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!
I love pizza. As in, “How dare you ask me to share?” L-O-V-E pizza. There are a million and five ways to top your pie. They can be sweet or savory, and eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
Pizza is my desert island food.
Today, I’m going show you how to make all your pizza fantasies come true! It just takes this homemade pizza dough recipe and your imagination!
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This dough does take some time since it needs to rise twice. So if you get it going in the morning, you’ll be all set for lunch. Or start it in the afternoon for dinner time.
If you’re in a rush for time, see my notes about thin-crust pizza in the how-to tips below.
Bonus: After you make the full dough recipe, cook one half for dinner and put the other half in a gallon-sized ziploc bag and save it for another day. (Make sure the bag is big enough! No exploding dough in fridge surprises here. Thank you very much.)
This dough will keep for 1-2 days in the fridge and you’ll save yourself a step for dinner. Make your life easier friends.
What are the Ingredients to Pizza Dough?
- Warm water
- Active dry yeast
- Flour
- Salt
- Olive oil
So simple, but you have to treat these ingredients right to get a good pizza crust!
What’s the best flour for pizza dough?
I use all-purpose flour. It’s easy to find and works just fine for my needs. It works great for thin-crust pizza, which I use to make garlic breadsticks for the boys.
Bread flour is another popular choice for pizza dough. It has a higher amount of gluten than all-purpose flour and makes a super soft, super fluffy dough.
You may have heard of 00 (double zero) flour. This is the pro-level stuff and is used for Neapolitan style pizza.
How do you activate yeast for pizza dough?
- Warm 1.5 cups of water to 105 to 110 degrees F. Add one 0.25-ounce envelope of yeast to the water and give a quick stir. Then leave it alone for about 5 minutes.
- The warm water lets the yeast bloom and activates it. Bubbles will form on top of the water and you’ll smell that lovely yeast scent. This yeast mixture is the base for any dough.
Don’t let your water get too hot!! It’ll kill the yeast. If you’re not sure of the right temperature for the yeast you bought, double-check the package directions.
How to Make Pizza Dough
- Start by adding the flour and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer the dough hook attachment in place. Give the mixer a spin to combine them together.
- Then, pour in the activated yeast and water. Use a rubber spatula to get everything out of the measuring cup. You want ALL the yeast. Pour the olive oil into the bowl as well.
- Turn your mixer on medium-low and mix until the dough forms a ball. If the dough is too dry, add more warm water 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together. Or if the dough is too wet, add 1 tablespoon flour until the dough is less sticky.
- Once a ball forms, turn your mixer up to medium-high speed and knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes. This kneading will get the glutens going in your dough and give it a great texture.
- Coat a large mixing bowl with a little olive oil and transfer the dough to your prepared bowl. Roll the dough around a little to coat the outside.
- Then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave it on the counter for 2 hours to let it rise. **If you’re making thin-crust pizza, only let your dough rise for 1 hour. Then make your pizzas.**
- After 2 hours, the dough will have doubled in size. Uncover the dough and gently punch it down. Recover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let the dough rise again for 1 hour.
- Once the hour is up you’re ready to cook! Divide the dough ball in half and make your pizzas. There will enough dough for two 12-inch pizzas.
Place the rolled out pizza dough (use your hands or a rolling pin) on a pizza stone, pizza pan, or baking sheet and top it any way you like.
Pizza sauce, fresh mozzarella cheese, and basil? Yep.
Pesto alfredo sauce, chicken, cheese, and sun-dried tomatoes? Sign me up!
Then bake in a preheated oven until golden. It’s that easy! This crust isn’t hard to make, it just needs some time and TLC.
Don’t have a stand mixer? Don’t worry!
You can make this same recipe by mixing together the flour, salt, and yeast in a large mixing bowl with a wooden spoon. Then turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead it for 10-12 minutes.
Don’t under knead your dough! It’ll be too dense and hard. It’s really REALLY hard to over-knead your dough.
Do you knead pizza dough after it rises?
Nope! You want to knead the dough BEFORE it rises to develop the gluten.
Kneading the dough after it rises will destroy to bubbles and it’ll become flat and dense.
No one wants that kind of pizza crust.
I can’t even begin to count how many times I’ve made this crust over the years. I swear we make pizza every couple of weeks. The boys love to help and pick out their toppings.
I love that I can cook up enough pizza for the whole family for a fraction of the price of our local pizza place! AND!! Thin-crust pizza dough takes about as long to rise as our wait for pizza on a Friday or Saturday night.
So why not just make your own pizza pie?!
More yummy recipes to make with this pizza crust recipe!
- Bacon Alfredo Pizza – my pizza obsession!
- Cinnamon Sugar Cheesecake Bombs
- Caramelized Onion & Italian Sausage Pizza – our readers LOVE this one!
- Pizza Muffins – my kids ask for these ALL THE TIME!
- Grilled Blueberry Dessert Pizza
Homemade Pizza Dough
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups warm water (105 to 110 degrees F)
- 0.25 ounce packet dry-active yeast about 2 teaspoons
- 4 ½ cups all-purpose flour divided
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil plus extra
Instructions
- Add yeast to warm water and give it a quick stir. (I leave everything in the measuring cup the water's in.) Let sit for 5 minutes so the yeast can bloom (see: bubbles).
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the flour and salt. Using the dough hook attachment, stir together the flour and salt.
- Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture, being sure to get all the yeast out of the measuring cup. The pour in the olive oil.
- Turn the mixture to stir until the dough starts to come together a bit, you don't want flour flying everywhere. Increase the speed to medium-low and let the mixer do its thing for 1 to 2 minutes until the dough forms a ball. (see notes) Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes.
- Coat a large mixing bowl lightly with olive oil. Place the dough in the bowl and roll it around to coat the outside of the dough in oil. 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 another hour.
- Uncover the dough, divide it in half, and roll out into two 12-inch pizzas. Place crust on a pizza stone, pizza pan, or baking sheet. Cook in an oven preheated to 400 degrees F for 8 to 10 minutes.
- Remove crust and carefully top with sauce, cheese, and your choice of toppings. I like to brush the edge of the crust with a little olive oil too. Cook for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly and the crust is golden.
Notes
- 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 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 in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Nutrition
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.
Peggy says
What do I use if I don’t have a stand alone mixer?
Julie says
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
Julie, awesome recipe! Turned out perfect
Julie says
Yay!
Boyd Kobe says
I love a homemade pizza dough recipe, and this one looks like a winner! YUM
Chinazor says
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
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?
Julie Espy says
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
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
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