Cast Iron Whole Wheat & Herb Sourdough Pizza Crust Recipe
Pizza has always been a bit of a guilty pleasure for us. I’m sure we aren’t alone here, right?! But it is something we have very, very rarely. We prefer not to eat out, plus most bread products hurt my belly. If you feel the same, I have breaking news for you – You don’t have to feel guilty anymore! Enter: sourdough pizza.
This homemade sourdough pizza crust is not only soft, chewy, and delicious – it’s also hearty and nutritious, made with half whole wheat flour! Like other classic sourdough, the pizza dough is naturally-leavened and fermented to perfection, making it more comfortable on your gut and far easier to digest. And then when you top this bad boy off with some organic or homegrown sauce and veggies to boot? It really can’t get much better.
Before we get started, a few notes:
If you are an avid sourdough baker, the steps in this recipe will not be all that foreign for you. However, if you aren’t yet actively working with sourdough, you may need to take a step back for a moment. The recipe calls for active sourdough starter. If that isn’t something you have on hand – don’t worry! I have an easy-to-follow tutorial on how to make your own, using just three ingredients. Or, if you aren’t up for making a starter from scratch, feel free to pick up a dry (but alive!) organic sourdough starter the Homestead and Chill shop. All it needs a little water, flour, and few days to get active again.
You’ve probably already gleaned by the title that we bake our sourdough pizza crust in cast iron. To be precise, we use our favorite large 14-15″ Lodge cast iron skillet. Yeah, it looks neat – but it also provides an extra oomph of heat! Lodge also makes a pretty badass cast iron griddle/pizza pan. We have not tried this recipe using a classic pizza stone, but I imagine it would work out just fine. Be sure to preheat it, and report back to let us know how it goes!
Finally, please note that we suggest allowing your pizza dough to proof (meaning, sit out at room temperature) for several hours after mixing, before rolling out and baking. You could rush this step and do a shorter proof time, but it may result in a less fluffy (and less nutritious) crust. Just giving you a heads up so you can plan your day accordingly!
Okay, are you ready to make some killer pizza?
INGREDIENTS
- 1.5 cups sourdough starter – it should be at peak activity (recently fed and at least doubled in size) – in a similar state you’d add it to your bread recipes.
- 1.5 cups flour – we use 3/4 cup bread flour (or white all purpose) and 3/4 cup whole wheat. For an extra hearty sourdough pizza crust, you can increase the whole wheat ratio, though it will likely be more dense. For a super fluffy crust, go lighter on the whole wheat and heavier on the white.
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp honey – this isn’t absolutely essential, though it helps feed the yeast for a nicer rise, and also adds a welcome tiny touch of sweetness. Did you know that most pizza shops add cane sugar to their dough?
- Up to a 1/4 cup of warm water
- Optional, but delectable – 1/2 tsp onion, 1/2 tsp garlic powder*, and 2 heaping Tbsp of chopped fresh oregano. Substitute fresh oregano for 1 Tbsp dried.
- Your choice of sauce and toppings
*Check out our tutorials on how to make your own garlic powder, and also how to make onion powder! These fresh homemade seasonings are so versatile, and have unbeatable flavor!
INSTRUCTIONS
1) Mix Dough
In a large mixing bowl, combine the called-for flour, active sourdough starter, olive oil, honey, salt, chopped herbs and seasonings. Lightly mix.
Next, slowly add up to a quarter cup of warm water – you may not need all of it! Pour in small amounts of water at a time, mixing and assessing the consistency of the dough as you go. I typically mix my sourdough with clean bare hands. It doesn’t need to be heavily kneaded. Form the finished pizza dough into a ball, and leave it in the bottom of your mixing bowl.
If you’re accustomed to making sourdough bread, keep in mind this dough shouldn’t be quite as wet or gooey. However, it shouldn’t be crumbly and dry, like when you make sourdough crackers either! The amount of water needed will vary depending on the hydration and consistency of your sourdough starter. The last time we made this, I added the whole ¼ cup of water but found I needed to add just a pinch more flour afterwards to get it how I like it.
2) Let It Proof
After mixing, cover the bowl and dough with a tea towel. A damp tea towel will help it maintain even more moisture. Allow the pizza dough to proof for at least 30 minutes, up to several hours. We opt for a longer proof (about 3 hours) for a better rise! You can go beyond this if you wish. The more fermentation time, the healthier it is and easier to digest too.
3) Preheat
Once your dough has proofed for the desired amount of time, go ahead and preheat the oven to 450°F. Place your cast iron skillet inside the oven, preheating it as well. Again, a pizza stone could be used here instead.
