let me tell you — it is delicious. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Using my ripe sourdough starter probably made it tastier. Just shape the pizza and add toppings on a pizza peel generously coated with corn meal. Your pizza will slide right onto your baking stone. I will be saving this recipe for sure!

You don't need to add yeast, but it's not sacrilege if you do. I've made this a # of times no yeast w/o changing starter amounts and it just takes longer, which is fine.For issues w/liquid content, the starter in this recipe is almost certainly 100% hydration (equal parts by wt flour/water), as that is most typical, and it's worked well for me. And 00 Flour is important for the recipe here -- if you go AP, I recommend more time (30'+) to hydrate the flour (autolyse), and then check hydration.

Excellent dough. I got a great result making a classic Margherita by putting the sauce on the stretched out dough and baking it at 450F for 6-7 minutes, then adding cheese and basil and baking for about another 4-5 minutes.

I haven't seen anyone note that 5 cups of flour is at minimum 650 grams, and likely more. I typically use grams - anyone have any ideas?

Why do I need yeast if I’m using sourdough starter.

I just use bread flour and everything else the same. I told more than knead and it works totally fine. I’ve even doubled the recipe for six pizzas and it worked great.

I tried Pedro's suggestion and a whole cup of starter and it overproofed. 360g of starter over 24h at RT will exhaust food. I tried it 4 times. Also it was overly sour. 1/4cup without yeast will work (mine worked with 12.5g of starter--yes 12.5g) over 16 bulk + 4 proof. But I'm considering adding the yeast back in this recipe: wild+lactobacillus gives you unique taste for sure but for the best RISE/TEXTURE most of the the best pizzas come from IDY/ADY. If you need help google pizza forums.

I do this math every time so putting it here 1 cup of starter = 240 gramsIf 1/4 cup and 2 tbsp is 90gramAnd 1 cup has 16 tbsp, then 1/4cup and 2 tbsp is 6 tbsp which equals 90gramsIf 6tbsp equals 90grams, 1 tbsp equals 15grams, so 16tbsp times 15grams is 240grams