Favorite Sourdough Pizza Crust Recipes

FAVORITE SOURDOUGH PIZZA CRUST

Steps:

• Add starter and water to the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir with a fork to loosen starter and disperse starter.
• Add flour and olive oil. Stir with a spatula to incorporate flour, then mix on low speed for about 20 seconds to further incorporate and no dry streaks remain. Add salt to top of dough and let the dough rest, covered, for 30 minutes.
• Attach dough hook to stand mixer and secure bowl. Mix on medium low, speed 3 of KitchenAid stand mixer for for 8 minutes. *This is a very wet dough, and that's okay.
• Remove bowl from mixer and cover with a towel. Let dough sit for an hour, then do 2 sets of stretch and folds around the bowl. Let dough rest for another hour, then do 2 sets of stretch of folds around the bowl. Cover, and let dough bulk ferment about 4 to 5 more hours, if your house is at 70 degrees F, until dough has doubled in size.
• Once doubled, place parchment paper on large baking sheet and spray with non-stick spray such as olive oil.
• Turn dough out onto floured surface and let rest for 15 minutes. The dough will be sticky and that is okay!
• Dust the top of the dough with flour and use floured hands to press dough out slightly.
• Using a bench scraper, cut the dough into 4 or 5 equal pieces. pieces weighing about 180 grams. Flour your hands generously, and stretch a corner of the dough out and bring it back to the middle, doing this with each corner of the dough so you're forming a ball. Use a bit of tension on the surface to make the ball a bit tighter, and close the bottom.
• Place dough on a greased baking sheet. And repeat with all dough balls.
• At this point you can let the dough rise on the counter for 45 minutes, for its second rise, until it has grown a bit and is puffier. Or you can put the pan with dough balls straight into the refrigerator, covered, and leave them in for 6 to 48 hours, and take out an hour before you want to make the pizza.
• 1 hour before you're ready to grill or bake the pizza, lay out all of your ingredients at a station so you can work quickly once the dough is pressed out.
• 30 minutes before you're going to grill the pizza, turn on the grill, with cast iron pizza pan on one side, over two flames turned to medium high. Leave the right side burner off. You'll want the interior temperature of the grill to be 650 degrees F. Or, preheat a pizza stone in your oven to 500 degrees F for an hour.
• Lay a piece of parchment paper on your pizza peel and liberally dust with cornmeal and flour.
• Dust top of dough ball with flour. With floured hands, pick up a dough ball and hold up with two hands on corners of the dough. The dough will start to droop downward with gravity, and you'll rotate the dough clockwise, like you're turning a steering wheel. And it will be a bit sticky. That's okay! Bring it down to the parchment paper, and lightly press out into a circle, stretching the corners. Do NOT use a rolling pin. This will make the dough too thin, resulting in a tougher crust. You're aiming for each pizza to be around 7-8 inches in diameter. Don't try to make the biggest pizza. Keeping it smaller will result in the fluffiest baked dough. Stretch and adjust the dough a little more, aiming to position one edge of the pizza all the way at the front edge of the peel.
• Spread with a light amount of sauce, and put the the rest of your toppings on, including cheese. Error on the side of less toppings that piling it super full, to be sure the crust can handle the weight.
• Shimmy the pizza onto the cast iron pan or pizza stone, without the parchment. Close the lid of grill, and let cook for 3 minutes on the pan/stone. Then open the lid, transfer the pizza to the right side, top rack, and close lid for another 4-5 minutes to finish cooking. OR If baking in oven, bake at 500 degrees for for 8-9 minutes, until bubbly and golden brown.

PIZZA DOUGH

Steps:

• Combine the bread flour, sugar, yeast and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and combine. While the mixer is running, add the water and 2 tablespoons of the oil and beat until the dough forms into a ball. If the dough is sticky, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together in a solid ball. If the dough is too dry, add additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead into a smooth, firm ball.
• Grease a large bowl with the remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil, add the dough, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in a warm area to let it double in size, about 1 hour. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Cover each with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let them rest for 10 minutes.