Cast iron cooking brings the heat! While this is desirable for the most part, it also means things can accidentally get a bit crispy sometimes. We recently learned a trick to help prevent burning the bottom of our bread loaves or pizza: Place a spare baking sheet on the empty oven rack below the one your cast iron is sitting on. This helps absorb some of the heat before it gets to your pan. No more burnt bottoms!
4) Roll & Rest
Lightly flour a piece of parchment paper, cut to a size that is a tad larger than the bottom of your pan. I suggest doing this on a cutting board for added mobility – making it easier to transfer your pizza dough into the hot cast iron later. Also very lightly dust the top of the dough ball and rolling pin with flour. Gently roll out the pizza dough into a circle to your desired size and thickness with a rolling pin. Avoid over-rolling or smushing too hard.
Using a fork, lightly poke the top of the pizza dough evenly across the surface in about a dozen places.
Next, let the rolled-out pizza crust sit at room temperature for a final 15 minutes – not yet in the hot cast iron. This will allow it to fluff back up. Ours usually form nice air bubbles during this time!
Note: If you only have a petite cast iron skillet on hand, you’ll either end up with a really thick crust, or may want to split your dough into two smaller pies.
5) Par-Bake
After the pizza dough has its final period of rest, remove the cast iron skillet from the oven. Carefully slide the parchment paper and pizza crust into the center of the hot pan.
Bake the naked pizza crust for 8 minutes with no toppings.
6) Dress It Up & Bake Again
Remove the crust from the oven, and smear on a layer of your favorite pizza sauce. We personally love making sourdough pizza with our homemade garden “besto pesto” as the sauce! You can find that recipe here. That, or our simple roasted tomato sauce we make every summer. They both make for a killer pizza! In lieu of sauce, you could brush on a very light coating of olive oil instead.
Next, add your toppings of choice. Our toppings shown here include thinly sliced garden zucchini, various tomatoes, pieces of colorful swiss chard stalks, a combination of organic sharp cheddar and parmesan cheese, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Bits of fresh homegrown basil were added once it was finished cooking.
Finally, bake your dressed pizza for another 12-15 minutes, until the cheese melts and the crust turns golden brown.
You may find it best to rotate your pan halfway through to promote even browning. We do!
7) Enjoy!
Pat yourself on the back, slice up your pie, and stuff your face. You did great! Okay, maybe skip the last part…. Or don’t. I won’t judge.
I hope you enjoy this healthy, scrumptious sourdough pizza crust as much as we do! Please come back and let us know, and share this recipe with all your friends!
Are you drooling yet?
If you love this recipe, you may be interested in checking out some of our other sourdough, pesto, and garden-to-table vegetarian recipes:
- Simple No-Knead Sourdough Bread Recipe
- Sourdough Discard Herb Crackers Recipe
- Baked Sourdough Tortilla Corn Chips
- Simple Sourdough Focaccia Bread
- Pesto Zoodles (Zucchini Noodles)
- Fiesta-Style Wild Rice & Veggie Stuffed Summer Squash
- Creamy Vegan Roasted Carrot & Sweet Potato Soup
Cast Iron Whole Wheat & Herb Sourdough Pizza Crust
Equipment
- Large cast iron skillet (14-15") or Pizza Stone – otherwise, split dough into two smaller pies
- Rolling pin
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups Sourdough starter – it should be at peak activity (recently fed and at least doubled in size) – in a similar state you’d add it to your bread recipes.
- 1.5 cups Flour of choice. We use 3/4 cup bread flour (or white all purpose) and 3/4 cup whole wheat.
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1/4 cup warm water (maximum)
- 1/2 tsp onion powder, optional
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder, optional
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh oregano, or 1 tbsp dry
- choice of sauce, cheese, and toppings
Instructions
- Thoroughly combine the flour, active sourdough starter, olive oil, honey, salt, chopped herbs and seasonings as well as up to ¼ cup warm water. Start with half the water, mix, and slowly add more as needed to get a thoroughly mixed, soft dough – but not gooey and wet. The amount can vary based on how wet your sourdough starter is.
- Once combined allow the dough to proof from 30 minutes to 3 hours (or longer). Keep the dough in a mixing bowl covered with a tea towel. The longer the proof time, the more light and airy the crust will be!
- When your chosen proofing time is nearing an end, place your cast iron skillet or pizza stone in the oven and preheat at 450 degrees.
- Lightly flour the parchment paper, top of the dough ball, and rolling pin and roll out the dough to your desired size and thickness.
- Once rolled out, use a fork to poke the surface of the dough evenly in about a dozen places and allow the dough to rest at room temperature for another 15 minutes.
