This Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe is the perfect way to make yummy pizza at home, whenever we crave it… which is all the time!

pizza dough ball dusted with flour on a plate

Why We Love Homemade Pizza Dough

Homemade pizza dough is fun to make and a treat for the whole family because you can top it with everyone’s favorite toppings!
This easy pizza dough recipe only requires 5 ingredients and can be started in the morning for a fun lunch or made in the afternoon and ready by dinner time- it doesn’t need a lot of hands-on time, just time to rise.
If you need a quick pizza dough recipe you can lower the proofing time to 1 hour and create a deliciously crispy thin-crust pizza everyone will love!
This homemade pizza dough recipe makes enough for two large pizzas so feed a crowd or save half for another pizza party night!

looking down at a cheese pizza slice pulled away from the rest of the pizza

What Ingredients is Pizza Dough Made From?

PANTRY ITEMS: To make this pizza dough, you will need all-purpose flour. If you have bread flour on hand you can also use that for a fluffier crust. Grab the salt too.

YEAST: For this recipe, you will need dry-active yeast. Be sure to check the expiration date as well, expired yeast is a common reason dough doesn’t rise. (You can also make a no yeast pizza dough if you prefer.)

WATER: We’re using warm water to activate the yeast.

OLIVE OIL: A few tablespoons of olive oil are needed for the pizza dough and to coat the bowl to prevent the dough from sticking.

pizza dough recipe ingredients with text labels

How to Make Pizza Dough

Jump to Recipe

STEP 1 Heat the water to 105-110 degrees F and stir in the yeast (any hotter and it could kill the yeast). Add the yeast and allow it to bloom for 5 minutes while you mix the flour and salt together in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.

warm water and dry active yeast in a measuring cup

STEP 2 After the yeast has bloomed, add all of it to the stand mixer, along with the olive oil. Set the mixer to stir or low and once everything is mixed, turn the mixer up to medium-low. Allow the dough to come together for a minute or two and form a ball. Turn the mixer up to medium-high and let the mixer knead the dough for 8-10 minutes.

bloomed yeast mixture and olive oil poured into a stand mixer bowl with flour and salt

pizza dough in a stand mixer bowl after mixing

STEP 3 Lightly coat a large bowl with olive oil and set the dough in the bowl. Roll the dough around the bowl to coat with olive oil, cover the bowl with a towel, and let it rise for two hours.

plastic wrap over kneaded pizza dough in an oiled bowl

pizza dough in an oiled bowl after proofing for 2 hours

STEP 4 After two hours, punch down the dough and let it rise for another hour.

punched down pizza dough in a bowl halfway covered with a kitchen towel

STEP 5 When the dough is ready, divide the dough in half and roll out two 12-inch pizzas. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place the crust on a pizza pan, pizza stone, or baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.

homemade pizza dough rolled out into a circle on a mat

STEP 5 Remove the crust from the oven and top with your favorite sauce and toppings. Place the pizza back in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbly.

par baked pizza crust topped with pizza sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese

Tips & Tricks

If the dough looks dry while mixing, add 1 tablespoon of warm water at a time until it comes together. If the dough looks too wet, add 1 tablespoon of flour at a time.
For a great, quick thin crust, let the dough rise for just an hour, and then roll out and bake!
You can store your pizza dough in the fridge for 1-2 days if you aren’t using it right away. Be sure to place it in an air-tight container with plenty of space for it to expand. To freeze the dough, halve the dough and lightly coat one or each ball of dough with olive oil. Place the ball in a ziplock bag and remove as much air as you can. Freeze the dough for up to three months. To thaw, pop it in the fridge and once it has thawed, set it out on the counter in a bowl to rise and then follow the recipe.
If you don’t have a mixer with a bread hook simply mix the flour and salt together, and then add the yeast mixture and olive oil. Once the dough has formed, turn it out onto a floured surface and knead the dough by hand for 10 minutes to get the gluten good and activated.

close up of the pizza crust of a sliced cheese pizza

Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe FAQ

What not to do with pizza dough?

When it comes to making great pizza dough there are a few things to remember.

The first is that you pretty much can’t over-knead the dough. Pizza dough should be strong enough to hold all your toppings but still have a light chewiness so knead the dough well to activate all the gluten! You also don’t want to roll the dough too thin, which could cause the dough to tear.

Secondly, prebake the pizza crust before adding toppings. This will give you a wonderful crust with no soggy, weak spots!

Lastly, avoid over-topping your pizza to ensure your pizza cooks evenly and all the way through.

Is pizza dough made with all-purpose flour or bread flour?

Pizza dough is great to make with just all-purpose flour, bread flour, or a mix of the two.

All-purpose flour is wonderful to use because it makes a great crust and is most often what we have in the pantry.

Bread flour can make a chewier pizza crust that also stretches more easily so there’s less worry about tearing the dough.

Creating pizza dough with a half-and-half mix of the two flours gives you the best of both worlds but whichever flour you use you’ll enjoy an amazing pizza crust!

slice of cheese pizza being pulled by a hand

Other Recipes You May Like

square image of a pizza dough ball dusted with flour on a plate

Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe

Julie Kotzbach

Pizza is a staple at our house. Thick-crust, thin-crust, we love it all! With this Homemade Pizza Dough, it's a snap to make any pizza we can dream up!

