Sourdough Discard Pizza Dough

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This sourdough discard pizza dough makes pizza with a super crispy and chewy crust that has super light and open crumbs. It is also one of the best and easiest ways to use up your sourdough discard. This recipe will make an overnight discard pizza dough with no yeast.

This is one of my favorite pizza crust recipe, which I make to use up the discard resting in my refrigerator.

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Why should you try this recipe?
🍶 Ingredients for the sourdough discard pizza dough
🔪 How to make sourdough discard Pizza ?
🫙How to store sourdough discard pizza dough?
💭Recipe Notes
❓Frequently Asked Questions
📝 Recipe card
sourdough discard pizza dough
📋 Nutrition Facts

Why should you try this recipe?

Why should you try this recipe?

A great way to use up the sourdough discard.
You will love this perfectly crispy crust recipe.
Easy homemade sourdough discard pizza that is simple to make yet delicious.
Approachable. The ingredients are simple, and you must already have them in your pantry.
Flavorful. Since this is an overnight sourdough discard pizza dough, the dough develops a ton of flavor.
No yeast. 100% sourdough pizza dough recipe.
Fluffy pizza base: This sourdough discard pizza dough will make a crust that has an open crumb that is perfectly chewy and airy.
Vegan pizza dough. This recipe does not use any butter; hence it is vegan sourdough discard pizza dough.

🍶 Ingredients for the sourdough discard pizza dough

Sourdough discard

Before we feed the sourdough starter, we throw away a part of it, to keep the total quantity of the starter manageable. The portion of sourdough starter that we throw away is called the sourdough discard.

If the refrigerated sourdough starter discard is still 5-6 days old, it can be successfully used to make all sorts of bread.

We need to bring it to room temperature. Take it out of the fridge at least an hour or half an hour before making the dough. Let it get bubbly on the countertop before using it.

Measuring the starter is the key here. Do not go blindly by the volume in the ingredient list. The density of the starter largely varies. So, make a point to weigh the starter.

Let me put the sourdough discard prerequisites for making this pizza dough recipe briefly:

Sourdough discard should not be older than 6 days.
It should have been refrigerated for the most part.
1 ½ to 2 hours before making the dough, take the dough out of the fridge and let it become bubbly again. Note that it will not rise like a sourdough starter, but it will show some vital activity when brought to room temperature.

Bread Flour or 00 Flour

The best flour for making pizza dough is the 00 Flour, which is finely ground Italian flour. It is made from durum wheat which has stronger gluten strands resulting in a crispier crust whereas the regular bread flour will yield a slightly chewier crust.

On the other side, regular bread flour will work equally well. I have used bread flour, as it is usually easily available. I wanted to make the recipe more approachable, as we always have bread flour.

Olive oil

Olive helps to tenderize the dough a bit and cut some of the chewiness. The best way is to rub the oil into the flour to kind of laminate the flour with it.

Salt

Use whichever kind of salt you have or use.

For making pizza from the sourdough discard pizza dough you are going to require the following things

Pizza sauce
Cheese
Toppings of your choice
Seasoning: Basil leaves, Oregano, Italian herb seasoning, etc.

🔪 How to make sourdough discard Pizza ?

Step 1 Bring the sourdough discard to room temperature

Take it out of the fridge at least 1 ½ to 2 hours before making the dough. Let it get bubbly on the countertop before using it.

The ideal ambient room temperature for sourdough discard fermentation should be around 65-75 ⁰F.

Step 2 Kneading sourdough discard pizza dough

images showing combining the dry and wet ingredients

At ambient room temperature, the sourdough discard undergoes fermentation and builds complex flavor.

To make the dough, first, measure the ingredients. In the bowl of a stand mixer combine salt and flour. Now add the olive oil and rub the oil into the flour, until the flour becomes crumbly and forms a soft ball when pressed in a fist.

Now add the sourdough discard to the water. Mix using a whisk and add it to the dry ingredients. Put the bowl on the stand mixer and attach the dough hook attachment. Start kneading in a stand mixer at speed 2 (KitchenAid). Knead for 7-8 minutes until the dough comes together. Now bump up the speed to 6 on KitchenAid. Keep kneading until the dough leaves the sides of the stand mixer bowl and becomes smooth.

The dough will not be sticky at all and separate itself from the sides of the bowl. Now remove the dough into a greased bowl. And cover with a cling wrap.

There you have a sourdough discard pizza dough! Now you can work with it just like any pizza dough.

Kneading with hands

In a large mixing bowl combine the dry and wet ingredients. Use the back of a wooden ladle to combine them to form a dough mass. Now use your hands to mix the dough mass such that no dry patch of flour is left. Just ensure to hydrate every bit of flour. It should not take more than 2 minutes.

Now scrape the sides of the bowl with wet hands and cover the bowl with a cling wrap or a kitchen towel. Let it rest for 45 minutes. This process is called fermentolyse. This resting will initiate gluten development in the dough and makes the kneading process easy.

