Quick Sourdough Discard Pizza Dough [no yeast]
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Quick sourdough discard pizza dough that you can make with your eyes closed! This sourdough pizza dough is so simple and there's lots of ways you can make it fit exactly what you need.
You can easily use sourdough discard for this recipes, but it works just as well with an active, bubbly starter. I've explained how to decide what to use further down.
You'll also discover that this delicious quick sourdough pizza dough is really easy to freeze. You'll never need to order pizza in again!
We love this quick sourdough discard pizza served with this delicious sourdough garlic bread or as sourdough pizza bianca! And don't forget to make this delicious homemade pizza sauce to take your sourdough pizza to the next level! Or for something different, try this white pizza sauce made with sourdough starter.
Using Sourdough Discard In Pizza Dough
This recipe has been made using sourdough discard but I do want to explain why and how you should use discard in this recipe so you have the most success possible!
Basically, the success of this discard pizza dough will depend on the age and strength of your sourdough starter, so here's a quick chart so you know what to use and when.
| Sourdough Starter Age | How To Use It In Pizza Dough |
|---|---|
| Sourdough Discard [no yeast] | If your sourdough starter is mature and doubling regularly, you can use your unfed discard with no yeast. It will just take a bit longer to double than if it was active. |
| Sourdough Discard + 4g yeast | If your sourdough starter is only young and not doubling consistently, add 4g of yeast to help it along. If you want super fast pizza dough, add 7g of yeast. |
| Active Fed Sourdough Starter | If you have a mature sourdough starter, this recipe works perfectly with an active, bubbly starter. It will take less time to double than discard will. |
As real life examples of how you could use your discard in this sourdough pizza dough:
- Your starter is two weeks old. You have 200g of discard in a jar in the fridge from the last week of feeding your sourdough starter. You use 200g of sourdough discard from the fridge with an additional 4g of instant yeast in your dough.
- Your starter is 6 months old. You haven't fed the starter in the fridge for a week but you want to make pizza. Take 200g of starter from your jar and use that for your bake (no yeast needed). Then feed your sourdough starter before you put it back into the fridge.
- Your starter is mature and has been around for a few years. Use 200g of fed, active starter to make this delicious sourdough pizza dough.
How To Make Sourdough Discard Pizza Dough
This sourdough discard pizza dough is described as quick because it is really easy to pull together - you can literally throw it in a bowl and you're half way there.
You can of course make it super fast by adding a little commercial yeast, but it's definitely not essential.
And if you're looking for the best sourdough pizza toppings, check out this extensive list!
Here's how to make sourdough discard pizza dough:
- Measure out the sourdough starter, water and honey (and yeast if you want to add it). Stir together until the sourdough starter and honey are dissolved into the water.
- Now, add the oil, flour and salt into the bowl and gently stir together with a dough whisk or knife. Cover with plastic wrap and allow the dough to sit for around 30 minutes.
- Now, tip the dough out onto the counter and knead it really well using your hands. This is a lovely dough to work with and with the right kneading, it will become soft and silky. I find it takes around 10 minutes to come together when kneading by hand.
- Once the dough is silky and elastic, pop it into a warm bowl (I warm a bowl with water and then dry it - this speeds up the rising). Cover with a plastic cover and leave to rise until it has doubled.
- Once the dough has doubled, separate the dough into smaller balls so they are ready to be rolled out. I use 200g per pizza (this fits my pizza oven perfectly) but anywhere from 200g to 300g is good for a pizza. Leave the balls on your counter top, covered with a tea towel, for around 30 minutes to allow the gluten to relax.
- Once you're ready to make your bases, use your fingers to press your dough into a pizza round. If you need to stretch the dough, pick it up and move your hands around the edges, allowing the dough's own weight to stretch it out into a round. Avoid using a rolling pin if you can to maintain your dough's sourdough character and give it good structure when baked.
- Place your pizza dough onto pizza peels ready to top with your favorite toppings.
- When you are ready to bake, pre heat your oven to 230C/450F and make sure it's HOT!!
