Learn how to make this easy sourdough discard pizza crust. It only has four basic ingredients, no kneading or rising required. You really can’t get much simpler than this.
When I found out about this method for making sourdough pizza crust somewhere in internet land several years ago, you might say I felt a bit perturbed.
You see, up until this point, my experience with homemade crust involved proofing, rising, kneading…Repeat. Repeat. Bake.
I needed to plan the whole thing five days in advance (slight exaggeration) and you know how I feel about planning.
(Side note: I learned my non-planner ways result from me being a ‘P’ in a personality test. My ‘millennial’ sister introduced me to Meyer’s Briggs over the weekend.) Ok, back to the crust.
The tutorial I found years ago went something like this: Put sourdough starter on a pizza stone and bake. Wha??? How could it really be that simple? I mean, come on. One ingredient.
I made a few modifications to add more flavor, but the premise remains. It really is that simple.
Pizza is a family favorite and some of our favorite kinds include: Chicken Alfredo, Sourdough Pizza with Pesto and Cream Sauce, or Sourdough Mini Pizzas on English Muffins.
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Tips for making sourdough pizza crust:
- This recipe is super simple because it utilizes sourdough starter (active or discard); the downside is you can’t use a regular pan. You must use a cast iron or pizza stone.
- The secret to cooking this recipe is preheating the stone or cast iron skillet.
- Easy sourdough pizza crust makes a super fast meal as long as you have some sauce and cheese on hand. It really takes like no time.
- Chop up your veggie toppings while the stone or cast iron is preheating. Then sauté your veggies and/or meat while the crust is cooking, because the crust will be basically done cooking after the first bake.
- There is one downside to this impossibly easy homemade sourdough pizza crust recipe. You can’t pour regular pasta/pizza sauce on it without it getting soft, even when it is nicely browned before you add the sauce. See my tips below to get around this.
Ingredients
Fed Sourdough Starter or discard: Either will work! Most of the time I just pull my sourdough starter right out of the fridge and use it. If you are new to sourdough and want to learn how to make your own sourdough starter, check out my post that shows you exactly how to do it.
Italian Seasoning: This is optional, but it adds the delicious Italian flavor that we all love and come to expect on pizza.
Salt: Sea salt or pink Himalayan salt
Olive Oil: A good quality extra virgin olive oil is always my first choice.
Supplies you may need:
Pizza Stone or Cast Iron Skillet
How to Make The Easiest Sourdough Pizza Crust Ever:
Preheat a pizza stone, or cast iron skillet, on 425 degrees F.
When the oven is preheated, and the pans are scorching hot, take them out of the oven.
Drizzle your baking vessel (stone or skillet) of choice with a little extra virgin olive oil.
Ladle the sourdough discard onto the hot pan. Now, this is the part that will really bother my recipe-lovin, rule-abidin blog readers. I am not going to give you an amount. I can’t. You just spread it out until you have a nice thin layer in the size you want.
When I am making this in a cast iron skillet, I also like to run it up the side, so the crust has edges.
Hit it with another drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Sprinkle it with salt and Italian seasoning. The more the better, in my opinion. 😉
It will already start to bake when it makes contact with the pan. This is totally good and expected.
Pop it back in the oven, until it is crispy and easily pulls up from the pan. About 10 minutes.
A note on avoiding soft crust
There is one downside to this impossibly easy homemade sourdough pizza crust recipe.
You can’t pour regular pasta/pizza sauce on it without it getting soft, even when it is nicely browned before you add the sauce. (That’s not to say we don’t just do it anyway most of the time!)
You may think, “Ah, I’ll bypass this problem eazy peazy. I will just bake the crust longer until it’s extra crispy. That’ll do the trick.” Or “I’ll just use less sauce.” Your mind may even wander into the idea of putting the sauce on top of the veggies, so its not sitting right on top of the crust. I would say you’re pretty smart to try all those things, but let me go ahead and make it easier on ya. It doesn’t work.
But, no worries. There is a wonderful -make that TWO-wonderful solutions, for amazing homemade pizza. And, they’re better than a jar of store-bought sauce anyway!