After the rest, remove the dough onto the flour-dusted work surface and start kneading. Then fold the dough on itself and turn it 90 degrees and gain fold on itself. Lift and turn again and fold on itself. Keep kneading like this for 8-9 minutes.

You can dust more flour if required, but do not add too much flour. Just trust the process and keep kneading. The dough would cease to be sticky and will form a smooth dough at the end of the kneading process. Lift the dough and place it in a greased bowl.

Step 3 Bulk Fermenting the sourdough discard pizza dough

For making the sourdough discard pizza, let the dough bulk-proof at room temperature for 5-6 hours or until it starts to bulk up in volume. Then put the bowl in the fridge and let it cold ferment for 8-9 hours or overnight.

Then remove it into a flour-dusted workstation. Then divide the dough into 2 dough balls if making 2 small pizzas or one large round if making one large pizza. I am making a 12-inch large pizza, so I am keeping it as one dough round.

Now cover and let this dough ball rest for about half an hour on the workstation while keeping it covered.

Step 4 Shaping and proofing

Stretch out the dough from a pizza. You can also use a rolling pin to roll out the dough.

Transfer the rolled pizza onto a pizza pan, or cast iron skillet. Or simply place it on corn meal dusted parchment paper.

Now cover the rolled-out dough and let it proof for about 45 minutes to an hour. The dough will look fuller and have air pockets here and there. Press the center of the pizza using your finger to pop any air bubbles. You can also use a fork to run around the shaped pizza, leaving the edges.

Step 5 Topping and baking

images howing making and baking the sourdough pizza

Now spread your favorite pizza sauce, add fresh basil leaves, add cheese, and top with your favorite toppings. I am using my favorite vegetable toppings.

If you have outdoor pizza ovens like the wood-fired pizza oven, nothing could be better for baking this pizza dough made with sourdough discard. Something like an Ooni pizza oven would be great too.

Preheat your pizza oven or the conventional oven to 475 ⁰F and bake the sourdough Carefully remove it from the oven. Slice and serve warm.

In this recipe, the sourdough pizza crust is very close to that of Neapolitan pizza dough but topped with loads of veggies.

🫙How to store sourdough discard pizza dough?

You can use half of the sourdough discard the pizza dough and keep the remaining refrigerated for 3-4 days.

If you want to keep it for longer, consider freezing it. It will keep well for 2-3 months if stored rightly. After the dough has had the bulk fermentation and it is divided into dough balls for making individual pizzas. Let them further proof for an hour and then wrap them in a cling wrap and store them in a freezer-safe bag. Cover it in foil and mark the date and contents. The sourdough discard pizza dough should be good for about 3 months.

💭Recipe Notes

For pizza dough, recipes use bread flour or 00 Flour. Regular flour will not give the best results.
If the temperature is very high in your kitchen, let sourdough discard ferment for 4-5 hours at room temperature and then move it to the refrigerator. And let it cold ferment for 8-10 hours.
Kneading is the key to a perfect dough. If kneading with a hand, knead for a good 8-10 minutes. Make sure that the dough is smooth and elastic.
If kneading in a stand mixer, start at low speed, and work your way up until the dough separates itself from the sides of the mixer bowl.
Make sure that you follow the texture dough and not the time. The timeline will vary depending on the ambient temperature and the vigor of the sourdough starter discard.

light and chewy sourdough discard pizza crust

❓Frequently Asked Questions

What is sourdough discard good for?

Sourdough discard can be used just like the sourdough starter to make a lot of sourdough bread recipes. But to make the recipe work, all you need to do is to raise the percentage of discard as it is not as active as the ripe starter.
You can simply fry it on a skillet to make sourdough and discard flatbreads with the toppings of your choice. I like to make discard pizza dough and flatbreads like sourdough discard naan.

Can I refrigerate my sourdough discard?

Yes, that is what you should be doing. Always refrigerate your sourdough discard. Refrigerated discard is good to be used in discard recipes as long as it is 5-6 days old.

Can you make sourdough discard pizza on the same day?

If you want to make sourdough discard pizza fast, you just get rid of the cold fermentation. Let it bulk-proof at room temperature until it doubles up in volume, Then proceed with the recipe as such. But if you want a quick sourdough pizza dough, you will have to add some commercial yeast.

🍞 More sourdough recipes

A few Bread recipes with sourdough starter and other ways to use sourdough starter are linked below:

More Sourdough discard recipes

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Till then

Bake it Delicious!

📝 Recipe card

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sourdough discard pizza dough

Course Bread, Main Course

Cuisine American, Italian

Keyword sourdough discard pizza, sourdough discard pizza crust, sourdough discard pizza dough, sourdough discard pizza dough no yeast, sourdough pizza recipe

Prep Time 25

Cook Time 12

Resting Time 16

Total Time 16 37

Servings 8 slices

Calories 159kcal

Author Meenakshi

Ingredients

300 g bread flour or 00 pizza flour
180 g water
90 g sourdough discard room temperature (bubbly)
16 g olive oil 1 Tbsp
9 g salt

Instructions