- Place your pizzas into the hot oven for around 15 minutes or until toppings are cooked and bases are crispy on the bottom. These bases are especially good baked in a wood fired or gas pizza oven. I bake them for 2 minutes at 350C - 400C (662F - 752F)
Kneading Sourdough Pizza Dough
This versatile sourdough pizza discard dough can be made using your hands or using a stand mixer.
Kneading by hand is really easy - you just need to knead it until the dough becomes soft and supple. It will be quite elastic and stretchy. Don't be tempted to add flour to the surface you're kneading on. Use a metal dough scraper to bring the dough together if you need to (this can be handy to scrape up sticky dough while you build gluten).
You can easily make this recipe in a stand mixer or Thermomix. I've included the instructions here. You might also like to make sourdough focaccia or sourdough fougasse.
Baker's Timeline for Sourdough Pizza
One of the questions I get asked the most is around sourdough timelines. If you would like to know more about building a sourdough timeline, you might be interested in my book "Scheduling Sourdough".
Here's the timeline I use when making this sourdough discard pizza dough with no commercial yeast - sourdough discard only.
7.00am Mix pizza dough with sourdough discard.
8.00am Place kneaded dough into a warm bowl, cover with plastic cover. Pop the bowl into the microwave with the door ajar.
5.00pm Turn the risen pizza dough out onto the counter and divide into balls. Allow them to rest for 30 minutes.
5.30pm Shape pizza bases and place onto the pizza peels. Allow to rest while pizza oven heats up.
6.00pm Top pizzas and take to pizza oven to bake.
Pizza dough is really forgiving, so I could let it sit for a few extra hours and not shape until 7pm for example. It's not as time sensitive as sourdough bread.
Can You Put Sourdough Pizza Dough In The Fridge?
The great thing about sourdough discard pizza dough is that it's really forgiving.
If you want to make sourdough pizza dough in advance and store it in the fridge until you're ready to shape, place the dough in the fridge once its doubled.
It will last for up to 24 hours like this.
If you've used commercial yeast with your discard, you can leave it in the fridge for up to 3 days after doubling.
How To Cook Sourdough Pizza For Best Crust
I have cooked a lot of sourdough pizza crusts. We have pizza every single Friday night (and sometimes we have it during the week and on a Saturday too!). And that adds up to a LOT of sourdough pizza!
I have cooked sourdough pizza in an oven on a pizza stone, on perforated pizza trays, baking trays with parchment paper, in a wood fired pizza oven and in a gas fuelled pizza oven.
I have gotten the best results with our gas fuelled pizza oven. It's small and easy to fire up, it holds a constant temperature and pumps out a perfectly cooked pizza in just a few minutes.
If you don't have access to a gas fuelled pizza oven, I find the next best result on a pizza stone in the oven. If you bake a lot of pizza, it's well worth investing in a pizza or baking stone for your oven. The trick is to make sure the pizza stone is super hot before you put the pizza in. You want the crust to cook almost instantly on the searing hot stone!
If you do want to invest in a gas fuelled pizza oven, I recommend this one. It's the most similar to what I have at home. I also recommend getting yourself a few accessories to make life easier. I use a perforated pizza peel and a pizza turner.
Using Semolina Flour for Sourdough Pizza
I highly recommend using semolina flour when you are shaping sourdough pizza bases.
I use semolina on all of my pizza peels to ensure that the pizza bases are easy to slide into the pizza oven. It makes the pizza peels non stick and allow you to move the pizza bases with no issues.
You can read more about the best flour for sourdough pizza dough here.
My 3 year old loves playing with this pizza dough ... and pushing the semolina around the counter top with his toy digger! You can find my best tips for getting kids baking sourdough here!
Can You Freeze Sourdough Pizza Dough?
Yes! Sourdough pizza dough is so simple to freeze and it can free up so much time! I've got two options for freezing your pizza dough, depending on what you'd prefer:
Freeze Sourdough Pizza Dough Balls
If you want to have some pizza dough in the freezer at all time, you can divide the pizza dough into balls after it's doubled. Place each ball into a zip loc bag and then place into the freezer.
When you want to make a pizza, a bag of dough out of the freezer and allow it to defrost at room temperature. Once the dough is at room temp, shape it into a pizza base as you normally would.
