You can raise pizza dough with commercial yeast or with a sourdough starter. Both make good pizza. They differ in how predictable the timing is, how much planning they need and how the crust tastes. This guide compares them, with timing numbers from the models in our pizza dough calculator and our sourdough schedule calculator. The numbers are model predictions, not measurements of your dough. To convert a yeast bread recipe, see convert a yeast recipe to sourdough.
To mix and bake a sourdough pizza dough on the same day, the section on same-day sourdough pizza dough below gives start times for kitchens from 20 °C (68 °F) to 26 °C (79 °F).
What each one is
Commercial yeast (fresh, instant or active dry) is a single strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, grown to be fast and consistent. A small, weighed amount gives a predictable rise.
A sourdough starter is a living mix of wild yeasts and lactic acid bacteria, fed with flour and water. For a dough you usually build a levain from it first, a fresh portion that is used at its peak. The bacteria add acidity, flavor and a little gas; the yeasts make most of the gas. How fast it works depends on the starter's condition as well as on temperature.
Timing: yeast is easier to plan
With yeast, you choose the plan and the calculator works out the amount. A same-day dough at 22 °C (72 °F) needs about 0.1% instant yeast (by flour weight) to be ready in about 8 hours (model range 6–10 hours); a 48-hour cold ferment (fridge at 4 °C / 39 °F, with an hour at room temperature before and two hours after) needs about 0.13%. The yeast needs no preparation, as long as it is within its expiration date and an opened packet has been kept cool and closed.
With sourdough, the starter sets the pace. The levain needs time to peak before you mix: built 1 part starter to 2 parts flour and 2 parts water, our model puts its peak at about 5½ hours at 22 °C (72 °F). The bulk rise then depends on how much levain goes into the dough. At 22 °C (72 °F) the model predicts:
| Levain, % of flour | Bulk at 22 °C (72 °F) (until about 50–75% bigger) | Balls at room temperature |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | about 8 hours | about 3 hours |
| 15% | about 6¾ hours | about 3 hours |
| 20% | about 6 hours | about 3 hours |
The ball times are half the bulk time at 20% levain, with a 2-hour minimum; with less levain we assume they barely change, because the dough has reached the same rise by the end of bulk. That's our rule of thumb, not a measured pizza model; our bread calculator uses the same rule for the final proof. The balls are ready when they look soft, relaxed and a little puffy and the dent from a gentle poke fills back in slowly; start checking after about two-thirds of that time. The model's levain term is fitted to 5–20% levain and matches that data best at 10–20%, so outside 10–20% its times are an extrapolation.
Same-day sourdough pizza dough: when to start
A same-day sourdough pizza dough is mixed and baked on the same day, but the clock starts earlier, when you feed the starter to build the levain. The table adds up the model's stages for a dough with 20% levain (by flour weight), built 1 part ripe starter (fed within the last day, bubbly) to 2 parts flour and 2 parts water. For 500 g of flour (scale it to your recipe), that is 100 g of levain: 25 g starter, 50 g flour and 50 g water (125 g, so a little is left for what sticks to the jar; use 100 g). The levain time is its peak: risen as far as it will go (whether that is about double depends on the starter), domed and bubbly. The ball times use the rule of thumb above (half the bulk time, at least 2 hours), not a pizza model. The model predicts:
| Kitchen | Levain 1:2:2 to its peak | Bulk (until about 50–75% bigger) | Balls at room temperature | Model total, feed to bake | Feed the starter for a 7 p.m. bake |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 °C (68 °F) | about 6½ h | about 7½ h | about 3¾ h | about 17¾ h | 11:45 p.m.–12:15 a.m. (around midnight) |
| 22 °C (72 °F) | about 5½ h | about 6 h | about 3 h | about 14½ h | 3–3:30 a.m. |
| 24 °C (75 °F) | about 4½ h | about 5 h | about 2½ h | about 12 h | 5:30–6 a.m. |
| 26 °C (79 °F) | about 4 h | about 4 h | about 2 h | about 10 h | 7:30–8 a.m. |
The last column works back from a 7 p.m. bake. On top of the model's stages it allows about 30 minutes of hands-on time for mixing, kneading (8–10 minutes in the calculator's steps), dividing and balling, plus a buffer of 30–60 minutes for a slow starter or a slow afternoon. Both are planning allowances, not model numbers. The preheat adds no time: heating the oven with the steel or stone for 45–60 minutes is common practice for a home oven (see cold ferment pizza dough), so it runs during the last hour of the balls. Top the pizzas just before they go in.
So for a 7 p.m. bake at 22 °C (72 °F), feed the starter at about 3–3:30 a.m., earlier in a cooler kitchen and later in a warmer one, as the table shows. That means an alarm at about 3 a.m.. At 22 °C (72 °F) or cooler, the night-before levain (next section) is the gentler plan: at 20 °C (68 °F) it lines up with dinner on its own, and at 22 °C (72 °F) the balls wait in the fridge until the evening. The times assume the kitchen stays at one temperature from feed to bake. A kitchen that cools overnight or warms up in the afternoon makes the dough slower or faster than the table, so check the dough at each step: the levain at its peak, the bulk at a 50–75% rise, the balls by the poke test. If your starter has been in the fridge for days, refresh it before this plan starts (see sourdough starter not doubling).
