Sourdough Pizza Crust
from https://sugarspunrun.com/

My Sourdough Pizza Crust recipe makes a thin, crispy, and oh-so-flavorful crust that will make any pizza taste like an artisan pizza.

While making pizza crust with sourdough starter might take a little extra care, it's worth your time. The sourdough brings a robust tanginess to the dough, which pairs well with a host of toppings.

She bakes the crust first before adding the toppings, then adds the toppings and bakes again.

FMM: I made a pizza with sourdough and a little yeast in the crust. The crust did not have the right texture, I thought. It was too tough. While the pizza tasted good and I ate all the crust, it did not get the puffy edge like you would get with just a yeast dough. I did bake the crust first before adding the toppings, which I thought worked well. The bottom crust did not get soggy from the toppings, although I did try to use less than I normally do. Marinara sauce with herbs added, a little hot Italian sausage, some roasted peppers I froze, and some black olives.

1/2 cup (115 g) active sourdough starter
1 cup (236 ml) warm water (90-100F/32-37C)
1 Tablespoon (14 g) olive oil
2 teaspoons (11 g) honey (may substitute sugar)
2 3/4 cups + 2 Tablespoons (370 g) bread flour
1 teaspoon (5 g) salt
Additional olive oil for brushing pizza
Pizza toppings: pizza sauce mozzarella cheese

Combine sourdough starter, water, olive oil and honey in a medium-sized mixing bowl and stir until well-combined.

Add flour and salt and stir until you have a shaggy dough that clings together. Cover with plastic wrap and allow it to sit for 30-60 minutes (autolyse).

Stretch & Fold

Use your hands to form the dough into a ball in the bowl.

Run your hands under cool water and grasp the top of the dough and stretch it over the bottom. Turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat this process. Do this twice more until you have made your way all the way around the dough.

Allow dough to rest, covered, in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Repeat step 2 every 30 minutes until dough has increased in size about 50%. I find this typically takes about 3-4 hours for me.

Divide dough into two pieces and place each in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and transfer to the refrigerator to rest overnight or up to 3 days.

Assembly & Baking

Remove dough from fridge and leave it covered to rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes and up to several hours.

Preheat your oven to 500F (250C). Give your oven at least 30 minutes to preheat to 500F.

Once oven is preheated, lightly oil a pizza pan with olive oil.

Turn out the pizza dough onto the prepared pan and use your hands to gently shape it into a 10-12” (28cm) circle (it will be fairly thin). Fold over or pinch the edges to form a crust.

Brush the pizza all over with olive oil and use a fork to pierce the bottom all over.

Transfer pizza to 500F (250C) oven and bake for 8-9 minutes.

Remove pizza from oven and brush all over again with a light layer of olive oil, then add your toppings.

Return to the oven and bake another 8-11 minutes, until crust is golden and cheese is melted and bubbly.

Makes 2 10” pizzas