Freeze Sourdough Pizza Bases
For an even faster frozen sourdough pizza, shape your dough into pizza bases. Place each pizza base onto a piece of parchment paper and then onto a pizza peel. Snap freeze the base by allow the base to freeze uncovered in the freezer for around an hour. Once all the bases are frozen, stack them (ensuring you leave the parchment paper between them) and then wrap the stack in aluminium foil or place into a large zip loc bag.
When you want to use one, take out a base and top it with whatever you like - you don't even have to let it defrost, it will defrost as you add the topping! You'll never have to order pizza in again!
You can also check out my ultimate guide to freezing sourdough pizza dough which details my method for par-baking bases for freezing too!
What To Do With Leftover Sourdough Pizza Dough?
I often have portions of sourdough pizza dough leftover, so I've created a few recipes to make sure we don't have any food waste!
- Easy Sourdough Pizza Rolls
- Fried Sourdough Pizza Dough
- Sourdough Pizza Pockets
- Sourdough Zucchini Pizza
Equipment for Sourdough Pizza Dough
You don't need a lot of specialised equipment for pizza dough, however there are a few things which can make it easier for you - and give you better tasting pizza! These are the things that I use every week when making sourdough pizza crust.
Glass Mixing Bowl - allows you to see what's happening as your sourdough pizza dough is rising.
Silicone Dough Scraper/Metal Dough Scraper - these make getting the dough out of the bowl much easier and dividing the dough a breeze!
Pizza Peel - I have 5 of these in my kitchen and we use them for so much more than just pizza! But they make pizza night a breeze and are a great alternative to parchment paper.
Pizza Stone - a good pizza stone is essential in any home sourdough baker's kitchen - it's not just useful for pizza, but can help you make amazing sourdough bread without a Dutch Oven too!
Pizza Rocker - makes slicing through molten mozzarella and crispy sourdough a breeze! I love the black blade and wooden handles on this one!
I've also put together a fully illustrated guide to the best equipment for sourdough pizza dough.
Step By Step Video for Sourdough Pizza
Frequently Asked Questions
No, you do not have to use honey in this recipe but it definitely adds flavor and color to the crust and it speeds up the doubling of the dough for a quicker pizza. If you don't want to use honey, you can substitute with a little sugar or leave it out entirely.
Sourdough pizza crust can become tough if you use too much flour. The dough should be silky and elastic (no wet and sticky) but never be tempted to add extra flour as you will risk a tough crust. Knead the dough until the gluten develops and stops it from being wet and sticky.
Absolutely! You can use sourdough starter fed or unfed. The wild yeast contained in sourdough starter is perfect for a pizza crust. It will give you an amazing bubbly pizza dough perfect for oven or wood fire baking.
There are many differences - and similarities between pizza and bread dough. You can find all the information in this comprehensive guide.
Further Reading
If you love this quick sourdough discard pizza dough recipe you might enjoy these articles:
- Easy Sourdough Focaccia Bread
- Sourdough Pasta Recipe
- Sourdough Flat Bread Recipe - perfect for tortillas!
Sourdough Discard Pizza Dough
Equipment
- Digital Scales
- Mixing Bowl
- Pizza Trays
Ingredients
- 200 g Sourdough Starter DISCARD
- 7 g Instant Yeast OPTIONAL
- 280 g Water
- 20 g Honey
- 30 g Olive Oil
- 500 g Bread Flour
- 20 g Salt
Instructions
- Measure out the sourdough starter, water and honey (and yeast if you want to add it). Stir together until the sourdough starter and honey are dissolved into the water.
- Now, add the oil, flour and salt into the bowl and gently stir together with a dough whisk or knife. Cover with plastic wrap and allow the dough to sit for around 30 minutes.The dough will seem a little dry and shaggy and that's ok! You can see photos of how the dough looks through the process in the recipe notes above.
- Now, tip the dough out onto the counter and knead it really well using your hands. This is a lovely dough to work with and with the right kneading, it will become soft and silky. I find it takes around 10 minutes to come together when kneading by hand.Note - you can do this using a stand mixer - you can see the instructions for how to do this here.
- Once the dough is silky and elastic, pop it into a warm bowl (I warm a bowl with water and then dry it - this speeds up the rising).Cover with cling wrap or a damp tea towel and leave to rise until it has doubled. See notes below for timing and how to judge it.