Sourdough Pizza Making Options:
- Option One: Thinly slice fresh tomatoes. Spread them out in a thin layer on your baked sourdough pizza crust, and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Put it in the oven and roast for about 10 minutes. Add the other toppings and cheese. We especially enjoy this option in the summer, when the garden is bursting at the seams with fresh tomatoes. Something about roasted tomatoes!
- Option Two: Make a homemade cream sauce with cheese, cream, garlic, and salt. Spread it on the crust and top with chicken, mushrooms, and cheese. Chicken Alfredo pizza. This is just about our favorite meal of all time. We seriously feel like we are eating in a fancy gourmet restaurant. It really is that good. And don’t get me started on when it is morel and chanterelle season.
- Option Three: just add the tomato sauce and eat it a little soft. We do this often and it still tastes great.
FAQ
Can I just use a regular pizza pan?
You can’t use a normal pizza pan, because the liquid starter would totally stick to it. You would have quite the mess on your hands.
Cast iron and pizza stones are wonderfully nonstick, when preheated. Plus, this ability to preheat a pan that is so heavy is what makes for a crispy crust. It’s that baking-upon-contact thing, or something like that. I’m not a scientist, but I can tell you it makes a crispy crust like no ordinary aluminum pizza pan ever could.
Why Sourdough, Anyway?
If you are new to my blog, and haven’t yet been introduced to the wonder of sourdough, hit up this post for more info.
If you’re looking for another sourdough recipe, check out Sourdough English Muffins. They are a favorite in our home. I have also tried my hand at making Sourdough Donuts.
Once you start using a starter, you’ll never go back.
What does sourdough pizza taste like?
It tastes a lot like regular pizza crust, but the crust itself has a delicious, slightly tangy flavor that you would expect from sourdough.
Can you freeze sourdough pizza crust?
Yes! Sourdough pizza crust can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months. Bake it first and then let it cool. Store it in an air tight container, and then allow it to thaw in the fridge just a few hours before needing it.
What happens if you bake sourdough discard?
For this recipe it turns into pizza crust. You can also bake discard and turn it into sourdough crackers.
Can you eat sourdough starter discard?
Yes, as long as it is cooked. Using discard is an easy way to use up excess discard and a way to eat fermented grains.
How long is sourdough discard good for?
Sourdough discard can stay fresh in the fridge up to a week before it will need to be fed again. Personally, I don’t discard any sourdough and use them for recipes like this one.
Can you freeze sourdough discard pizza dough?
Yes! For this crust, cook it first and then place it in an air-tight container for up to 3 months. When you want to make pizza, just preheat your oven to 450, take our the sourdough pizza crust, top it with your favorite toppings and then bake until everything is bubbly and melted.
Check out my other sourdough recipes and posts
- Sourdough English Muffins
- How to Make a Sourdough Starter from Scratch
- Our Favorite Sourdough Pancake Recipe
- Healthy One Pot Meal- Sourdough Skillet
- Sourdough Tortillas
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love if you gave it 5 stars! Thank you! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
Sourdough Discard Pizza Crust
Video
Ingredients
- Sourdough discard
- Italian Seasoning
- Salt
- Olive Oil
- Pizza Stone or Cast Iron Skillet
Instructions
- Preheat a pizza stone, or cast iron skillet, on 425 degrees.
- When the oven is preheated, and the pans are scorching hot, take them out of the oven.
- Drizzle your baking vessel (stone or skillet) of choice with a little extra virgin olive oil.
- Ladle sourdough starter onto the hot pan. Now, this is the part that will really bother my recipe-lovin, rule-abidin blog readers. I am not going to give you an amount. I can't. You just spread it out until you have a nice thin layer in the size you want. If you want to see how this looks, watch the video in the blog post.
- Hit it with another drizzle of olive oil.
- Sprinkle it with salt and Italian seasoning.
- It will already start to bake when it makes contact with the pan. This is totally good and expected.
- Pop it back in the oven, until crispy, and easily pulls up from the pan. About 10 minutes.
Notes
- This recipe is super simple because it utilizes sourdough starter (active or discard); the downside is you can’t use a regular pan. You must use a cast iron or pizza stone.
- The secret to cooking this recipe is preheating the stone or cast iron skillet.
- Easy sourdough pizza crust makes a super fast meal as long as you have some sauce and cheese on hand. It really takes like no time.
