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You are here: Home / Bakes / Sourdough Pizza with Sourdough Discard Dough

April 7, 2020

Sourdough Pizza with Sourdough Discard Dough

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Last Updated on September 20, 2021

An Easy Sourdough Pizza Recipe with Sourdough.

Skip straight to my recipe for sourdough discard pizza

Having recently joined the growing number of people making their own sourdough bread, I’ve been busily feeding and discarding my starter for the last week or so.  And, I’ve been just a little shocked.  All that gloop going in the bin – it seemed wasteful to me.  So, I’ve searched the internet for a solution and found a wealth of ideas to use up the sourdough discard.

Ever wondered how that posh sourdough pizza base comes from?  Well, I have an answer – it is easily made from the discard starter perked up with a little extra flour and olive oil.  I’m sure commercial pizza-makers don’t use the leftover starter from bread-making.  But, for a small household like mine, it’s a great solution and one which is closer to the origin of pizza than you might imagine.

Sourdough Pizza Cooked

Pizza as we know it today is an evolution of early bread making,  from before the days of commercial yeasts.  Wiki talks about a number of early precursors – round cakes like pita bread that were topped with vegetables and appeared in the Aeneid (ca 19 BC), a flatbread called Plakous that was flavoured with herbs, onion, cheese and garlic and enjoyed by the Ancient Greeks…or even Persian soldiers baking flatbread on their battle shields in the 6th century BC.  Of course, there were no tomatoes at that time, so it wasn’t that much like the type of pizza we eat today.  Even in 16th Century Naples, Pizza was really an affordable streetfood. By the mid 17th century, pizzas were topped with oil and tomato – and had become a delicacy.  The Pizza Margherita, garnished with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil to represent the national colours of Italy was created by a Neopolitan pizza maker in honour of Margherita of Savoy, the Queen Consort of Italy at the time.

In fact, there are very few rules about what you need to top a pizza.  Even tomatoes are not necessary – Pizza Bianca, for instance, is NEVER made with tomatoes and usually includes a mix of mozzarella or other cheeses together with ham, vegetables and olive oil.  I still use pizza as a way to use up scraps of vegetables, meat and cheese in the fridge and I have to confess I’m rather taken by the idea that I can use scraps of sourdough starter too.

Here’s another set of toppings – you add a handful of rocket or arugula right at the end while the pizza is still piping hot so that it just wilts a little but still has texture.
Sourdough Pizza with Rocket

Here’s how to make your own rustic style pizza.  This one is the right size for four moderate eaters or for two really hungry people.  And, it’s a great way to make use of your sourdough discard.  If for some reason you are not making sourdough bread, then simply substitute 7g of fast-acting yeast and increase the quantity of flour to 400g.

Sourdough Pizza Cooked
Print Recipe
4.85 from 20 votes

Sourdough Pizza Recipe

The perfect sourdough pizza using sourdough discard
Prep Time15 minutes mins
Cook Time10 minutes mins
Resting time30 minutes mins
Total Time25 minutes mins
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: olives, Onion, Pizza, sourdough, Tomato
Servings: 4
Calories: 610kcal
Author: Fiona Maclean

Ingredients

Pizza Base

  • 150 g sourdough discard
  • 250 g white flour
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 dessertspoon olive oil
  • 1 tsp honey or caster sugar
  • 125 ml warm water

Pizza Topping

  • 1/2 red onion finely sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 tbsp tomato passata
  • 1 tomato
  • 1 handful fresh basil
  • 2 slices parma ham or similar
  • 12 olives stoned and sliced
  • 1 ball mozzarella
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • vegetables of your choice - mushrooms, peppers, courgette etc
  • Salt and pepper

Instructions

Pizza Base

  • Put the flour, salt and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Stir to mix
  • Make a well in the middle and add the sourdough starter, oil and honey (if using)
  • Use a fork to pull in the flour, then add warm water till you can form the mixture into a dough
  • Knead on a floured board for 10-15 minutes or using the dough hook of your mixer for 8-10 minutes
  • Cover and leave to rest for at least an hour until the dough has doubled in size. This may take up to 4 hours. It's safe to leave the dough out for up to eight hours until you are ready to bake.
  • When you are ready to bake your pizza preheat the oven to around 250c

