Sourdough Pizza Dough
A naturally leavened pizza dough at 68% hydration using freshly milled hard white wheat. A 24–48 hour cold ferment delivers blistered, chewy, slightly tangy crust without commercial yeast.
Key Takeaways
- 68% hydration is the sweet spot for stretchability vs. open edges.
- Cold ferment 24–48 hours builds the flavor that defines sourdough pizza.
- Bake on preheated steel/stone at maximum oven temperature for charred bottoms.
- Stretch, never roll — rolling crushes the gas you spent two days developing.
- Keep toppings light. Heavy toppings sink a fresh milled crust.
About this recipe
Fresh milled sourdough pizza is what happens when artisan bread technique meets pizza night. The same overnight cold ferment that builds flavor in a boule turns this dough into a chewy, blistered, complex crust that puts delivery to shame. The target hydration is 68% — high enough to produce open, leoparded edges, low enough to stretch on a peel without tearing. Fresh milled hard white wheat keeps the flavor clean and lets the toppings shine, but you can blend in up to 25% hard red for a more rustic, pizzeria-style crumb. The dough is built once, bulk fermented short, then divided and refrigerated 24–48 hours. Each ball comes out smelling like a wine cave and stretches like silk. Bake on a preheated steel or stone — pizza on a sheet pan will never give you the bottom char this dough deserves. Makes 4 ten-inch personal pizzas or 2 large pies.
Prep: 30 min
Bake: 8 min
Hydration: 68%
Ingredients
- Freshly milled hard white wheat flour500 g
- Water (80°F / 27°C)340 g
- Active 100% hydration sourdough starter75 g
- Fine sea salt11 g
- Extra virgin olive oil15 g
Instructions
- 1
Feed starter 6 hours before mixing.
- 2
Combine flour and water in a large bowl. Mix to no-dry-spots and rest 45 minutes.
- 3
Add starter, salt, and olive oil. Mix until incorporated, about 2 minutes.
- 4
Rest 30 minutes. Perform 3 sets of stretch-and-folds, 30 minutes apart.
- 5
Bulk ferment at 76°F until the dough has risen 40–50% — typically 4–5 hours total.
- 6
Divide into 4 balls (about 240 g each for personal pizzas) or 2 (480 g each for large pies). Shape each into a tight ball.
- 7
Place balls in an oiled container with space between, cover, and refrigerate 24–48 hours.
- 8
About 90 minutes before baking, pull dough balls out. Cover and warm at room temperature.
- 9
Preheat oven with a steel or stone on the top rack to its highest temperature — usually 550°F (290°C) — for 45 minutes.
- 10
Gently stretch one ball on a floured surface, pressing from the center outward and lifting to let gravity stretch. Do not roll — you will crush the airy edge.
- 11
Transfer to a floured peel, top quickly with sauce and toppings (keep light).
- 12
Slide onto the hot stone and bake 6–9 minutes until the crust is blistered and the bottom is charred.
- 13
Repeat with remaining dough balls.
how to start milling flour at home — hydration, gluten development, and grain choice tips that make this recipe work.
Learn about this grain: Hard White Wheat guide — flavor, milling notes, baking tips, and four in-depth guides on hydration, storage, and common mistakes. Or browse more Hard White Wheat recipes.
Learn a technique
All guides →- Bulk Fermentation with Fresh-Milled FlourFresh-milled flour ferments faster than commercial flour. Watch the dough, not the clock, and end bulk fermentation when volume has grown 50–75%.
- Build & Maintain a Fresh-Milled Sourdough StarterA step-by-step guide to creating a robust whole-grain sourdough starter from scratch and maintaining it for weekly baking.
- Cold Retard & Bulk for Fresh-Milled SourdoughHow to time and temperature-manage bulk fermentation and cold retard for fresh-milled sourdough to develop flavor without overproofing.
- Fresh Milled Flour Hydration GuideHydration is the single variable that fixes more fresh-milled bread problems than any other adjustment. Bagged bread flour is engineered to behave predictably — milled to a uniform fine particle, aged for weeks, and stripped of the thirsty bran and germ. Fresh-milled flour is the opposite: it contains every part of the kernel, and the intact bran soaks up water slowly. The same recipe that produces a slack, sticky white-flour dough produces a dry, tight fresh-milled dough unless you increase the liquid. This guide explains why hydration matters more for fresh flour, how each grain behaves, how to read dough texture by feel, how to convert standard recipes, and how to troubleshoot the most common hydration symptoms.
Related Content
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Related Techniques
Bulk Fermentation with Fresh-Milled Flour
Fresh-milled flour ferments faster than commercial flour. Watch the dough, not the clock, and end bulk fermentation when volume has grown 50–75%.
Build & Maintain a Fresh-Milled Sourdough Starter
A step-by-step guide to creating a robust whole-grain sourdough starter from scratch and maintaining it for weekly baking.
Cold Retard & Bulk for Fresh-Milled Sourdough
How to time and temperature-manage bulk fermentation and cold retard for fresh-milled sourdough to develop flavor without overproofing.
Fresh Milled Flour Hydration Guide
Hydration is the single variable that fixes more fresh-milled bread problems than any other adjustment. Bagged bread flour is engineered to behave predictably — milled to a uniform fine particle, aged for weeks, and stripped of the thirsty bran and germ. Fresh-milled flour is the opposite: it contains every part of the kernel, and the intact bran soaks up water slowly. The same recipe that produces a slack, sticky white-flour dough produces a dry, tight fresh-milled dough unless you increase the liquid. This guide explains why hydration matters more for fresh flour, how each grain behaves, how to read dough texture by feel, how to convert standard recipes, and how to troubleshoot the most common hydration symptoms.