00 Flour Pizza Dough With Sourdough Starter (No Yeast!)
Make the best Neapolitan-style thin-crust pizza of your life with this cheap and easy homemade recipe.
Equipment
- Pizza Stone preferred for indoor ovens and basic pizza on the grill
- Pizza Oven For Grill optional, but helpful for better browning
- Standalone Pizza Oven if you're feeling fancy
- Pizza Peel you'll need this
Ingredients
- 300 grams Warm Water ~1.25 cups; ~73-76ºF
- 200 grams Sourdough Starter ~1 cup; bubbly, happy, & doubled in size
- 20 grams Extra Virgin Olive Oil ~scant 1.5 Tablespoons; plus extra for greasing containers.
- 500 grams 00 Flour ~4 cups less a Tablespoon; sub King Arthur all-purpose flour
- 20 grams Fine Sea Salt ~3.33 teaspoons; or kosher salt (~3.5 teaspoons)
- Semolina Flour or fine corn meal for shaping/stretching
Instructions
- Mix together 300 grams Warm Water 200 grams Sourdough Starter, and 20 grams Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a large mixing bowl.
- Add 500 grams 00 Flour, mixing until a shaggy dough forms. Cover with a damp towel and rest for 20-30 minutes.
- Add 20 grams Fine Sea Salt and knead the rested dough until smooth and the salt is well dispersed. (Alternatively, use a stand mixer outfitted with a dough hook set on a low speed.) Cover with the damp towel again and rest for 30 minutes.20 grams Fine Sea Salt
- Optional, but recommended. Do a round of "stretch and folds" every 30-45 minutes. Ideally you'd do 4 rounds for maximum bubbliness, but 2 rounds is sufficient if that's all your schedule allows.
- Divide into 3 equal pieces, about 346 grams apiece. Shape each into a boule, as if you were going to make Dutch oven sourdough. Place them seam-side down into large, lidded containers (at least 2x the size of the dough balls) that have been sprayed with olive oil. I use quart-sized delitainers.
- Allow to proof in the fridge for a minimum of 24-48 hours ~OR~ proof at room temperature for 12-24 hours until doubled in size. I usually proof one at room temp, then fridge the other two for the next two dinners!
- When ready to cook, remove the dough from the fridge about 30-45 minutes ahead of time. Preheat the pizza stone on your grill, pizza oven, or oven to a minimum of 500-550ºF.
- Spread out a square of parchment paper and scatter semolina flour on the surface to prevent the dough from sticking. I usually cloak the whole thing in semolina to keep it from sticking to my hands.
- Stretch the dough into a 12-inch round*, being careful not to deflate the bubbles around the edge of the crust. Cut the edges of the parchment as close to the edges of the completed round as possible. Optional: Spritz the outside edges with olive oil and sprinkle on salt and seasonings (e.g. Italian, garlic powder, or garlic parmesan shake).
- Top with the toppings of your choice and bake for 14-20 minutes, or until the edges have puffed, the exposed crust is golden and has some blistering, and the bottom has charred spots. Check about halfway through and rotate the pizza if needed for even cooking.
- Slice, serve, and enjoy!
Notes
nutrition facts are for each round of dough and don't include any toppings.
*This is for a traditional, thin-crust Napoletana-style pizza. If you prefer a slightly thicker crust, stretch/roll to 10".
Storage Instructions:
- Refrigeration: will keep in the fridge in a roomy airtight container for up to 4 days.
- How to freeze: Sourdough pizza dough can also be frozen for up to one week for future use. NOTE: To extend the freezing shelf-life of your leftover dough to about 2 months, refer to the original recipe and use commercial yeast in addition to sourdough starter.
- To defrost sourdough pizza dough, set it out at room temp until pliable and cool but not cold (a couple of hours) ~OR~ overnight in the fridge, then bring the dough to room temp for about 45 minutes.
- Temperature matters—using colder water will result in a slower rise time, whereas using warmer water will make the process faster. Similarly, the temperature of your kitchen (or fridge) will change the proofing time; in the winter, my drafty kitchen means the rise time is sluggish. During the warmer months, it’ll rise much faster! Refrigerating the dough for a cold ferment will take the longest.
- Skip the rolling pin! After you’ve worked so hard to create all that beautiful aeration, it’d be a shame to smoosh out all the bubbles. Instead, use your fingers and a well-floured surface, or get fancy and toss the dough.
- Consider Parbaking. If you are using a lot of "wet" toppings (e.g. raw veggies), I recommend adding the tomato sauce and veggies first, baking in the oven until about ⅔ of the way done (about 11-14 minutes) so the excess liquid can evaporate. Then, add the cheese and return to the oven until the cheese is melted and the edges of the pizza are golden brown and the bottom has blistered black spots.
- Baking Temps. High heat is preferred for making thin-crust pizza with a beautifully blistered crust! If you have a pizza oven that goes above 550ºF, the cooking time will need to be adjusted down. 550ºF is my pizza oven’s max temp, but a friend has one that gets to around 725ºF—hers only takes about 7-8 minutes to cook fully. If you are using your home oven, I definitely recommend using a baking stone that has been preheated to your oven's highest temperature over using a pizza pan.
- 00 Flour Substitute: My favorite 00 flour substitute is either King Arthur all-purpose flour (which has 11.7% protein), or a blend of 2 parts of lower-protein AP (e.g. White Lily) with 1 part bread flour.
Nutrition
Calories: 721kcalCarbohydrates: 134gProtein: 22gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gSodium: 2593mgPotassium: 167mgFiber: 4gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 3IUCalcium: 30mgIron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!