Pizza

  • Take the dough and roll out or stretch into one or two rounds on a sheet of silicone baking paper
  • Smear the top of the dough with passata
  • Sprinkle over the minced garlic
  • Layer on the remaining vegetables leaving the sliced fresh tomato till the end.
  • Top with shredded ham and mozzarella and season with salt and pepper
  • Slide the baking paper onto your pizza stone or steel or onto a large baking sheet
  • Bake for 8-10 minutes until the cheese is melting and the edge of the pizza is golden brown

Nutrition

Calories: 610kcal | Carbohydrates: 84g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 48mg | Sodium: 756mg | Potassium: 324mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 834IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 318mg | Iron: 5mg

Like the look of this recipe?  Why not pin the post for later

Sourdough Discard Pizza

 

 

Looking for a different way to use your sourdough discard?  Try this classic French Pissaladiere recipe

 

 

 

Filed Under: Bakes Tagged With: mushroom, olives, pizza, sourdough, tomato, vegetarian

About Fiona Maclean

Home cook, recipe writer, food and wine lover and traveller, Fiona Maclean is trying to move to a flexitarian diet where she eats less meat and more plant-based foods. Sharing her journey on The Frugal Flexitarian, she offers dishes inspired by her childhood and travels

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. fiona says

    April 25, 2020 at 8:57 am

    5 stars
    A great way to use up that left over sourdough discard

    Reply
    • Julie says

      March 18, 2023 at 11:05 am

      I’ve just made some dough and have left it to rise. I doubled the recipe and used 400 plain flour and 100 strong white. Hoping it works! I make sourdough bread and this dough felt lovely and soft snd smooth when I had kneaded it. Fingers crossed as we have guests coming to watch the rugby! Thanks for your expertise Fiona!

      Reply
  2. Bob Woodcock says

    May 23, 2020 at 1:41 pm

    5 stars
    This creates an amazing pizza crust. We made 2 smaller pizzas for the two of us and ended up with one leftover for a dinner early next week. I’ve been making pizza directly on the BBQ for a while now. No stone or pan required, just place the dough on a hot grill and rotate it a quarter turn every 30 seconds or so. Keep an eye on it so you don’t burn it but the end result is a bit of char on the crust just like a pizzeria.

    The secret is to grill the first side with no toppings. Once the first side is done, flip it on the grill for just a couple of seconds, bring it back into the kitchen and top the grilled side of the dough. Once you’ve added your toppings put it back on the grill and keep an eye on the bottom, you don’t want to burn it. We usually pop it under the broiler to finish the cheese.

    We topped ours using different ingredients but I imagine the topping sin this recipe would be great.

    Reply
    • Dylan Hopkinson says

      January 1, 2021 at 3:38 pm

      Fantastic pizza recipe, previously I had made pizzas with bakers yeast that ended up thick and bread, while these ended up thin and crispy much more like a traditional Italian pizza.

      I can see this becoming a regular thing on our household menu.

      Reply
      • Fiona says

        January 2, 2021 at 8:05 am

        Thank you – I’m glad you enjoyed it!

        Reply
      • Fiona Maclean says

        June 17, 2024 at 7:22 pm

        5 stars
        thanks:)

        Reply
      • Sheila says

        February 13, 2025 at 6:57 pm

        5 stars
        Thanks for sharing this recipe. Delighted to use s.d. discard for something savory! I will probably omit the honey next time & didn’t have time to make passata so I used small amount of Rao’s marinara sauce (no sugar!) And a variety of ‘Italian type veg’. So good! Even veg-averse hubby enjoyed everything .. Will make again.

        Reply
    • Fiona Maclean says

      January 19, 2021 at 11:30 am

      5 stars
      I will try on the BBQ once the weather gets a bit better – sounds amazing!

      Reply
    • Krystina says

      April 29, 2024 at 7:42 pm

      Once the dough is made, can it be frozen for making pizzas in the future?

      Reply
      • Fiona Maclean says

        April 30, 2024 at 9:31 am

        I’ve never tried doing that, but I would imagine that’s perfectly reasonable

        Reply
      • Emma-Jane Jervis says

        June 8, 2024 at 9:06 pm

        Did you try to freeze it? I’ve just done the same. I’ve stretched out two bases and popped them in the freezer between baking parchment. Not sure what to do when cooking them though!

