Overnight Sourdough Pizza Crust
This post may contain affiliate links, please visit our privacy policy for details.
This Overnight Sourdough Pizza Crust is the ideal pizza crust—crisp on the outside, light and airy on the inside, yeast free, and easy to make. Resting overnight enhances its flavor and makes for easy meal prep. Perfect for pizza night, busy weeknights, or even breakfast!
This sourdough crust is a different take than our easy pizza crust, but just as delicious. And when you pair it with homemade tomato sauce before adding your toppings, it takes it to another level!
You’ll need an active sourdough starter to make this crust, just like you do for sourdough bagels. Discard, like we use for our sourdough biscuits, just doesn’t have enough kick. So, if you’re looking for the ultimate pizza crust, this is it!
What Makes This Sourdough Pizza Crust So Good?
- Flavor. The overnight fermentation gives this crust a deeper, more complex sourdough flavor that only gets better with time.
- Texture. The fermentation process creates bubbles in the dough, resulting in a crust that is crisp on the outside and light and airy inside.
- Flexible Timing. Once you make this dough, it will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, allowing you to bake on your schedule.
There Are Two Parts To This Crust
This recipe starts with a simple sourdough sponge. While it only takes a few minutes to mix together, the overnight rest gives the starter time to begin developing the flavor that makes sourdough pizza so good.
The sponge is made with just 3 ingredients.
- Active Sourdough Starter – provides the fermentation needed to develop both flavor and structure.
- All Purpose Flour – forms the base of the sponge before it’s mixed into the final dough.
- Water – adding a little bit of water helps create the consistency we wanted in the sponge.
Mix the ingredients together. Place in a covered container and refrigerate overnight.
⊹ Quick Tip! ⊹
Set the sponge out of the refrigerator about an hour before you are ready to start the final dough.
Now, Let’s Make The Pizza Dough!
It’s time to finally make the final dough. Go ahead and grab these ingredients:
- Sponge – Enhances the flavor and increases the strength of the final dough.
- Water – Determines the amount of hydration in the dough. We use filtered tap water.
- Olive Oil – We use extra virgin olive oil to add flavor, help retain moisture, and contribute to the texture.
- All Purpose Flour – We developed this recipe using King Arthur All Purpose Flour. After testing, we found that all purpose flour allowed us to achieve a crispy crust and light and airy interior.
- Kosher Salt – Tightens the gluten strands in the dough and really brings out the flavor of the sourdough. After years of baking bread, we’ve found that Diamond Crystal kosher salt dissolves more easily into the dough and, because it contains no additives, gives us the most consistent results.
Mix all the ingredients except the salt together until it comes together in a rough, shaggy dough. Cover and let it rest for 30 minutes. Add the salt and knead with a dough hook until the dough is smooth.
⊹ Did You Know? ⊹
Letting the dough sit for a period of time after the initial mix is called an autolyse. It allows the flour time to rehydrate, the dough becomes easier to handle, and it reduces the amount of kneading time!
Place the dough in a covered container and set it aside to rise until it nearly doubles in bulk. At this point, you can either continue with making your pizza or refrigerate overnight to develop even more flavor.
When you’re ready to make pizza, divide the dough as desired, roll out (or toss!), and add your favorite toppings. I personally love making this Tomato Arugula Feta Pizza!
⊹ Did You Know? ⊹
Proofing the dough overnight in the refrigerator (called retarding) slows down the fermentation which allows the dough to develop a deeper, tangier flavor just like it does in our pumpkin sourdough bread. The longer it’s in the fridge, the more flavor it develops!
What Should I Top This Pizza Dough With?
The great thing about pizza is that the topping options are limitless! Here are a few of our favorite things to top this pizza crust:
- BBQ Chicken Pizza
- Margherita Pizza
- Cheese Pizza
- Pepperoni Pizza
- Everything Pizza (Meats & Veggie!)
⊹ Quick Tip! ⊹
Give your oven at least 30 minutes – 1 hour to preheat to 500℉! Just because your oven says it’s preheated doesn’t mean the entire oven has reached temperature yet. So be sure to give the oven time to fully heat and, if you have an oven thermometer, use it! You want your oven to be fully preheated to ensure your crust is nice and crispy.