SOURDOUGH PIZZA CRUST

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Thoroughly combine the flour, water, starter, salt, and the oil in a medium bowl (preferably a glass bowl that will allow peeking to check on the fermentation activity). The dough will look rough and shaggy and feel soft and sticky.
• Cover the bowl with a damp towel or plastic bag and rest for 20 minutes at room temperature.
• Moisten your hand with a little water, scoop your hand underneath the dough, and gently grasp one side of the lump. Lightly stretch the dough in your hand away from the main mass, then fold it over. Repeat this motion on different sides of the dough three or four more times. Don't overwork it, as the goal is to keep as much air in it as possible.
• Flip the whole mass of dough such that the seams of your folds face down against the bottom of the bowl. You should notice that the shaggy dough becomes considerably smoother. If the dough still looks as shaggy as before, fold the dough again.
• Rest the dough for another 20 minutes, then stretch and fold again as you did the first time.
• Cover once more and ferment at room temperature for at least 4 hours. Your dough will probably not rise significantly, but you should see bubbles forming on the surface and underneath. If you do not see bubbles, give the dough more time to ferment until you do.
• After 4 hours of fermentation, lightly flour a work surface. Invert the bowl above the floured area and wait for the dough to release itself from the bowl. Divide the dough in half.
• Using the same stretch and fold technique (minus the wet hands), shape the pieces into rounds.
• Lightly coat the inside of 2 round 1-pint storage containers (preferably with lids) with the olive oil. Place a dough ball seam-side down into each one. Cover with lids or plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours before using. Dough that is kept in the refrigerator for longer will continue to develop flavor and has a shelf life of a week.
• To make the pizza, remove the dough from the refrigerator and place it on a well-floured surface. Coat the dough lightly all over with flour as well. With your hands, gently flatten and stretch the dough into a thin circle about 10 to 12 inches in diameter. Don't overpress it, as keeping as much air in is what will give the dough a delicious and chewy texture.
• Add sauce and toppings as desired and bake according to your preferred method , or simply bake in a 450 F to 500 F oven for 6 to 8 minutes, or until crispy. Serve immediately.

SOURDOUGH PIZZA CRUST DOUGH

Steps:

• Mix starter, flour, olive oil, and salt together in a bowl until mixture forms a ball. Let dough rest for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C).
• Roll out dough on parchment paper or a lightly floured work surface, rotating frequently, until it is the same size as the baking pan. Transfer to the pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven until pale golden, about 7 minutes.

THE BEST PIZZA DOUGH

Steps:

• In a small bowl, mix warm water and 1 teaspoon sugar; add yeast and whisk until dissolved. Let stand until bubbles form on surface. In a large bowl, whisk 3 cups flour, salt, remaining 1 teaspoon sugar and, if desired, dried herbs. Make a well in center; add yeast mixture and oil. Stir until smooth. Add enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. , Turn onto a floured surface; knead, adding more flour to surface as needed until no longer sticky and dough is smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Place in a large greased bowl; turn once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes; transfer bowl to refrigerator and chill overnight. Allow dough to come to room temperature, about 30 minutes, before rolling.

SOURDOUGH PIZZA

Steps:

• Make a batch of our white sourdough, following the recipe to the end of step 10. When the dough is ready, tip it onto a lightly floured surface and divide into six equal pieces. Roll into balls and leave to rest on a floured tray, covered with a damp teatowel, in the fridge for at least 4 hrs, and up to 18 hrs - the longer you leave the dough, the more sour it will taste.
• Meanwhile, make the tomato sauce. Drain some of the juice from the plummed tomatoes and tip the rest into a bowl with the olive oil, oregano and a generous pinch of salt. Combine by either scrunching everything together with your fingers (this will make a chunky sauce) or blitz with a stick blender (this will make a smooth sauce). Chill until needed.
• To make the pizzas, heat a grill to high and prepare an ovenproof frying pan. On a floured surface, push and stretch a ball of dough into a circle roughly the same size as the pan. Get the pan very hot, then working quickly and carefully, drape it into the pan, spread over some of the sauce, a handful of mozzarella and some basil, if using.
• Cook for 2 mins, until little bubbles appear, then put the pan under the grill for another 2-4 mins until the sides are puffed up and the cheese has melted. Remove, drizzle with a little olive oil and cut into wedges. Repeat with the remaining dough.

CHEWY SOURDOUGH PIZZA CRUST

Steps:

• Put all ingredients except cornmeal in bread machine pan in the order recommended by manufacturer.
• Select dough cycle and start.
• Divide the dough into 4 equal portions and form into balls.
• With a rolling pin, flatten the balls into 12- to 13-inch rounds about 1/8 inch thick.
• Fold each round in half and transfer to a bakers peel or thin baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal.
• Proof, covered, for about 45 minutes at 85 degrees F.
• Place a baking stone in a cold oven and preheat for at least 15 minutes at 450 to 500 degrees F.
• Add your toppings to the rounds of dough and transfer the pizzas to the hot baking stone (See Note).
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until crust is brown.
• Remove from oven with bakers peel.
• NOTE: It takes practice to transfer the pizza to the stone.
• As an alternative, bake the pizza on a traditional pizza pan sprinkled with cornmeal.

SOURDOUGH PIZZA CRUST

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C).
• Combine sourdough starter, flour, and salt in a bowl. Knead into a soft dough. Let rest for 30 minutes.
• Form the dough into a circle of your desired thickness and size. Place on a circular oven-safe pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven until dough looks dry, about 5 minutes. Brush all over with olive oil.