        Reply
        • Fiona Maclean says

          June 17, 2024 at 7:22 pm

          5 stars
          My own freezer is too small for this. But honestly I can’t see why it wouldn’t work. I would take out of the freezer and top while frozen, then cook from frozen and just watch carefully!

          Reply
  3. Christine says

    June 16, 2020 at 12:15 am

    5 stars
    Been having great results with this recipe!

    I was throwing out my sourdough discard every day because living in a single-person household, none of the sourdough discard recipes on the internet (muffins, crackers, waffles, BREAD) were very practical for me to make on a daily basis. Now I make this sourdough discard pizza dough, divide into two balls of dough, refrigerate for 24 hours after kneading, and then either use or freeze. I’ve also got lots of pizza dough to give out to friends who love it!

    As I discard ~100g of starter per day, I’ve been scaling the recipe to 2/3 with good results. The only feedback I’d mention is that the “pinch” of salt in the ingredients list is rather vague and I did need more than just one or two turns from my sea salt grinder.

    Reply
    • fiona says

      July 9, 2020 at 9:24 pm

      I was taught that a ‘pinch’ was definitely more than one or two turns of a seasalt grinder. But fair point, it would be just as easy to put half a teaspoon…! will edit later

      Reply
      • Lori Messer says

        February 20, 2021 at 6:44 pm

        I actually used 9 gms of salt and the pizza dough turned out amazing!

        Reply
        • Fiona says

          April 28, 2021 at 7:40 am

          5 stars
          Thanks! I think the quantity of salt you use will be based partly on personal taste. Next time I try myself I’ll actually measure (and may well try a bit more)

          Reply
  4. Carmen says

    August 22, 2020 at 9:54 am

    How old is your discard? I only feed my starter once a week and then collect the discard. Therefore, sometimes my discard has 1-3 weeks old before I use it in recipes. I have made great focaccia with 3 week old discard and assume can do your pizza too? Thank you, Carmen

    Reply
    • fiona says

      October 16, 2020 at 9:03 am

      5 stars
      I do much the same and make focaccia too. Yes, my discard can be three weeks old or so – every so often I do tip it out and start again (probably once a month but I haven’t got it on a calendar) if for some reason I haven’t used enough

      Reply
  5. Joanne says

    December 15, 2020 at 11:31 pm

    Hello I feed my starter every day. Reading these messages I feel I am doing something wrong. Today I made some dough with the discarded starter for a pizza which I shall bake tomorrow.

    Reply
    • Fiona says

      December 19, 2020 at 8:08 pm

      I don’t feed my starter every day because I only bake once a week and I keep it in the fridge. You need to decide what works for you!

      Reply
  6. Kay says

    December 31, 2020 at 12:06 pm

    Would you use plain or bread flour for this? The recipe just says white.

    Reply
    • Fiona says

      December 31, 2020 at 8:05 pm

      Ideally bread flour, but plain flour will work. It may just be a bit chewier!

      Reply
  7. Beverly McCarthy says

    December 31, 2020 at 7:49 pm

    What is the amount of a dessert spoon?

    Reply
    • Fiona says

      December 31, 2020 at 8:06 pm

      A dessert spoon is 10 grams or two teaspoons

      Reply
  8. Su Chen says

    January 19, 2021 at 7:51 am

    OMG… disaster. The silicone baking paper stuck onto the pizza base.
    We couldn’t even peel off the paper!
    Why did this not happen to anyone else??
    Would love to hear more comments

    Reply
    • Fiona says

      January 19, 2021 at 11:24 am

      Hi Su

      Silicone baking paper never sticks once the pizza is cooked. There are a few possibilities. If your oven doesn’t cook at a high enough temperature, then you will always struggle with pizza. It should be pre-heated – and the temperature I have provided is Centigrade, not Fahrenheit which I know is the common oven temperature measure in the USA (I am from the UK). You DO need silicone paper, not greaseproof paper. I personally have never tried with greaseproof paper, but I believe if you needed to substitute it would be possible, but you’d have to oil the paper lightly first. I have even cooked this on a pizza-steel with no paper at all – so I can attest that the dough doesn’t stick if made properly. If you used regular flour rather than bread flour that might also cause a problem. Different flours need different quantities of water so if you made a dough that was too wet in the first place because you were using a different flour that would also cause a problem. I still wouldn’t expect it to stick if you cooked the pizza for long enough. You can clearly see from the photos how the crust should look. Was your pizza like that?