Other Recipes You Might Like
When you make this Overnight Sourdough Pizza Crust, leave a comment down below! We love hearing from you and answering any questions you might have! Also, be sure to tag us on social media and hashtag it #BakersTable.
Happy Baking!
x, Caylie
Overnight Sourdough Pizza Crust
Ingredients
Sponge
- ½ cup sourdough starter
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- ⅛ cup water
Final Dough
- All of sponge
- ½ cup water
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
Instructions
Sponge
- Combine sourdough starter, flour, and water in a small bowl.
- Mix until the flour is fully hydrated and no dry spots remain.
- Place in a clean bowl or plastic container. Cover and leave the sponge in a warm place until fermentation begins and it starts to rise, about 1-2 hours. It does not need to double in bulk.
- Place covered sponge in the refrigerator overnight.
Final Dough
- Remove the sponge from the refrigerator about an hour before mixing the final dough so it can come closer to room temperature.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, combine water, sponge, olive oil, and flour.
- Mix on low speed until the ingredients come together into a rough, shaggy dough.
- Cover and let the dough rest for 30 minutes to allow the flour to fully hydrate.
- Uncover and add salt.
- Mix with dough hook on medium-high until dough is smooth and cleans the bowl, about 3 minutes.
- Place in a clean bowl or plastic container.
- Cover, and allow to rise at room temperature for 20 minutes.
- Remove dough from container and place on work bench. (If it's too sticky to work with, dust your bench with a little bit of flour.)
- Turn the dough by stretching the top portion up and folding it ⅔-¾ of the way down the dough. Stretch the bottom portion up and fold it over to meet the top. Repeat stretching and folding with the right side, then the left side. Place dough back in container. Wait 20 minutes.
- Repeat the stretching and folding process 2 more times at 20 minute intervals.
- Leave the covered dough alone for the rest of the bulk proof. Let it rise until doubled in bulk, about another 2 hours (depending on the temperature in your kitchen). Alternatively, you could use a proofing box set to 78℉/26℃.
- At this point, you can refrigerate the dough overnight to allow more flavor to develop. This is an optional step.
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface.
- Shape and proceed with pizza recipe.
Notes + Tips!
Tips To Make The Best Sourdough Pizza Crust:
Mastering the Dough- Patience is key: Sourdough develops flavor over time. Don’t try to rush!
- Temperature control: Refrigerating the dough slows fermentation, which allows the sourdough to develop more complex flavor. This is why the overnight rest (or two!) in the refrigerator is worth the wait.
- Hotter is better: A hot oven is essential for a crispy crust. Preheat your oven and pizza stone to the highest temperature possible.
- 1 ounce equals 1 inch: If you decide to divide the dough, use a scale to help you get the exact size you’re looking for. We found that, when making thin crust pizzas, 1 ounce of dough is equal to 1 inch. So, 12 ounces of dough will make a 12 inch pizza!
- Less is more: Avoid over-topping your pizza. Too many toppings can prevent the crust from crisping up!
- Experiment with flour: You can change the all purpose flour out for higher gluten flour to give the crust more chew. (It can also handle more refrigeration time.) Or if you have a pizza oven, you can use 00 flour to make the crust a little crisper.
-
- Rest your dough: If the dough is shrinking while you’re trying to shape it, don’t worry! Cover with a tea towel and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes.
- Use a peel: A pizza peel makes it easier to transfer the dough to your hot baking surface without damaging the crust!
Tools You May Need (affiliate links)
– Still Hungry? –
Here are a few recipes may like!
Where does the second overnight rest in the fridge come in? It says not to skip it, but I only see the overnight directions for the firm. Thanks!
Hi Valerie! Thank you for pointing that out. It looks like I got it in the post but missed it in the recipe card. You can put it in the fridge a little before it doubles in bulk. Depending on your kitchen temp, probably a couple of hours. Let me know if you have any other questions.
It was a beautiful recipe. I made a simple pizza with pepperoni. I let it sit for 3 days to get that sourdough flavor in, and cooked it on the 3rd day. Will make it again.
Hi! There’s nothing better than classics 😊 We’re so happy to hear you loved this recipe! It’s definitely one that we make often 🥰 I hope you find lots more recipes to love on our blog 🫶 x, Caylie