4.92 from 12 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 25

Proofing Time 3

Total Time 3 45

Course Main Dish

Cuisine Italian

Servings 12-inch pizzas

Calories 1159 kcal

Equipment

Ingredients

1 ½ cups warm water (105 to 110 degrees F)
0.25 ounce dry active yeast about 2 teaspoons
4 ½ cups all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
1 ½ teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive oil plus extra for the bowl

Toppings

Pizza sauce
Mozzarella cheese shredded
Your favorite pizza toppings

Instructions

Add the yeast to the warm water and give it a quick stir. Let that sit for 5 minutes so the yeast can bloom (get bubbly).
Add 4 cups of flour and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer and mix using the dough hook attachment. Add the yeast, water, and olive oil to the flour, being sure to get all the yeast out of the measuring cup.
Run the stand mixer on medium-low to mix everything together, about 1 to 2 minutes, until the dough forms a ball. (see note) Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and let it knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes.
Lightly coat a large mixing bowl with olive oil. Transfer the pizza dough to the oiled bowl and roll it around to coat the outside of the dough.
Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place on the counter for 2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size. (see notes for thin-crust pizza)
Unwrap the bowl, and gently punch down the dough. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let the dough rise for 1 hour.
Uncover the dough and divide it in half. Roll out the pizza dough into two 12-inch pizzas. Place the crust on a pizza stone, pizza pan, or baking sheet. Bake in an oven preheated to 400 degrees F for 8 to 10 minutes.
Carefully remove the crust from the oven. Top with sauce, mozzarella cheese, and your favorite toppings. (I like to brush the edge of the crust with a little olive oil too.)
Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly and the crust is golden. Remove from the oven, slice, and serve warm.

Notes

Nutritional information is for 1 pizza crust without toppings.

If you don’t have a stand mixer, stir together the pizza dough ingredients until combined. Then turn it out on a work surface and knead for 8-10 minutes to develop the gluten.
If you notice the dough looks dry, add 1 tablespoon of water as needed until the dough starts to stick together. (My dough is always dry, maybe it’s an AZ thing. I end up adding 1/4 to 1/2 cup more warm water to the original dough recipe.)
If the dough gets too wet, add more flour 1 tablespoon at a time until it’s not as sticky.
For a thinner crust, let the dough rise once for 1 hour and use immediately.
If you don’t want to use your dough right away, place it in an air tight container (with room for the dough to rise, because it will) and store it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

Nutrition

Serving: 1 pizza crustCalories: 1159 kcalCarbohydrates: 216 gProtein: 30 gFat: 17 gSaturated Fat: 2 gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3 gMonounsaturated Fat: 11 gSodium: 1761 mgPotassium: 335 mgFiber: 9 gSugar: 1 gVitamin A: 6 IUVitamin C: 0.01 mgCalcium: 50 mgIron: 13 mg

All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods and portion sizes per household.

Keyword homemade pizza dough, pizza dough, pizza dough recipe

Tried this recipe?If you made this recipe, leave a comment and star rating to let others know how it turned out.

4.92 from 12 votes (9 ratings without comment)

12 Comments

Peggy says:

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What do I use if I don’t have a stand alone mixer?

1. Julie says:
  
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  You can mix the flour, salt, and yeast mixture together in a large mixing bowl with a wooden spoon. Once the dough begins to come together, turn it out on to a work surface, and knead for 10 to 15 minutes minutes until it comes together and become elastic.
  
Joan says:

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Julie, awesome recipe! Turned out perfect

1. Julie says:
  
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  Yay!
  
Boyd Kobe says:

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I love a homemade pizza dough recipe, and this one looks like a winner! YUM

Chinazor says:

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Making pizza at home is one of the loving cooking memories I have made with my family. Everyone gets to garnish their pizza with ingredients of their choice.
My son gets to play ‘ make-believe restaurant’ while we bake.

This recipe just made me re-live those moments and I am looking forward the next pizza night. Thank you for this.

Linda Wegenke says:

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This recipe looks amazing. We love thin crust. I just need clarification on the method for that. Are you saying let the dough rise for only 1 hour in total, not 3 hours in total in the original recipe?

1. Julie Espy says:
  
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  Hi Linda! So I only let the dough rise for 1 hour when I’m making a thin crust pizza. There is less fermentation so the crust doesn’t rise as much while it bakes. That being said, you can even go from mixing bowl to oven and still get a thin crust. The texture of the crust is better if you let it proof though.
  
Christine @ myblissfulmess says:

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Any time I have ever attempted anything that had to do with dough, it always ended up in the trash after a lot of cursing. It’s been years since I’ve bothered to attempt it again until I saw this recipe. I gave it a shot and thanks to your wonderful directions, I managed to make homemade pizza without the cursing! How about that! It worked wonderfully! For the edges of the crust, I combined olive oil with Italian seasoning and granulated garlic (or you can use garlic powder) and brushed that on the edges. SO YUMMY!

Sue says:

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This is my favourite pizza crust recipe by far. I do use the ‘00’ flour. We prefer a thinner crust so I make the full recipe and divide into 3 after the first rise. I then freeze and pull out the day before I plan to use and leave in the refrigerator. One crust is about a 12-14 inches in diameter

Barb says:

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The recipe says 4 1/2 cups flour, divided. The instructions don’t tell you how it is divided as the only mention of flour is in Step 2. Does it all go into the stand mixer bowl or is some reserved for something else?

1. Julie Kotzbach says:
  
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  Hi Barb. I’m sorry for the confusion. The “divided” note has been removed. You can add all the flour in at once. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I appreciate it. 🙂