This quick and easy sourdough discard pizza dough makes the most amazing pizza bases. Using that sourdough discard means you get the wonderful sourdough benefits along with a lot less waste.
Why Sourdough discard?
When full sourdough is obviously the better choice why bother with making sourdough discard recipes?
There are a number of reasons why using sourdough starter discard is still worthwhile. The reasons include time, waste and health benefits.
Time. Because sourdough discard require some sort of other rising agent this can mean a quicker rise time for any recipes that require rising. For this pizza recipe we add quick rise instant yeast. instant yeast has a lot quicker rise time than sourdough and so can be more convenient to use.
Waste. Anyone who knows sourdough know that during starter feeding there can be waste. Removing part of the starter in order to feed your starter always bugged me at how much waste there can be. I know its only flour but it felt wasteful to me so discovering that I can use this discard was a wonderful thing.
Health benefits. Sourdough cultures have some wonderful benefits for our gut heath and anytime we can add an element of this to our baking can’t be bad. While you may not get all the benefits over a slow ferment you will still get some. If you choose to store your dough overnight in the fridge then the dough will also have a longer time to ferment meaning even more benefits despite it only being a discard recipe.
If you want more sourdough discard recipe ideas then please check out my sourdough discard post as well as my sourdough blog posts.
This post includes affiliate links, see my full disclaimer
Tools and Ingredients for Discard Pizza Dough
Tools:
- Mixing bowl or a stand mixer with a dough hook
- Kitchen scale
- Measuring spoons
- Plastic container/tub, optional
- Plastic wrap or some sort of plastic cover
- Tea towel
- Pizza stone or pizza oven for cooking
Ingredients for discard pizza dough:
- 00 Pizza flour, this is a must for the best pizzas. This isn’t the same as bread flour.
- Sourdough discard, this doesn’t need to be active and bubbly.
- Quick rise instant yeast. This yeast does not require activating.
- Sugar, any will do
- Sea salt
- Water, use room temperature not cold water. Filtered water is also the best if you have it.
How to make the Discard Pizza Dough
Begin with placing the water, discard, sugar and yeast into a mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer.
Give a good mix to blend it together. Don’t worry if the dried yeast looks a little lumpy that’s normal. We really want the discard to be blended into the water. This makes it easier to blend it evenly into the flour.
Now add in the flour and salt. If you have a stand mixer I would recommend using it with the dough hook. If not you will need to knead it by hand which may take a little longer. The knead times I am using are for the stand mixer.
If you are kneading by hand bring all the ingredients together to a rough ball then place on to a work surface to continue kneading. Try not to add any more flour otherwise you will alter the end result.
Knead the dough for around 8-10 minutes of until you are able to do the stretch test. We want the dough to be smooth and elastic.
Rise
Once it is ready I like to place it into an oiled plastic container. I have found I can see the rise easier this way. You can also use the bowl it was mixed in, just oil it before placing the dough back into it.
Cover the bowl or container with plastic, this could be cling wrap, plastic bags or hair caps this is what I use.
Place it in a warm area and leave to rise. We want it to double in size. Depending on your space this could take anywhere from 3 to 6 hours. Just keep an eye on it. Obviously if it warm where you are it will be quicker and if it is cold then it will be longer.
Once it has doubled you pizza dough is ready.
This recipe will make anywhere from 2 to 4 pizza depending on size.
I made 3 with mine, I divided them as equally as I could. I then made one pizza and saved the other two.
Storing the pizza dough
If you don’t want to use your pizza dough right away you can place the balls into separate plastic storage bags.
If you are going to use them the next day or the latest two days later then place them in the fridge. They can be removed and used right away.
If you want to store them longer then you can freeze the discard pizza dough balls for up to a month.
When you are ready to use them remove them and leave to unthaw on your countertop. As long as it is defrosted the dough can still be used if it is cold.
Top Tips
- Try and stretch the dough as thin as you can.
- Have a hot oven at least 500F or use a pizza oven.
- Use a pizza stone.
- Don’t use too many toppings. Keep it simple.
- You do not need active discard.
- Place your stretched pizza base onto a well floured surface.
Quick Sourdough Discard Pizza Dough
This is an amazing and simple recipe creates a wonderful crispy chewy sourdough discard pizza dough packed full of flavour.
Ingredients
- 35g Sourdough starter discard
- 255g Room temperature water
- 7g Quick rise yeast
- 1 1/2 tsp sugar
- 480g 00 Pizza flour
- 12g Salt
Instructions
- Begin with placing the water, discard, sugar and yeast into a mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer.
- Give a good mix to blend it together. Don't worry if the dried yeast looks a little lumpy that's normal. We really want the discard to be blended into the water. This makes it easier to blend it evenly into the flour.
- Now add in the flour and salt. If you have a stand mixer I would recommend using it with the dough hook. If not you will need to knead it by hand which may take a little longer. The knead times I am using are for the stand mixer.
- If you are kneading by hand bring all the ingredients together to a rough ball then place on to a work surface to continue kneading. Try not to add any more flour otherwise you will alter the end result.
- Knead the dough for around 8-10 minutes of until you are able to do the stretch test. We want the dough to be smooth and elastic.
- Once it is ready I like to place it into an oiled plastic container. I have found I can see the rise easier this way. You can also use the bowl it was mixed in, just oil it before placing the dough back into it.
- Cover the bowl or container with plastic, this could be cling wrap, plastic bags or hair caps this is what I use.
- Place it in a warm area and leave to rise. We want it to double in size. Depending on your space this could take anywhere from 3 to 6 hours. Just keep an eye on it. Obviously if it warm where you are it will be quicker and if it is cold then it will be longer.
- Once it has doubled you pizza dough is ready to use.
This recipe will make anywhere from 2 to 4 pizza depending on size.
I made 3 with mine, I divided them as equally as I could. I then made one pizza and saved the other two, see the notes below.
Notes
If you don't want to use your pizza dough right away you can place the balls into separate plastic storage bags.
If you are going to use them the next day or the latest two days later then place them in the fridge. They can be removed and used right away.
If you want to store them longer then you can freeze the discard pizza dough balls for up to a month. When you are ready to use them remove them and leave to unthaw on your countertop. As long as it is defrosted the dough can still be used if it is cold.
For the best pizza see my top tips above in my main post. They are well worth checking out.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 3 Serving Size: 1 pizzaAmount Per Serving: Calories: 37Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 1555mgCarbohydrates: 7gFiber: 1gSugar: 2gProtein: 2g
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