The Ultimate Sourdough Pizza Crust | Crispy & Chewy

July 2, 2026

Squirrelly Girl Sourdough Recipe

🍕 The Ultimate Sourdough Pizza Crust

Crispy. Chewy. Blistered. Fermented to perfection.

This is the sourdough pizza crust that can turn an ordinary Friday night into a full-blown pizza tradition.

Makes 2 Large Pizzas Beginner Friendly No Commercial Yeast 8–48 Hour Ferment

There is pizza... and then there is sourdough pizza. A properly fermented sourdough crust gives you that magical combination of a crisp bottom, chewy center, airy edge, and deep fermented flavor. The best part? You don't need a professional pizza oven to make an incredible one. With a very hot oven, a little patience, and an active sourdough starter, you can make a seriously impressive pizza right in your kitchen.

🍕 Why You'll Love This Crust

✔ Crispy bottom

✔ Chewy, airy center

✔ Beautiful blistered edges

✔ Deep sourdough flavor

✔ No commercial yeast

✔ Perfect for pizza night

✔ Dough can be refrigerated or frozen

🍕 Sourdough Pizza Dough

20 min Active Prep

4–6 hrs First Rise

8–48 hrs Cold Ferment

2 Large Pizzas

Dough

200 g active sourdough starter
300 g warm water
500 g bread flour
10 g salt
15 g olive oil

For Shaping

Bread flour for dusting
Cornmeal or semolina, optional
Parchment paper, optional

🥣 Mix the Dough

Add your active sourdough starter and warm water to a large mixing bowl.

Stir until the starter is mostly dissolved and the mixture looks milky.

Add the bread flour, salt, and olive oil.

Mix until there are no obvious dry patches and a shaggy dough forms.

REST THE DOUGH

Cover and let the dough rest for approximately 20–30 minutes.

Beginner Tip: Don't worry if the dough looks rough at this point. You are not trying to create a perfectly smooth dough yet.

💪 Build Strength

After the rest, lightly knead the dough for approximately 1–2 minutes.

You can also use a few rounds of stretch-and-folds if you prefer a gentler method.

The dough should begin feeling smoother, stronger, and more elastic.

FIRST FERMENTATION

Cover the dough and let it ferment at room temperature until it becomes noticeably puffy and approximately doubles in size.

This will usually take around 4–6 hours, depending on your starter and kitchen temperature.

⚖️ Divide & Cold Ferment

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface.

Divide it into two equal portions.

Gently shape each portion into a smooth dough ball.

Place each dough ball into a lightly oiled, covered container.

THE FLAVOR-BUILDING STEP

Refrigerate the dough for at least 8 hours, or up to 48 hours.

The longer cold fermentation develops deeper flavor, better texture, and a more complex crust.

Pro-Level Move: If you can plan ahead, a 24–48 hour cold ferment is an excellent way to take this crust to the next level.

🔥 Get Your Oven REALLY Hot

Remove your dough from the refrigerator approximately 1–2 hours before baking.

Let it come toward room temperature. This makes the dough much easier to stretch.

500°F / 260°C

Preheat your oven with a pizza stone, baking steel, or inverted heavy baking tray.

Give it at least 30–45 minutes to become thoroughly hot.

The hotter the baking surface, the better: A properly preheated stone or steel helps create that crisp bottom and fast oven spring.

🤲 Shape Without Destroying the Air

Lightly flour your work surface and place one dough ball onto it.

Gently press from the center outward, leaving the outer edge slightly thicker.

Continue stretching until you have approximately a 12–14 inch pizza.

🚫 NO ROLLING PIN

A rolling pin presses out the beautiful fermentation bubbles you've spent all that time creating.

Transfer the shaped dough to parchment paper or a lightly floured pizza peel.

🍅 Build Your Pizza

Keep your toppings simple. One of the easiest ways to ruin a beautiful sourdough crust is piling on so many toppings that the center becomes soggy.