- Chop up your veggie toppings while the stone or cast iron is preheating. Then sauté your veggies and/or meat while the crust is cooking, because the crust will be basically done cooking after the first bake.
- There is one downside to this impossibly easy homemade sourdough pizza crust recipe. You can’t pour regular pasta/pizza sauce on it without it getting soft, even when it is nicely browned before you add the sauce. See my tips below to get around this.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This was beyond easy and the best homemade pizza I have ever had! I was feeling guilty having so much discard, which means I was hoarding starter. What better use of your discard?
Check out my blog for tons of discard recipes!
I made this recipe with my GF sourdough discard last night – what a great use for discard! I don’t have a pizza stone and anyway I wanted to try using my steel deep-dish pizza pan. It did take quite a bit longer to bake the crust but I had no problems with it sticking because I put it in parchment paper. I also lightly powdered the paper with white rice flour. I didn’t manage to get my discard to go up at the edges since I didn’t use a preheated cast-iron pan, but otherwise it was fine. I used a base layer of roasted Roma tomatoes instead of putting the pizza sauce directly on the crust. I sautéed mushrooms, onions and zucchini, mixed a small amount of pizza sauce in with the vegetables before I layered them on the baked crust and sliced tomatoes. I also put some sliced black olives on it along with some sliced chicken-apple sausages and Italian-flavored, dairy-free mozzarella over it all. Next time I will use regular mozzarella on part of it for my husband. 😄 But otherwise, it turned out surprisingly well for a first try. In the future, I will bake the crust until it is firm and then take it out of the pan (by pulling it up by the edges of the parchment paper) and put it on a pizza screen and then continue baking it to get a crispier crust.
I make this for lunch and was amazed how good it was the I started thinking. I now make this with just little EVO and different seasoning. Let it cool and use it for dipping bread for things like crab or spinach dip, salsa, chili. Quick snack for kids and company.
My go to for a quick yummy pizza. I have found if I bake the crust earlier in the day, and then bake the pizza later, I don’t get the soggy crust! Love the thin crust but kind of deep dish, style when I use my cast iron skillet!
Finally got around to trying this recipe and it was simple & a hit! First time I didn’t have pizza sauce so I was going to make do with olive oil for the “sauce” but I forgot it before adding the cheese. Still was delicious without a sauce! I made it today for lunch in a mini cast iron for a little personal pizza for my 5 year old and she requested seconds. Definitely will keep this in the rotation.
Hey Lisa,
First off, I love all your recipes!
Second, I have discovered two ways to sauce this pizza that don’t make it mushy. One is to add the sauce (I do a pretty thin layer of just some crushed tomatoes but I’m sure pizza sauce would work) on top of the discard and crisp up the crust with the sauce. It isn’t perfect but the crust holds its structure a little better this way.
The other way, and my personal favorite way to make this pizza, is to use dehydrated tomatoes. During the summer when cherry tomatoes are abundant, I slice them in half and dehydrate them. Once dehydrated, I store them in a mason jar as is. To use them as a “sauce” for this pizza I blend a handful or two into powder and sprinkle before adding the cheese and toppings. This powder is also an awesome way to add a huge flavor punch to soups, a little goes a long way!
I hope this helps!
Chelsa
I made cheese and sausage pizza. I read about the soggy crust issue and so I made my sauce thicker. Yes it was still soggy. But YUM!!! Very nice flavor. Very nice outer crust. And easy. This will be my go to crust from now on.
Hi, sounds like a great way to ‘sauce’ this sourdough discard pizza Thank you for the tips. When you say you sometimes ‘crisp’ the discard with a thin layer of sauce on it, do you mean that during your original bake of the discard the sauce is already on it? Or do you do a later bake to crisp the baked crust with the thin layer of sauce, before you add your other toppings and do your final bake?
Great fast and easy pizza! And delicious!
I flipped it over after baking the crust, and then added a little sauce and toppings. It was definitely less soggy.
I used my stainless steel pans (they are rated oven-safe to 800F) and it worked great! I accidentally forgot to put some oil in my first pan before dumping starter on and hoped for the best. It was easier to spread and released from the pan easier so I think I’ll skip the oil before starter every time. Thank you for sharing your wisdom!!!
So good and sooo easy! I sprinkled grated (real) Parmesan over the crust before adding the tomato sauce and it didn’t get soggy:)