After making thousands of pizzas in resort kitchens, this is the formula I use at home. No oil, long cold fermentation, and just four ingredients. Mix it in your stand mixer, throw it in the fridge, and you’ve got dough that stretches easy and bakes with leopard spots and real chew. The 24-48 hour cold ferment is where the flavor happens—plan ahead.

This recipe gives you two options: a 5-pound batch for feeding a crowd or catering, and a scaled-down version that makes four dough balls for a weeknight pizza session. Both use the same method, just different quantities. Use 00 flour if you can get it, bread flour if you can’t. Either works.

Chef Griffin

Sourdough Pizza Dough for Mixer (5 lb + Small Batch)

Professional sourdough pizza dough recipe for stand mixers. Makes 17 or 4 dough balls (250g each). No oil, 65% hydration, 24-72 hour cold fermentation. Perfect for Neapolitan-style pizza at home.

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Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

LARGE BATCH (5 lb flour – yields 17 × 250g dough balls):

2268 g 5 lbs 00 flour
1474 g 6¼ cups water, room temperature
454 g active sourdough starter 100% hydration
50 g fine sea salt

SMALL BATCH (yields 4 × 250g dough balls):

533 g 1 lb 3 oz 00 flour
346 g 1½ cups water, room temperature
107 g active sourdough starter 100% hydration
12 g fine sea salt

Method

Starter Prep (6-8 hours before mixing):

Feed your sourdough starter so it’s at peak when you mix—doubled, bubbly, domed on top.

Mixing:

Add water to mixer bowl. Add starter, mix briefly on Speed 1 to dissolve (30 seconds).
Add flour and salt. Mix on Speed 1 for 3-4 minutes until dough comes together.
Switch to Speed 2. Mix 5-6 minutes until smooth, elastic, and clears sides of bowl. Dough should be slightly tacky but not sticky. Total mix time: 8-10 minutes.

Bulk Fermentation:

Transfer dough to lightly oiled container large enough to double. Cover tightly.
Rest at room temperature (68-72°F) for 2-3 hours until increased 30-50% in volume, puffy, with visible bubbles. At altitude, check after 90 minutes.

Divide and Ball:

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Portion into 250g balls (17 for large batch, 4 for small batch).
Shape each into a tight ball—cup your hand over dough, apply pressure while moving in circles to create surface tension. Work quickly.

Cold Fermentation:

Place each ball in lightly oiled pint deli container (or on oiled sheet pan, spaced 3 inches apart). Oil tops lightly to prevent skin.
Label with date. Refrigerate immediately at 36-40°F.
Use at 24-48 hours (prime window), up to 72 hours max.

Before Using:

Remove dough from fridge 1-2 hours before baking. Let come to room temperature so it stretches easily.

Notes

Why no oil? Traditional Neapolitan dough doesn’t use oil. Long cold fermentation develops flavor and texture without it. If you want oil anyway, add 2-3% during mixing (45g for large batch, 10g for small).

Flour: 00 flour is ideal—fine grind, moderate protein, tender crust with chew. Substitute bread flour if needed, but reduce water by 5%.

Hydration: 65% is manageable for hand-stretching while producing good oven spring and char.

High altitude (7,000 ft): Fermentation moves faster. Watch bulk ferment closely. Cold fermentation timeline stays the same.

Scaling: Formula is 100% flour, 65% water, 20% starter, 2.2% salt. Scale to any size using these ratios.

Storage: Refrigerate up to 72 hours. Freeze after 24-48 hours—wrap tightly, freeze up to 3 months. Thaw in fridge overnight, bring to room temp before using.

Troubleshooting:

Dough won’t stretch → Not enough room-temp rest, or under-fermented in bulk
Dough tears easily → Over-fermented
Bland flavor → Weak starter or short cold ferment
Too sour → Cold ferment too long (past 72 hours)

Sourdough Pizza Dough for Mixer (5 lb + Small Batch)