🍕 Classic Sourdough Pepperoni Pizza

Start With:

½ cup pizza sauce

Add:

1½–2 cups shredded mozzarella
Pepperoni

Optional Upgrades:

🌿 Fresh basil
🌶️ Chili flakes
🧀 Parmesan
🫒 Olive oil
🍯 Hot honey after baking

🔥 Bake It FAST & HOT

Slide your pizza onto the fully preheated baking surface.

BAKE AT 500°F / 260°C

Bake for approximately 10–14 minutes, depending on your oven and baking surface.

You're looking for:

✔ Golden, blistered crust
✔ Bubbling cheese
✔ Crisp pepperoni edges
✔ A deeply browned bottom

Every oven is different: Start checking your pizza around the 10-minute mark. If needed, rotate it halfway through baking.

🌿 Finish & Slice

Remove the pizza from the oven and let it rest for 2–3 minutes.

This gives the molten cheese a moment to settle and makes slicing easier.

Finish with:

🌿 Fresh basil
🍯 Hot honey
🧄 Garlic-infused olive oil
🧀 Parmesan
🌶️ Chili flakes

THEN EAT IT HOT.

This is not the moment for patience.

👩🍳 Squirrelly Girl Baker's Tips

🍕 1. Don't Rush the Fermentation Sourdough needs time. If your dough isn't ready, the clock doesn't matter.

🔥 2. Preheat Properly A stone or steel that has only been heating for 10 minutes isn't going to give you the same result as one that has thoroughly preheated.

🤲 3. Be Gentle The bubbles in your dough are valuable. Don't flatten them unnecessarily.

🍅 4. Less Sauce Is Better A thin layer of sauce lets the crust stay crisp.

🧀 5. Don't Overload It More toppings don't automatically mean better pizza. Give that sourdough crust room to shine.

🥶 6. Cold Fermentation Is Your Friend An overnight dough is convenient, but 24–48 hours can produce an especially flavorful crust.

🧊 Make It Ahead

Your prepared dough can stay refrigerated for up to 48 hours.

You can also freeze individual dough balls for up to approximately 2 months.

Thaw frozen dough in the refrigerator, then bring it toward room temperature before shaping.

🚨 Sourdough Pizza Troubleshooting

My crust is dense.

Your dough may need more fermentation time. Make sure your starter is active and your dough becomes noticeably puffy before dividing.

My crust is soggy in the middle.

Try using less sauce and fewer toppings. Also make sure your baking surface is thoroughly preheated.

My crust won't stretch.

Let the dough warm up longer. Cold sourdough dough is much more resistant to stretching.

My crust tears when I stretch it.

Let it rest for 10–15 minutes and try again. Resting relaxes the gluten and makes the dough easier to handle.

My crust doesn't have blistered edges.

Make sure your dough is well fermented, keep the outer edge thicker during shaping, and use the hottest baking environment available.

⚠️ Baker's Warning

Making sourdough pizza at home has a predictable side effect.

Suddenly everyone wants pizza night at your house.

And once they taste this crust...

You're officially the pizza person.

🍕 This Is Your New Pizza Night

Crispy bottom.

Chewy center.

Airy, blistered edges.

Deep sourdough flavor.

And a kitchen that smells like a pizza shop.

Once you make sourdough pizza like this, ordinary pizza night gets a serious upgrade.

📚 Continue Your Sourdough Journey

Want to understand your starter and become more confident with sourdough? Keep learning with these Squirrelly Girl guides.

🍞 Sourdough Academy 🥣 What Is Sourdough Starter? 🌾 How to Activate Sourdough Starter 💧 How to Feed Sourdough Starter 🧬 How Sourdough Starter Works ✅ How to Tell if Sourdough Starter Is Ready

🐿️ Ready to Make Better Sourdough?

Great sourdough pizza starts with a strong, active starter.

Squirrelly Girl makes it easier to get your starter active, healthy, and ready for baking.

FREE Worldwide Shipping • Easy to Activate • 100% Activation Guarantee

Get Squirrelly Girl Sourdough Starter

One starter. Endless sourdough possibilities.

❤️ Happy Pizza Night!

Feed your starter.

Make the dough.

Let time do the work.

Crank up the oven.

And prepare for the kind of pizza that makes everyone ask, "You made this yourself?"

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