Sourdough Pizza Recipe
I make this sourdough pizza with just 4 simple ingredients: an active starter, 00 flour, water, and salt. It bakes with a crisp bottom and airy crust, ready for your favorite sauce, cheese, and toppings. This is one of the best pizzas I've ever made, and I'm proud to share my step by step recipe and tips so you can easily make it at home.
Ingredients
For the Pizza:
- 375 grams cool water, about 65
- 140 grams active starter
- 604 grams Bread flour, or 00 flour
- 18 grams kosher salt
- Olive oil for coating
- Semola for stretching
Semola for stretching
- Semola for stretching
- Fresh or whole milk low moisture mozzarella
- Parmigiano Reggiano
- Fresh basil
- Olive oil
- Your choice of toppings
Instructions
- Add the water and active sourdough starter to the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk until the starter is dissolved.
- Next add the flour slowly to the mixing bowl fixed to the stand mixer with the hook attachment mix on low speed just until everything is combined.
- Let the dough rest for 30 minutes to autolyse.
- Sprinkle in the salt and mix on low to medium-low speed for 8 minutes, The dough will clean the sides and bottom of the bowl and be smooth and elastic.
- Transfer the dough to a medium sized container that’s been gently coated in olive oil. Cover and let it stand for 1 hour at room temperature.
- Next, perform a series of folds by grabbing part of the dough, pulling it up and folding it over the center. Turn it 45 degrees and repeat the process. You’ll get 5 to 6 pulls and then it won’t stretch anymore. From there just tuck it under gently to form a more taught ball.
- Cover and let the dough bulk ferment for 5 to 7 hours or until its doubled in size.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly flour dusted clean surface. Gently dust the top as well and divide it into 4 equal portions, about 281 grams each. Starting at the corner fold in and down. Do the same with the other corner. Then repeat it all the way through the middle and to the bottom. Then fold the bottom to the center and the top to center and roll it over. From there, pick up the dough and fold the edge of the dough inward from left to right and turning 45 degrees after doing so. Continue doing this several times until the dough has a smooth taught surface.
- Place the dough on the sheet tray lined with parchment paper and lightly coated in olive oil, and give it a light dust of flour on top. Repeat the process until all the dough balls are rolled out. Cover the tray completely in plastic wrap and cold ferment for 12 to 72 hours.
- Remove the dough balls from the refrigerator and temper them to room temperature. This will take about 3 hours. Keep them covered at all times.
- Place a pizza stone on an upper third rack of the oven and preheat to 500°F convection. Make sure the stone is in the oven for 60 minutes before placing a pizza on it. I also usually put a pan with about 2 inches of water in it on the bottom rack. This will help create a moist environment in the oven.
- Add a dough ball to a plate with semola and flip it over to dust the other side. Place the dough on a lightly dusted surface and press from the center to the outer rim using your fingertips to degas. Leave about 1 inch of the rim untouched.
- Gently stretch the dough by hand to 10 to 11 inches taking care not to deflate that outer rim.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly dusted pizza peel and add about ¼ cup or so of the sauce and spread it around leaving the outer rim untouched. Next add the cheeses, toppings, drizzle of olive oil, and transfer directly to the hot stone. Bake for approximately 5 to 7 minutes, or until the bottom is browned and the crust is risen. I usually give it a 180° turn half way through the cooking process.
- Garnish with optional more parmigiano and olive oil and serve.
Notes
Based on my experience, this sourdough pizza recipe depends on 2 key decisions. I want to make sure you're prepared for both before you start. First, use the starter right at its peak, when it is domed and full of bubbles and just about to fall. That is when it has the most lifting power and the cleanest flavor to give the dough. Second, once you have degassed and set the cornicione, never press it again. That untouched outer inch is where all the trapped gas goes when the pizza hits the heat. It is the difference between a puffed airy rim and a flat cracker edge. Get those 2 things right, and the rest is just handling.
Choose flour with a high W value: For a long sourdough ferment, you need strength. A high-protein bread flour like King Arthur, or a high-W 00 like Caputo Chef or Polselli Super, holds its structure through a 2 day fermentation. Weaker flour tears and will not stretch, trust me on this one.
Bake bread with clean water: Use purified or bottled water. Chlorine and other things in tap water can knock back the wild yeast, and there is no reason to fight your own starter.
Dust with semola, not just flour: Remilled semolina is coarser and slides the dough off the peel instead of letting it stick and tear, and it does not soak into the dough and throw off the hydration the way loose flour does.
Give the oven steam: A pan of water on the bottom rack keeps the environment moist while the stone runs hot, which helps the crust rise and brown instead of drying out.
Bake into the hot spot and turn it: Launch onto the hottest part of the stone and give the pizza a 180 degree turn halfway through. That is how you get even leopard spotting instead of a pale undercooked crust.
Make-Ahead: I plan this dough a day or two out, since the flavor comes from the overnight cold proof. Once the balls go in the refrigerator, they hold up to 72 hours. A cooked pizza, though, is best served within a few minutes off the stone.
How to Store: Keep cooked leftover pizza covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Uncooked dough stays in the fridge, wrapped, for up to 72 hours.
How to Reheat: Set an inverted sheet tray or a pizza stone in the oven at 400 F. Once it is preheated, I add the cooked pizza and heat it for 4 to 7 minutes until hot.
How to Freeze: Freeze uncooked dough balls for up to 2 months, wrapped tightly. Thaw one in the fridge for a day before tempering. A cooked pizza freezes well, too. Wrap it tightly and store it for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge before reheating.
Nutrition
Calories: 545kcalCarbohydrates: 110gProtein: 18gFat: 3gSaturated Fat: 0.4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.2gSodium: 1747mgPotassium: 151mgFiber: 4gSugar: 0.5gVitamin A: 3IUCalcium: 24mgIron: 1mg