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. Read our tips for a perfectly golden brown crust.

One recipe that sourdough lovers have been asking for is a sourdough discard pizza dough. Some have used our sourdough discard bread recipe, but I wanted to take the pizza crust that we know and love and give it a sourdough flair.

I spent all winter perfecting it and have made delicious pizzas with this recipe for about the past 6 Friday nights. I’m so excited to share it with you today!

golden brown bubbly pizza

Why you’ll love this recipe:

  • Perfect for when you have sourdough discard to use up.
  • When you want sourdough flavor but don’t have time for a long fermentation.
  • Same day mixing and baking. No overnight rest.
  • Tips for the best perfectly golden brown crust (with bubbles!).

What is sourdough discard?

Sourdough bread has been a comforting classic for years, but this year it has become even more popular than ever. If yeast is scarce you can learn how to make bread with sourdough which has a naturally occuring yeast.

You can read our complete sourdough guide, but once you start making sourdough, you either have to bake with it or discard part of the start or it will keep growing. In order to not be wasteful, you can make recipes with the sourdough discard. These discard recipes use other leavening agents (baking powder, baking soda or yeast) to get a rise in the baked good. See below the recipe for some of our favorites.

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 raw arm muscle power. I use my bread machine on the dough setting most often to make dough. It’s easy to set it and have it be ready for me to use in about 2 hours. 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. It works!
  • I highly recommend using 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.
  • This pizza bakes at a high temperature. Set your oven to as high as it will go. I set mine to 550º Fahrenheit. It takes about 30 minutes to heat to this temperature.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Looking for more pizza tips and our favorite toppings? Read our complete guide to making homemade pizza.
two slices of pizza with sourdough discard crust
two slices of pizza with sourdough discard crust

Sourdough Discard Pizza Dough

4.82 from 257 votes
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

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Ingredients
 

  • 3/4 cup warm water (115º Fahrenheit) 172 grams
  • 0.25 ounces Red Star Platinum Instant Yeast (1 package)
  • 1 cup sourdough discard 240 grams
  • 2 teaspoons granulated sugar 12 grams
  • 1 teaspoon salt 6 grams
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil 30 grams
  • 2 tablespoons cornmeal 24 grams
  • 2 3/4 cups bread flour 358 grams

Instructions
 

  • Put warm water the bowl of a stand mixer. Sprinkle the yeast over the top.
  • Add in the sourdough discard, sugar, salt, olive oil, cornmeal and 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 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 cornmeal on the parchment paper.
  • Note: 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.
  • 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

The calories shown are based on the the dough being divided into 8 pieces, with 1 serving being ⅛ of the dough (no toppings). Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information. The information in the nutrition box are calculated through a program and there is room for error. If you need an accurate count, I recommend running the ingredients through your favorite nutrition calculator.**

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
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Calories 228
Keyword bread dough, easy pizza recipe, sourdough

Sourdough Discard Recipes

These discard recipes use other leavening agents (baking powder, baking soda or yeast) to get a rise in the baked good. See some of our favorite recipes using sourdough discard here:

About JulieJulie Clark

About Julie Clark

I'm Julie Clark, CEO and recipe developer of Tastes of Lizzy T. With my B.A. in Education and over 30 years of cooking and baking, I want to teach YOU the best of our family recipes.

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4.82 from 257 votes (215 ratings without comment)
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Dany
4 months ago

5 stars
I have found my new go-to pizza dough recipe! The crust comes out perfectly cooked and tastes great.

Cathy C.
4 months ago

Wanted to rate this recipe as it’s truly a keeper! Excellent texture for the crust. Probably a bit lighter in texture than regular pizza from a pizza parlour. Really good. I didn’t want to make 2 pizzas, so I used my cookie sheet which now that I measure it, is 10″x15″ and I made a rectangular pizza on that. We cooked in on our BBQ which we left on high for 15 minutes to heat the pizza stone. The temp gauge read around 350*, but even so, pizza was done in 11 minutes. However, next time I make this recipe,… Read more »

Cathy C.
4 months ago

Trying this tonight. I have lots of sourdough discard in my fridge. Looks good with lots of positive comments! Question: After mixing the dough and covering with plastic wrap for 30 mins to rest, if I shape the pizza and allow to sit on the counter (covered) for an additional 30-60 minutes, will it again rise more?

Eduart
4 months ago

Can the dough be frozen ?

Gwen
5 months ago

Can I make the dough in advance and refrigerate it for a day or two?

Michelle Claflin
5 months ago

Hoping to try this in my pizza oven. Wondering how it would handle temps reaching 700° plus?

Pam
6 months ago

Hi have you ever used 00 flour instead of the bread flour?

Michelle
6 months ago

How do I make this without having a discard?

Melissa
6 months ago

5 stars
So incredibly delicious. I make the dough in the bread maker and bake it on a huge pizza pan at 500 for abt 15 minutes. I am sure it’s even better with pizza stone. I am going to try freezing the dough so we can have it on weekdays.

Pam
6 months ago

5 stars
Came out great! Makes a LOT of dough, I’ll have to note the weight for next time – I think a little under 2lbs. Froze some of it. But I’d definitely make again, it was easy and used up a good amount of discard, which I’m always looking for as I find throwing it away so wasteful. Tasted really good and cooked nicely and evenly – my store-bought one always gives me issues with staying flat while cooking as I prebake before adding toppings.

Kassidy
6 months ago

Do you add the cornmeal into the dough and sprinkle on the parchment paper? I just wasn’t sure if the 2T is a divided measurement?

Chanone
7 months ago

Thank you for this recipe! Can I follow all of the directions exactly as written if I use a bread machine instead of a stand mixer?

Jordan
7 months ago

Can I use APF instead of bread flour? And would it be the same amount?

Amanda
7 months ago

5 stars
This is seriously the BEST recipe!!! Makes the yummiest pizza we have ever ate! My kids no longer want to order pizza out because “we can make it better.” We try to make it every Friday after school.

I wouldn’t change anything but I am curious if I can do this with only sourdough and not yeast? Like, if I use active starter can I bypass the yeast? Just curious, as I started the sourdough process to avoid using commercial yeast. Although, I am not opposed to continue buying it just for this recipe.

Cate
8 months ago

5 stars
This was amazing, best discard crust recipe I’ve made yet!! I just used some honey instead of sugar