- Once the dough has finished resting, place it on your skillet or pizza stone and par bake the naked crust for 8 minutes.
- After 8 minutes, remove the crust from the oven and dress your pizza any way you desire. Once your pizza is dressed to your liking, put it back into the oven for a final 12 to 15 minute bake.
- Once finished baking, slice your sourdough pizza and enjoy!
52 Comments
Kim
I have been searching for a good sourdough pizza crust and I’ve found it! This is the best! I was wondering if it could be frozen after par baking. Has anyone tried that? I followed the recipe exactly as written and it was perfect.
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Kim, we haven’t tried to freeze the crust after par baking but it sounds like it is worth the shot. Glad to hear you enjoy the pizza crust and have fun baking!
Barb
If making GF what weight of flour would you use? I have a GF bread flour but I guess it would weigh less than the whole wheat. Thanks.
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Barb, we have yet to make this pizza dough with GF flour but many GF flour mixes may be used at a 1-1 substitution ratio for regular flour recipes. I would start out pretty close to the original recipe and see how the dough comes together and adjust from there. Have fun baking!
Galya
This looks so yummy! I have a zucchini that’s ready to be picked in the garden and fresh tomatoes, I might just make it for dinner tomorrow! How would you adjust if you needed to keep it in the fridge overnight? Would it be similar with bread where you let it sit and rise half-way, and then finish rising in the fridge?
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Gayla, this may be a tad late but I think you could let it proof overnight in the fridge, you just may run into the dough over-proofing as well. You could also likely follow the instructions all the way up until you par bake the pizza dough, where you would then store the par baked pizza dough overnight in the fridge. Let us know how it worked out for you and hopefully you enjoy the pizza!
Allison
If you put together a little sourdough cookbook in print, I would buy it. Or maybe on little recipe cards and we could order them in a package? All your recipes are so good and I would buy your cookbook.
Natalie
OMG this is the. best. pizza. ever. Seriously, it’s perfect! The bottom gets slightly crispy but overall remains soft and chewy (my favorite texture for pizza dough). My tip would be to roll it out thinner than you would think and then bake on a pizza stone. *chefs kiss* Now my stomach is rumbling…
Andrea
Most of your recipes you give the grams. Can you do that for the starter? My starter is fluffy and then you start trying to spoon it into a measuring cup and it really condenses. Not sure if I’m using the right amount. Thanks!
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hello Andrea, the next time we make the pizza we will weigh out the starter and add it to the recipe for a general guide. I think you will be just fine adding a cup of starter to the dough no matter how much it condenses down. Thanks for reading and happy baking!
Coco
I made this recipe today. I’m the dough I used fresh thyme and Rosemary and dried oregano. For toppings I used olive oil, sautéed onions, olives, and goat cheese. It came out delicious. My cast iron is currently packed away so I used a regular baking dish and it came out just fine. One tip I learned is to not be scared to roll out the dough thin. I rolled it out pretty thin to about a little larger than a standard round cast iron but I was worried to roll it anymore. It rose A LOT in the oven and I realize now i really could make it even thinner if I want a thinner crust. My crust rose almost an inch thick. Really delicious. Also for the bulk fermentation I tried doing it overnight in the fridge and it didn’t rise at all for some reason (my starter may not yet be sturdy enough.) In the morning I put it in the oven set to 90 degrees to rise for 4 hours and it came out fine.
Chelcy
This recipe is a favorite in our house, even with my picky little boys! We make this almost weekly, and it is so easy and delicious.
Erika Smith Merrell
Can this pizza dough be made ahead and frozen or refrigerated for later use?
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hello Erika, we have yet to freeze the dough but it is worth a shot. Let us know how it works out for you if you give it a go. Good luck!
Mary
Make this pizza dough at least twice a month. And somehow it is fool proof. One tip, I don’t find my starter is strong enough so I bloom a packet of red star yeast in the water with honey. This gives me the really airy, soft yet crunchy dough. I’ve made with and without additional seasonings, trust me, add the oregano, garlic and onion! I split mine into two balls for thin crust and I think it’s perfect. Also I top mine with homemade pizza sauce, so after I parbake the crusts, I add the sauce and parbake a second time. Thanks for the amazing recipe. I’ve probably made it 25 times and it is hands down my favorite.
Angel
Hi – Would it be possible to make this pizza base using gluten free flour and starter?? If so what would need to be alterations to make it work.
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Angel, you could absolutely make the crust gluten free, however we have yet to make one so it would just take some experimenting on your part. Adding more flour or water to make the consistency of the dough as similar as possible though you could probably use the same amount of starter as we do in this recipe. Good luck and let us know how it turns out for you.