The night-before levain
If a feed before dawn is not an option, build the levain the night before with a bigger feed: 1 part starter to 5 parts flour and 5 parts water. For 500 g of flour that is 10 g starter, 50 g flour and 50 g water, which makes 110 g; use 100 g. The bigger feed takes longer to peak; at 22 °C (72 °F) the model predicts about 8 h, against 5½ h for 1:2:2. With the same bulk, balls and 30 minutes of hands-on time, the model predicts:
| Kitchen | Levain 1:5:5 to its peak | Fed at 10 p.m.: mix at about | Fed at 10 p.m.: balls ready from about | Feed it for a 7 p.m. bake |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 °C (68 °F) | about 9½ h | 7:30 a.m. | 7:15 p.m. | 8:45–9:15 p.m. the night before |
| 22 °C (72 °F) | about 8 h | 6 a.m. | 3:30 p.m. | 12:30–1 a.m. |
| 24 °C (75 °F) | about 6¾ h | 4:45 a.m. | 12:45 p.m. | 3:15–3:45 a.m. |
| 26 °C (79 °F) | about 5½ h | 3:30 a.m. | 10 a.m. | 6–6:30 a.m. |
In a 20 °C (68 °F) kitchen, an evening feed at about 8:45–9:15 p.m. the night before lines up with a 7 p.m. dinner (the last column includes the 30–60 minute buffer). In a warmer kitchen a 10 p.m. feed has the balls ready in the afternoon: at 22 °C (72 °F) the model puts the levain's peak, and so the mix, at about 6 a.m., and with the hands-on time the balls are ready from about 3:30 p.m.. Bake earlier, feed later, or hold the balls in the fridge: put them in as soon as they pass the poke test and take them out 1–2 hours before baking, for example in the fridge at about 3:30 p.m., out at about 6 p.m. for a 7 p.m. bake. After a short hold they are only lightly chilled, so start checking them about 30 minutes after they come out. The model's times stop at the poke test; the hold itself is not modeled (see "Holding the balls in the fridge" below). From 24 °C (75 °F) up, the morning 1:2:2 feed is the easier plan. The peak times assume a healthy starter fed at 100% hydration with wheat flour; whole-grain and rye feeds peak sooner. The pizza calculator always plans a 1:2:2 levain, so with a night-before levain, set the mixing time yourself; the starter tab of the sourdough schedule calculator gives the peak time for a 1:5:5 feed at your room temperature.
Holding the balls in the fridge
If the balls are ready before you are, cover them and put them in the fridge. The cold slows them down but does not stop them, and no model covers sourdough in the fridge (see "The fridge" below), so go by the balls rather than the clock:
- Still in good shape: domed, holding their shape, small bubbles under the skin.
- Near the end: spreading wide and flat, large bubbles on top, a sharper sour or alcohol smell. Bake them soon.
Take them out 1–2 hours before baking, early enough to lose their chill: cold balls are stiff and tear when stretched. After a long cold ferment, about two hours at room temperature is common practice (see cold ferment pizza dough); start checking after the first hour. They are ready when they no longer feel cold in the middle and a gentle poke fills back in slowly.
For food-safety sources, see can pizza dough sit out overnight.
At the bake
Stretch the balls by hand on a floured counter. If a ball springs back when stretched, cover it and wait 20–30 minutes, then try again: the gluten relaxes as it rests (common pizza-making practice). The pizza dough calculator builds this schedule from your kitchen temperature and dinner time, with the grams for your number of pizzas.
The fridge
Both kinds of dough are often cold fermented as balls for one to three days. For yeast, the pizza calculator has a model for the cold that tells you how much yeast a 24-, 48- or 72-hour rest needs; see cold ferment pizza dough.
For sourdough, we do not have a fridge model. The organisms in a starter respond to the cold differently from baker's yeast, and the bacteria keep producing acid while the yeasts slow down, so the yeast curve cannot simply be reused. The calculator therefore treats sourdough's fridge time as a hold: the dough rises at room temperature first (in practice a little less than for a same-day dough, because it keeps fermenting slowly in the cold), then rests in the fridge for flavor, then warms up for about two hours before baking. Check the balls rather than the clock.
Taste and texture
- Yeast gives a clean, wheaty flavor that lets the toppings lead. With a long cold ferment, the crust develops more flavor and browns better, without sourness.
- Sourdough adds a gentle tang and more complex aroma, more so with a long cold rest, when the bacteria have had time to make acid. Some find the crust a little chewier. A very acidic dough can brown less and weaken the gluten, which is one reason to keep the cold rest within three days.
Neither is better by default. If you want dinner at a set time with the least fuss, yeast is the easier choice. If you already keep a starter and like the flavor, sourdough is worth the extra planning.
Mixing both
Some pizza makers add a small amount of yeast to a sourdough pizza dough for a more predictable rise while keeping some of the flavor. Our calculators do not model that combination, so if you try it, treat the timing as uncertain and watch the dough.
Plan either one
Choose yeast or sourdough in the pizza dough calculator, enter your room and fridge temperatures and the time you want to eat, and you get the grams and a schedule back from dinner. For more on starters, see starter feeding ratios and how bulk fermentation changes with temperature.