      Reply
    • Helen says

      July 14, 2024 at 11:35 am

      Hi, I am trying this recipe for the first time today with discard. I make pizza often and always sprinkle polenta on my greaseproof paper if that helps for next time

      Reply
  9. Lori Messer says

    February 20, 2021 at 6:49 pm

    Thank you for this recipe, I have been making sourdough bread for over 6 months now, I feed my starter once a week and shave been throwing the discard out. Yesterday, I wanted to make pizza dough so researched your recipe. Best tasting pizza dough EVER! I’m so excited to be adding this to my recipe repertoire! I made my version of a Margherita, although I baked the basil and it did turn dark, but was still tasty! I wish I could post a picture of it.

    Reply
    • Fiona Maclean says

      March 18, 2021 at 10:10 pm

      5 stars
      Glad you enjoyed it!

      Reply
  10. Tracey says

    March 18, 2021 at 8:32 pm

    5 stars
    Easy to follow and make and it tasted great. Thank you so much!

    Reply
    • Fiona says

      March 19, 2021 at 10:02 am

      I love making this – and I’m glad you approve!

      Reply
  11. Wendy says

    April 17, 2021 at 2:38 pm

    Once the dough is made, is it ok to freeze it and use at a later time?

    Reply
    • Fiona says

      April 17, 2021 at 2:41 pm

      Theoretically yes, but I haven’t tried (I never have any freezer space!)

      Reply
    • Krystina says

      April 29, 2024 at 7:43 pm

      Did you try this Wendy? I’m hoping to do the same!

      Reply
  12. Janice says

    April 19, 2021 at 10:09 pm

    5 stars
    Great recipe! Easy to make and delicious. Thank you for a great way to use up sourdough discard.

    Reply
  13. Kay says

    September 5, 2021 at 6:43 am

    5 stars
    Just tried this recipe for lunch today. It was easy, quick and tasty! We used 100g plain flour + 150g bread flour and it came out crispy. This will be our classic sourdough discard recipe from now on. Thank you!

    Reply
  14. Teresa Johnson says

    September 11, 2021 at 3:32 am

    5 stars
    This was delicious!! This will be my go-to pizza crust!

    Reply
  15. Joan says

    October 26, 2021 at 8:18 am

    Do I need to add sugar and oil?

    Reply
    • Fiona says

      October 27, 2021 at 7:52 am

      I don’t add either. You don’t need sugar in the dough – but if you want a softer ‘focaccia style’ base, then you could try adding some olive oil and sugar or honey. If you check my sourdough focaccia here – https://frugalflexitarian.com/easy-sourdough-focaccia/ you’ll see what I mean. I’ve been known to add a little sugar to the topping if I’ve bought poor quality tomato passata or tried making my own with UK tomatoes which lack sunshine sweetness!

      Reply
  16. Eric Bunn says

    October 30, 2021 at 10:02 pm

    This is the PERFECT sourdough pizza dough recipe!! I have modified it slightly. 50:50 white and wheat flour. A little more olive oil and honey. I’ve made dozens of pizzas and they just keep getting better and better!!!! Best thing I got from Covid. How to make sourdough starter and this recipe!!!!!

    Reply
    • Fiona says

      November 21, 2021 at 7:49 pm

      5 stars
      LOL glad you enjoyed it. I use more olive oil and honey in my sourdough focaccia. If you like a lighter, fluffier base then it’s definitely the way to go.

      Reply
  17. Jenny says

    March 25, 2022 at 9:42 pm

    After kneading and it has doubled in size, can I put it in the refrigerator to use it at a later time? If so, do I need to allow it to rise again after taking it out of the refrigerator before baking?

    Reply
    • Fiona says

      April 28, 2022 at 7:16 pm

      Honestly it’s not something I’ve tried. If I want to use the base at a later time on the same day I put it in the fridge to rise, which slows the process down a lot. Then I check about an hour before I’m ready to cook and if it hasn’t doubled, I take the dough out to finish. If it has doubled, I still take it out 10-15 minutes before I am ready to cook so it is at room temperature.

