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.
Hey Lisa, these continue to be my favourite pizza crusts. So easy and so flavourful. Thanks for sharing!
So glad to hear this! Thanks for sharing!
I made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious and super easy! I got around the soft crust issue by adding the cheese first to the crust after baking it, then the other toppings, then baked again. After it came out of the oven I put the sauce on top, sort of Chicago-style. So delicious!
So glad you enjoyed it! And thank you for your tips!
Some of the best pizzas are made with this dough recipe! My family loves getting to make their own! Great recipe.
Love to hear that!
I’m also confused about using discard,fed sourdough starter. I have discard in the fridge that is about 1 week old. I could pull out of fridge and use, or I must feed first????
If it hasn’t been fed in over a week I would feed it first and then use it.
I want to make this but I am confused. It claims to be a discard recipe, but in the ingredients it says fed sourdough starter. Isn’t fed the active bubbly one and discard is the extra stuff that is cold and not bubbly in my fridge? I’m confused
I found a way to use sauce and keep the crust crispy. Once the crust has cooked I use a pastry brush and spread a thing layer of sauce on the crust. Then I put it back in the oven and let that bake on 5- 10 minutes. After that I spread miners sauce and add my toppings and put in to melt the cheese. Crust is still nice and crispy.
Hi Lisa
I started baking sourdough bread late last year. I was diagnosed with type two diabetes and recently discovered that sourdough bread has zero effect on my glucose levels because it is such low GI. (I can’t eat regular bread at all).
Pizza had to be relegated to very occasional and two slices only.
I am now using my discard to make a pizza once or twice a month, thankyou for giving me back one of my favourite foods.
You mention in your recipe that a regular tomato past base turns the pizza base soggy, and you offer a few alternatives.
I would like to show you my alternative. I simply place a few very thin slices of cheese straight on the pizza base before adding the sauce. (Reduce the amount of cheese on the top by a little)
Also, after slicing up the pizza on a board, I place a paper napkin on the serving plate, this stops and juices which Leak out of the sliced edge from sogging the pastry.
I had pics but could not seem to add them
Warren, Adelaide Australia
So glad you enjoy this recipe! And thank you for sharing your tips and tricks as well!
I am having great success with my starter and making sourdough bread – thank you so much for the tutorials.
However, on the discard pizza attempt, I followed your instruction to the letter with a well seasoned cast iron skillet and the sour dough stuck terribly. What should I do next time?
Oh bummer. Did you oil the pan before adding the starter? Also, starting with a hot pan can also help.
Thank you for this discard recipe. We love this pizza crust. We use pesto for the sauce and it works great. Sometimes soft, sometimes not. Ha! We love all your recipes. We make your sandwich bread recipe artisan style and cinnamon rolls each week!! My husband is the cinnamon rolls man. He likes to take this to work to share. 😊
So glad you are enjoying those recipes! And pesto sauce sounds amazing! I may have to try that myself! Have a great day!
Hi Lisa,
I love all your YouTube videos. I tried this pizza today and the discard stuck to the sides of my cast iron skillet. I added avocado oil to the pan prior to preheating. I’m wondering if my pan isn’t seasoned enough. Keep on producing content. Thanks, Judy
I can’t work quickly enough with the wooden spoon so I roll it around in the pan. Works perfect…I love these!