Sourdough Pizza Dough: Crispy, Chewy, and Worth the Wait
Pizza is the best first project after bread: more forgiving, faster to bake, and everyone at the table cares about the result. This is the overnight dough we make at our pizza workshops. Makes two 12-inch pizzas.
Ingredients
- 400 g bread flour (or all-purpose)
- 280 g water, room temperature (70%)
- 80 g active sourdough starter, recently fed and bubbly
- 10 g salt
- 10 g olive oil
The night before
- Mix everything into a shaggy dough. Rest 30 minutes, covered.
- Fold: with a wet hand, stretch and fold the dough over itself 6–8 times. Repeat once more after 30 minutes.
- Rise at room temperature 3–4 hours, until noticeably puffy.
- Divide into two balls, place each in an oiled container, and refrigerate overnight (up to 3 days — the flavor only improves).
Pizza time
- Take the dough out 1–2 hours before baking so it loses the fridge chill.
- Heat the oven as hot as it goes — 250–290°C (480–550°F) — with a pizza stone or an upside-down baking sheet inside.
- Stretch each ball on floured parchment — press from the center outward, leaving the edge alone. Don’t roll it; those bubbles are the whole point.
- Top lightly — sourdough crust shines with less.
- Bake 7–10 minutes until the edge is blistered and golden.
Notes from the workshop
- A cold, slow-risen dough is much easier to stretch than a fresh one — don’t skip the fridge.
- If the dough springs back while stretching, give it 10 minutes of rest and return.
- Leftover dough makes excellent garlic flatbread.
Want to make it together, live? Join a workshop with Chef Efrat →