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.
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 needs about 0.1% instant yeast of the flour weight to be ready in about 8 hours (model range 6–10 hours); a 48-hour cold ferment (fridge at 4 °C, 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 in 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. The bulk rise then depends on how much levain goes into the dough. At 22 °C the model predicts:
| Levain, % of flour | Bulk at 22 °C (until about 50–75% bigger) | Balls at room temperature |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | about 12 hours | about 2 hours |
| 15% | about 8 hours | about 1½ hours |
| 20% | about 6 hours | about 1 hour |
The ball times use the same rule as our sourdough bread calculator (18% of the bulk time, at least an hour), not a pizza-specific model, so treat them as a starting point and go by the dough. Below 10% levain the model extrapolates.
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 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.