Julie Clark
Updated:
Sourdough Discard Pizza Dough
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The ultimate in pizza dough! Sourdough Discard Pizza Dough has amazing flavor without a long waiting time. It’s one of our most popular recipes. Bake at a high temperature for a perfectly golden brown crust on your homemade pizza.
This sourdough discard pizza dough gives you big sourdough flavor without an active sourdough starter. Mix, let the dough rise, bake, and enjoy a golden, bubbly crust all in the same day. Next to Saturday morning sourdough waffles and sourdough focaccia, this is a perfect way to put extra discard to good use.
You can have sourdough pizza dough quicker than you think.
After falling in love with our sourdough pancakes, one recipe that sourdough lovers want next is a sourdough discard pizza dough. Some have used our sourdough discard bread recipe, but I wanted to take our best pizza crust that we know and love and give it a sourdough flair.
I spent all winter perfecting it and have made everything from pulled pork pizza to chili dog pizza with this recipe the past few Friday nights.
Once you start making an active starter, you either have to bake with it every few days or discard part of the starter to keep it manageable. Discard recipes, like this sourdough discard pizza crust, use other leavening agents (baking powder, baking soda or yeast) to get an oven rise and are a great way to prevent waste. Try our cinnamon rolls with discard. They’re amazing!
Top this sourdough pizza crust with favorite pizza toppings like pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese and pepperoni. Then try unique toppings like goat cheese, pesto, cherry tomatoes, zucchini or fresh mozzarella.
See on Substack how Maddie often makes this into a thick-crust pizza, and try our hot honey pizza pasta!
Enjoy! -Julie
Tips for Making Sourdough Discard Pizza Dough
- You’ll need one of these three things to make this pizza dough: a stand mixer, a bread maker (that has a dough setting), or hand kneading. I use my bread machine on the dough setting most often to make dough. The second easiest is the stand mixer. But if you don’t have either, use your hands to knead the dough the old fashioned way. This dough is easy to knead.
- Use a kitchen scale to weigh the ingredients. If you choose not to, add the flour slowly so that the dough doesn’t end up too dry. You want the dough to be slightly tacky to the touch.
- My sourdough starter is 100% hydration. That means I feed it with equal weights of water and flour. If your starter is a different hydration, adjust the water and flour in this recipe as needed.
- Set your oven to 550ºF. This pizza bakes at a high temperature for a crispy crust. It takes about 30 minutes to heat to this temperature. (Check the temperature rating of your parchment paper and adjust baking temperatures and times based on that, or don’t put the parchment in the oven.)
- Don’t roll the dough with a rolling pin! This will pop all of the little air bubbles in the dough giving you a chewier, denser crust. If you want light and crispy, just press the dough with your hands. I learned this tip in a Chicago pizza making class.
- Don’t allow the toppings to sit on the pizza too long before baking. The sauce may make the dough soggy. Bake as soon as you get the pizza assembled.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make this pizza dough in advance?
This recipe was developed as a quick sourdough recipe, but many have asked if they can make the dough in advance and put it in the refrigerator overnight.
Yes, you can do this! When the dough is ready to rise, place the dough ball in a bowl and cover. Then place in the fridge overnight. This will slow down the rise.
On pizza night, pull out the dough and let it rest at room temperature for about 20 minutes to warm up slightly. Then stretch the dough, top and bake.
Can I freeze pizza dough?
Yes! After the first rise, punch down the dough and put it in a freezer bag. Place in the freezer for up to 6 weeks.
The night before you plan to use it, put it in the fridge overnight to thaw. Then 30 minutes before you want to bake, remove it from the fridge to let it sit at room temperature.
Then stretch, top and bake.
Sourdough Discard Pizza Dough
The ultimate in pizza dough! Sourdough Discard Pizza Dough has amazing flavor without a long waiting time. Read our tips for a perfectly golden brown crust.
Servings 8
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Rise Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup warm water (115º Fahrenheit)
- 0.25 ounces Red Star Platinum Instant Yeast (1 package)
- 1 cup sourdough discard
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons cornmeal
- 2 3/4 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour
- more cornmeal for dusting the pan
Instructions
- Put warm water the bowl of a stand mixer (or large mixing bowl). Sprinkle the yeast over the top. ¾ cup warm water (115º Fahrenheit), 0.25 ounces Red Star Platinum Instant Yeast
- Add in the sourdough discard, sugar, salt, olive oil, cornmeal and flour. 1 cup sourdough discard, 2 teaspoons granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons cornmeal, 2 ¾ cups bread flour
- In your stand mixer, mix them with the paddle attachment just until combined. Then put on the dough hook and knead for about 10 minutes.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let rest and rise in a warm place for 30 minutes or until almost doubled.
- Preheat the oven to 550º Fahrenheit. (This takes about 30 minutes for our oven to heat to this high temperature, so plan accordingly.) If you have two baking stones, place one on each of two racks in the oven. The pizza will sit on the bottom one and there will be a stone on top also to cook the top of the pizza.
- Place a large piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet (preferably one without sides). Sprinkle additional cornmeal on the parchment paper. more cornmeal for dusting the pan
- Stretch the pizza dough out and press it lightly with your fingertips until it is the size and thickness you'd like it. Don’t roll the dough with a rolling pin! This will pop all of the little air bubbles in the dough giving you a chewier, denser crust. If you want light and crispy, just press the dough with the pads on your fingertips.
- Top with desired pizza toppings. Slide the parchment paper with pizza off the pan and directly onto the lower pizza stone. Bake for about 14 minutes until golden brown and bubbly. This time will vary based on how thick the crust is and how large the pizza is so watch it closely.
- Remove the pizza from the oven, slice and serve. Be careful….it will be VERY hot!
Notes
- Check the temperature rating of your parchment paper and adjust baking temperatures and times based on that, or don’t put the parchment in the oven.
- This recipe is for one extra large pizza. You can split the dough into two and make two medium pizzas as well. If you do they won’t take as long to cook.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge. Then reheat slices in the air fryer to crisp the crust.
Nutrition
Calories: 228kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 292mg | Potassium: 51mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1IU | Calcium: 7mg | Iron: 1mg
Sourdough Discard Recipes
See some of our favorite ways to use sourdough discard here:
can I make the dough and add toppings then freeze? So essentially freeze a prepped pizza? Rather than freeze the dough only
Delicious!! I found the dough easy to handle, and would absolutely make 2 pizzas with it. I par baked the crust at 500, turned the heat up to 550, topped it & put it back in for about 10 minutes. YUM
Parchment paper is only rated for 420 degrees max (at least my brand is) so I tried this at 475 degrees. It sounded like you said to put the parchment paper into the oven?
If I am using the bread maker do I mix everything in a bowl first or just put everything into the bread maker?
Super helpful to say “weigh the ingredients ” but not list weights. 🙄
This is the best pizza dough I’ve made. It will be my go to recipe. Great chew and airy.
Could I leave the dough in the fridge for two nights? I originally was planing on one night but wondering if two would be ok.
Turned out amazing! For anyone else in a cold climate, it took my dough closer to an hour to rise at 67F inside and 15F and dry air outside, but it’s worth the extra patience. 🙂