Homemade whole wheat sourdough pizza dough makes the best-tasting homemade pizza crust you will ever eat. It contains only six ingredients. It's light, crispy, and delicious!
Everyone loves pizza, and making it at home is much easier and tastes better than you might think. When made the traditional way, it takes more time and that's why I like to make my pizza dough in a bread machine to have it knead and rise the dough, it's less messy and a timesaver!
This recipe was originally posted in 2018, it's been updated for content and photos.
Recipe Highlights
Homemade pizza dough is a healthier way to enjoy pizza and you can get creative with your toppings.
It's easy to make in the bread machine, and if you don't have a bread machine, you can also make this pizza dough the traditional way.
Here is what you will need
Homemade pizza dough is made with a few simple ingredients: water, sourdough starter, whole wheat flour, white bread flour, yeast, salt, honey, and a bread machine.
Total Estimated Time to Make This Recipe: 2 to 2 ½ hours
What is Sourdough?
Sourdough is a fermented dough that adds a sour taste to the bread. The addition of sourdough also aids in the process of rising the dough and it makes a super flavorful pizza crust. You will need a sourdough starter to make this recipe that you can make yourself or you can buy a sourdough starter kit to speed up the process.
Once you get your sourdough starter going which takes a few days, it needs to be fed every day or less often if you store it in the fridge. Before the dough is fed, a portion of the starter is taken away which is called a discard, and that is what is used to make this pizza crust.
How to Make Pizza Dough in a Bread Machine
Dissolve the yeast, honey, and salt in lukewarm water.
Measure the flour and pour it into the bread machine along with the sourdough starter and the yeast and water mixture into the bread machine.
Select the dough cycle and press start. Once the cycle is complete, remove the dough from the bread machine.
Let the dough sit at room temperature for about 15 to 20 minutes and follow your favorite pizza recipe.
How to Make Sourdough Pizza Crust the Traditional Way
Dissolve the yeast, salt, and honey in warm water. Pour the sourdough mixture into a bowl, stir in the yeast, and water mixture, and gradually add the flour.
Knead the dough with your hands or a stand mixer. Place the dough in a warm place to rise. Once it has doubled in size, punch it down and allow it to rise once more.
Punch the dough down and make your pizza. For a traditional pizza, you can use this homemade marinara sauce.
Recipe Tips
Use filtered or bottled water - some tap water contains chlorine which can interfere with the rising process, especially with fermented dough such as sourdough. Good quality bottled water doesn't typically contain chlorine. If it does, the amount is usually pretty low.
The yeast - you can use either instant (bread machine) yeast or active dry yeast to make your pizza dough. If you use instant (bread machine) yeast it's not necessary to dissolve the yeast in water.
Accelerate the rising time for the traditional method - heat your oven to 175. Place the dough in a bowl, cover it and place it in the oven. Allow it to rise until it has almost doubled in size.
Freezing the Dough
Freezing extra dough - this pizza dough makes enough dough for two large pizzas. If you don't need to make two pizzas you can easily freeze the leftover crust by rubbing it in olive oil and wrapping it in parchment paper and then a reusable silicon bag, I love these stasher bags for this and freeze ti for up to three months.
Thaw it in the refrigerator overnight, then place it in your bread machine on the rise setting or use accelerate the rising time above.
Serving Ideas
This pizza dough also works well for calzones, stromboli, breadsticks, or a flatbread like this buffalo chicken flatbread recipe.
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Pizza & Flatbread Recipes
- Buffalo Chicken Flatbread Pizza
- Apple Fig Flatbread with Goat Cheese
- Pizza with Shaved Brussels Sprouts and Bacon
If you like this recipe, please comment and rate it below!
Click on serving size to scale this recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup sourdough starter
- 2 teaspoons [yeast]
- ½ cup warm filtered water
- 1 ½ teaspoons [sea salt]
- 1 ½ teaspoons honey
- 3 cups organic flour I use ½ whole wheat and [½ white]
Instructions
Bread Machine Method
- Dissolve yeast, salt and honey in warm water.
- Place the sourdough starter into the bread machine along with the flour and the yeast, water mixture.
- Set the bread machine to the dough cycle.
- Remove the dough from the bread machine and let it sit for about 15 to 20 minutes before shaping it into pizza crust.
- Follow your faovrite pizza recipe to make a pizza.
Traditional Method
- Dissolve the yeast, salt and honey in warm water
- Place the sourdough starter into a mixing bowl and add the yeast & water mixture
- Gradually add up to 3 cups of flour until the dough is no longer sticky. You can use a mixer or a spoon for this.
- Knead the dough 8 to 10 minutes using mixer or your hands.
- Coat the dough with oil and place into a bowl and cover. Place in a warm place and allow it to rise until it has doubled in size. This can take a few hours.
- Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and allow it to rise for an hour longer.
- Follow your favorite pizza recipe to make a pizza
Notes
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and can vary based on cooking methods and ingredients used
Kate says
Homemade pizza is the best! I'll have to try this version!
Ginny says
This pizza dough is Awesome! I was looking for more recipes to use my starter in when I stumbled onto this one. LOVE IT!!!
Anne says
Thank you Ginny! i"m glad you enjoyed it.
Karen @Karen's Kitchen Stories says
I have yet to try freezing dough. I'd love to have some of these dough balls in the fridge any time I need to make a pizza!
Dorothy at Shockingly Delicious says
You may actually convince me to create a sourdough starter just so I can try pizza dough with it!
Colleen - Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck says
I'm not sure if I've ever had a sourdough pizza...totally seems worth the effort though! YUM!
Hezzi-D says
I'm always looking for more sourdough recipes! I've made pizza once and it was amazing so now I need to try this one! YUM!
Amy (Savory Moments) says
Sourdough pizza crust is my go-to - it makes such a light and airy crust and we love it. I'll be trying this whole wheat version for sure.
Lisa Kerhin says
Homemade pizza dough is the best! Time to dig out the bread machine
Kim sourdough novice says
, I used half white bread flour and half whole wheat. Maybe my flour was dry or maybe I should have used all purpose flour. But ended up adding approximately another half cup of water. That’s not a big deal though. I can’t wait to try it.
I’m wondering about the amount of yeast. I’ve used another bread machine pizza recipe that calls for 1 teaspoon yeast and 4 cups of flour. Do you think extra yeast is needed because the sourdough starter is unfed?
Anne says
Yes Kim, it is because the sourdough starter hasn't been recently fed.
Pammer says
I can’t wait to try this......Does it matter what the hydration is for the starter?
Anne says
Hi Pammer, I'm not sure what you mean by hydration. I use filtered water which gives me the best results, I have not tried anything other than water.