- Once the dough has doubled, separate the dough into smaller balls so they are ready to be rolled out. I use 200g per pizza (this fits my pizza oven perfectly) but anywhere from 200g to 300g is good for a pizza.Leave the balls on your counter top, covered with a tea towel, for around 30 minutes to allow the gluten to relax.
- Once you're ready to make your bases, use your fingers to press your dough into a pizza round. If you need to stretch the dough, pick it up and move your hands around the edges, allowing the dough's own weight to stretch it out into a round. Avoid using a rolling pin if you can to maintain your dough's sourdough character and give it good structure when baked.
- Place your pizza dough onto pizza peels ready to top with your favorite toppings (see my notes in the article above for my best tips on using pizza peels).When you are ready to bake, pre heat your oven to 230C/450F and make sure it's HOT!! Place your pizzas into the hot oven for around 15 minutes or until toppings are cooked and bases are crispy on the bottom. These bases are especially good baked in a wood fired or gas pizza oven. I bake them for 2 minutes at 350C - 400C (662F - 752F)
Notes
Nutrition
Hi! Can I bake these and then freeze baked so I can pop them in the oven at a later date to bake? Or bake later in the day?
I just needed the dough after letting it sit for half an hour. It is soft and sticky rather than soft and “silky”. What did I do wrong?
I don’t want to rate this because I’m sure I did something wrong!! My dough was VERY sticky.
I followed the directions—and added yeast. It rose/doubled in size beautifully—but when baked—it turned out flat and hard crusted (but not burned). It was more of a flatbread than a beautiful pizza dough as so many others have made!!
Any ideas/suggestions as to what I did wrong?
I’ve made this a few times and love it, I’ve been using KA Bread flour and each time I’ve made it when shaping the dough to make the pizzas it tends to retract a bit, is this due to using bread flour , could I use AP and get a similar result ?
WOWWWW- so I’m new to the sourdough world but I’ve been trying new things and I was nervous for this but I used discard & this pizza was THE BEST pizza I’ve ever had! That says a lot because I bartend at a pizza restaurant. I am OBSESSED! I ate the crust and everything! I even saved two dough balls for lunch the next day! I’ll be making this weekly! Thank you!
I love this dough—makes a great crust just how I like it? I I bake iit on my pizza steel after preheating steel in oven at 550 F for an hour. Then I turned on the fan. It was perfect in 6 minutes. I love having dough balls in the freezer. Took one out last night and let thaw in fridge. Then took it out of fridge 2 hours before ready to bake. Don’t laugh, but because I’m one person, I portion out all my toppings, including homemade sauce, and freeze little topping kits. I set those out to thaw when I take the dough out of fridge. By doing this, I can have almost instant pizza anytime I want!
Can you give me the ingredients in measures of cups and spoons please? I struggled with the grams.
Hi!! My dough is sticky, is it because I did in knead it well or I overproof???
I have made this recipe a few times now but it’s only ever enough for 2 large thin pizzas. Am I doing something wrong?
Hello! Can I use all purpose flour instead of bread flour?
the pizza goes in middle of the oven? or closer to the bottom? Thanks!
This was so deliciously yummy!
Will make this again and again!
Can you use AP unbleached organic flour instead of bread flour.
I made this in my stand mixer and had it kneading for at least 10 minutes. I added 2 1/2 TBSP of extra flour bc my dough was still super sticky. I finally just called it and stopped kneading and am letting it rest. Is this supposed to be a sticky dough? Super excited to bake it since everyone seems to love this recipe! Thx!
My dough is SUPER sticky - what have I done wrong?
Does anyone have any idea how long you would cook these on a grill and if that works ok on a pizza stone?
How long are the dough balls good for in the freezer?
I wouldn't leave longer than 2 to 3 months 🙂
I've made this before, but this time the dough was a lot more sticky than last time. I will be freezing them in separate balls. Hopefully it will still turn out great.
If I only have active starter, do I use the same about you indicate for discard in the recipe?
Yes it's just a straight swap 🙂
Can I use only sourdough starter? I don’t have discard.