      Reply
  18. Anita says

    May 15, 2022 at 9:49 am

    Hi, Fiona

    If I want to add a little instant yeast how much would you recommend? I am not super confident about the strength of my discard (about 3 weeks old) so am thinking I may need a bit of instant yeast to help. Thanks

    Reply
    • Fiona says

      May 26, 2022 at 9:04 am

      Really hard for me to say – I think I’d probably put in half of one of those little packs and see if that worked. It’s not dreadful if the base doesn’t rise a lot though, just more like a flatbread pizza

      Reply
  19. Candi says

    July 5, 2022 at 5:39 pm

    Anyone else have to add more flour? My discard was really runny. That could’ve been the case. I usually use my discard when it’s thicker bc of this phenom 😂 it was also unrefrigerated so maybe that didn’t help.

    I added heaps more flour I hope it still comes out good!!!

    I will try again when my sourdough discard is a little stiffer

    Reply
    • Fiona says

      September 12, 2022 at 9:45 am

      My own discard is kind of thick. But, even the type of flour will make a difference – depending on how ‘strong’ the flour is, the amount of water it can absorb will change. So, using common sense (as you have done) is the way to go. Let me know how you get on!

      Reply
  20. Angela W Broyles says

    September 11, 2022 at 11:49 am

    5 stars
    Yummy! I used some of the discard that had been fed 12 hours before, and some that was in the refrigerator. Came out more sour than 100% fed 12 hours before. I put it in my bread machine on dough cycle. It had not risen enough at the point the machine finished. Let it rise a few more hours on the counter and it turned out great!

    Reply
  21. Liz says

    December 16, 2023 at 3:09 am

    3 stars
    I so badly wanted to love this but it was a pretty heavy fail for me. Probably my own mistake, so here’s where I think I went wrong in case it helps anyone else… I thought “white flour” meant all purpose, so I intentionally didn’t use bread flour (which felt odd for pizza dough). Then the water measurements were in milliliters rather than grams like everything else. According to my scale they’re the same, so that may be a non issue. That said… I think using the wrong flour type hosed up my hydration volume, so I was left with a super loose, sticky dough that never came together. After about 15 minutes on the mixer with little improvement, I added a heavy scoop of flour. Five more minute, another scoop of flour. 10-15 more minutes and I felt like I was just being abusive to the poor, sticky dough at that point so I said a prayer and covered it up to rest. After about 3 hours it still looked pretty sad, so I tried to shape my sticky pal into a pizza-ish form, topped it and baked it on a well heated pizza stone as per the instructions. Aside from being massively misshapen, it looked like there may be hope when I pulled it out. But it was SUPER tough and had a thin layer that was still undercooked (despite the rest of it being debatably overcooked) after hours of work I still had to pull out a frozen pizza for the family to eat. Super bummed, but given all of the other great reviews I suspect my case was user error.

    Reply
    • Fiona says

      December 25, 2023 at 3:34 pm

      The flour will definitely make a difference and you are right it should be bread flour or 00 flour. I will update the recipe and try to come up with a way to describe the dough consistency – you should have eomething you can ‘stretch’. That will also depend on your sourdough discard. I do normally put liquid measures in millilitres – for some people it’s more convenient as you can use a measuring jug.

      Reply
  22. Geeziegirl says

    January 21, 2024 at 10:56 pm

    Can we used 100% wheat and if so does anything need to change? Asking for whole food plant based people 😊

    Reply
  23. Sonja says

    February 9, 2024 at 12:03 pm

    5 stars
    Great recipe, I finally found a way to use my sourdough discard!

    Reply
  24. Dianna says

    May 4, 2024 at 3:08 pm

    We use this recipe all the time and love it. I just made a triple batch as I had a lot of sour dough starter I needed to use up. Can you freeze the dough for use later?

    Reply
  25. Chloe says

    April 11, 2025 at 11:52 am

    4 stars
    Would it be better to use fed start for this recipe or could I use my discard before feeding to make it?

    Reply
    • Fiona Maclean says

      May 5, 2025 at 8:50 am

      I use my discard without feeding

      Reply

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