Absolutely you can 🙂
I made this dough this morning with discard from a young starter, and I must have added way too much commercial yeast because my dough doubled in about an hour. I weighed it, but it must have been an inaccurate measurement because it was probably a tablespoon or two. Do I need to throw away the dough? How long might it take to make this dough with the 7g of commercial yeast added?
Why does this recipe call for so much salt
Salt gives the dough flavor and helps to strengthen the gluten network. You can reduce it if you prefer.
This recipe is absolutely amazing!! How would you recommend doing a long ferment? I'm always looking for discard recipes which tend to be quick but am cutting down the gluten as much as possible and not all translate well to extra delayed baking. Skip the yeast altogether and let it double in the fridge? I'd also like to make some ahead to freeze so I could keep it thawing longer but I feel like it wouldn't make a difference at that point. I use so many of your recipes and can't begin to show my appreciation of your knowledge! ☺️ Thanks!!
Hi Emily - you might find this post on how to freeze sourdough pizza dough helpful. In terms of a longer ferment, you could use discard, skip the yeast and just let it ferment until the dough is doubled. This would give you a long ferment, but also cut down on as much gluten as possible. All the best x
Can you make this recipe with whole grain flour or part whole grain flour?
Yes either one would work, or you might like this post on how to make a whole wheat sourdough pizza dough 🙂
Used this recipe multiple times it’s AMAZING, but it seems that my frozen dough gets very tough ( I am using cling wrap and Tinfoil) Any idea how to remedy?
I just made this recipe and it’s the best homemade pizza crust I’ve ever made. I’m starting the sourdough journey and these instructions were easy to understand and follow. My dough took longer to come together, longer than 10 mins. If your dough still feels sticky after kneading for 10 mins, just keep going!
I've tried hand kneading and using my stand mixer and I can never get to a point where the dough isn't sticky. I tried adding a bit more flour in the stand mixer, but that still didn't work. Any thoughts/suggestions? Is the answer just knead longer? 😀
I use this recipe with active starter once a week for my large family. It’s so delicious. We love it! Grateful for all your active starter recipes.
I’ve tried this twice now. Once by kneading by hand and once in the stand mixer. Both times I ended up with super sticky dough.
There are many different reasons for sticky dough. This post on Why is my Sourdough Wet & Sticky goes through a bunch of troubleshooting that should help.
I have the same issue as Jennifer. In fact, this dough gets stickier as I knead it. None of the troubleshooting notes in your “sticky sourdough” article are relevant here. My starter is exceptionally strong, my kitchen is between 71 and 74 degrees during the day, I am not at high altitude and it is not over fermented because it hasn’t had any time to ferment. I had to add more flour just to make the dough able to be handled. We’ll see how the pizza comes out…
Same here, too wet and sticky to even knead it. I watched the video on how to make the dough and it looks much less sticky than what I made. So I added more flour when kneading. I don't know how much it was, but about 3/4 - 1 cup I think.
The stickiness can come from the type of flour you use and the hydration of your sourdough starter. Next time you make the sourdough pizza dough, try adding extra flour when mixing, or less water and see if that helps. Kate makes this recipe at least once a week, sometimes twice as they adore sourdough pizza and it's an easy family dinner and never have issues with this dough at all. It's one of the most tried and tested recipes on the site 🙂
This has become my family's go-to pizza dough recipe (gotta use that discard!) Every time I make it, I get great results. Tonight, we've just tried using dough that had been frozen and it still worked great. In future, I will definitely shape the dough prior to freezing so I can go from freezer to oven faster. I don't have a pizza oven or even a stone but I've found that flipping one of my large, rimmed baking sheets upside down on the rack works great. I usually just leave my dough on a piece of parchment and use that with a pizza peel to get it in/out. I also give them a quick spin half way through since my oven seems to have a hot spot at the back - very easy when it's sitting on a piece of parchment.
Can I refrigerate the dough after it has doubled? Going to make pizza pockets tomorrow!
Hi, I’ve kneaded the dough by hand for about 20 minutes but can’t get it to be silky, it’s still sticky. Can I still let it double and use it?
Yes you can still let it double and use it. Semolina is really helpful for shaping pizza dough that is a little sticky x