This easy pizza dough recipe is great for beginners and produces a soft homemade pizza crust. Skip the pizza delivery because you only need 6 basic ingredients to begin!
This recipe is brought to you in partnership with Red Star Yeast.
Every great pizza begins with a great pizza crust. Some like it thin and crispy, while others prefer a thick and soft crust. This homemade pizza crust has it all: soft & chewy with a delicious crisp and AWESOME flavor. It’s my go-to pizza dough recipe and just a glance at the hundreds of reviews in the comments section tells me that it’s a favorite for many others too!
Easy Dough for Bread Beginners
This is a no-fuss dough recipe for beginners. You need just 6 basic ingredients, plus a little cornmeal for preparing the pan. (You can skip that if needed.) Most of the time is hands off as the dough rises. You might wonder… why waste the time when you can just buy frozen pizza dough? Frozen pizza dough is certainly convenient, but from-scratch crust has unbeatable flavor and texture that only comes from fresh dough. And you can use the dough for cheese breadsticks, too!
Reader, Andy, commented: “Super easy, super fast, super good! I don’t like doughy thick pizzas and I find with this recipe that I can make them thin and crunchy, I love how easy it is. I make pizza once or twice a month! Haven’t bought one for quite some time now! ★★★★★“
If you’ve ever made homemade bagels or sandwich bread, you can easily make pizza dough because it’s quicker, easier, and requires fewer steps.
Overview: Homemade Pizza Dough Ingredients
All pizza dough starts with the same basic ingredients: flour, yeast, water, salt, and olive oil. Here’s the breakdown of what I use in my homemade pizza crust recipe. The full printable recipe is below.
- Yeast: I use Platinum Yeast from Red Star. I have the best results when I use this instant yeast. The Platinum yeast is fantastic because its careful formula strengthens your dough and makes making working with yeast simple. You only need 1 standard packet of yeast (2 and 1/4 teaspoons) to get the job done.
- Water: I tested this pizza dough recipe with different amounts of water. 1 and 1/3 cups is the perfect amount. Use warm water to cut down on rise time, about 100-110°F. Anything over 130ºF kills the yeast.
- Flour: Use unbleached all-purpose white flour in this recipe. Bleaching the flour strips away some of the protein, which will affect how much water the flour absorbs. You can substitute bread flour for a chewier pizza crust. If you love whole grain bread, try this whole wheat pizza dough instead.
- Oil: A couple Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil adds wonderful flavor to the dough. Don’t forget to brush the dough with olive oil before adding the toppings, which prevents the crust from tasting soggy.
- Salt: Salt adds necessary flavor.
- Sugar: 1 Tablespoon of sugar increases the yeast’s activity and tenderizes the dough, especially when paired with a little olive oil.
- Cornmeal: Cornmeal isn’t in the dough, but it’s used to dust the pizza pan. Cornmeal gives the pizza crust a little extra flavor and crisp. Most delivery pizzas you enjoy have cornmeal on the bottom crust!
You could also add 1 teaspoon each garlic powder and Italian seasoning blend to the dough when you add the flour.
Reader, Shane, commented: “Excellent pizza dough. I add about 1 tbs of garlic powder and Italian herbs to give the dough more flavor as well as 40 grams of cornmeal for a little crunch. It freezes well and makes a nice thin crust. ★★★★★“
This is a Lean Bread Dough
Pizza crust, like homemade bagels, artisan bread, and focaccia, requires a lean dough. A lean dough doesn’t use eggs or butter. Without the extra fat to make the dough soft, you’re promised a crusty pizza crust. (However, I recommend using some olive oil for flavor and to keep the interior on the softer side.) Recipes like dinner rolls, homemade breadsticks, and overnight cinnamon rolls require fat to yield a “rich dough,” which creates a softer and more dessert-like bread.
Overview: How to Make Easy Pizza Dough
- Make the dough: Mix the dough ingredients together by hand or use a hand-held or stand mixer. Do this in steps as described in the written recipe below.
- Knead: Knead by hand or with your mixer. I like doing this by hand. If you’re new to yeasted doughs, my How to Knead Dough post and video can help with this step.
- Rise: Place dough into a greased mixing bowl, cover tightly, and set aside to rise for about 90 minutes or overnight in the refrigerator.
- Punch & shape: Punch down risen dough to release air bubbles. Divide in 2. Roll dough out into a 12-inch circle. Cover and rest as you prep the pizza toppings.
- Top it: Top with favorite pizza toppings.
- Bake: Bake pizza at a very high temperature for only about 15 minutes.
Young bakers can lend a hand AND have fun in the process. Let the kids help you press down the dough and shape into a circle. They can add their cheeses and make pepperoni faces on top of the pie. Who doesn’t love a smiley pizza? 🙂
Favorite Pizza Pans
Let me share my top choices for pizza pans just in case you’re shopping for a new one. I use and love (affiliate links) this one and this one. If you like baking your homemade pizzas on pizza stones, I’ve used this one before and it’s wonderful.
If you don’t have a pizza pan, use a regular sheet pan. Grease it with olive oil and sprinkle with cornmeal as directed below, and then press the dough into whatever shape that will fit. Make sure the dough is about 1/2-inch thick. For a thinner pizza, stretch the dough out more.
FAQ: How Can I Make The Dough Ahead of Time?
Prepare the dough through step 3 below, but allow the dough to rise for 8-12 hours in the refrigerator. (If it needs to be in the refrigerator for longer, use cooler water in the dough which will slow the dough’s rise and allow for more time.) As a bonus, the slow rise gives the pizza dough wonderful flavor! When ready, continue with step 5 in the recipe below (the shaping step). If the dough didn’t quite double in size when rising, let it sit at room temperature for 30-45 minutes before shaping.
FAQ: How Do I Freeze Homemade Pizza Dough?
This recipe yields two 12-inch pizzas. After the pizza dough rises and you divide the dough in half (step 5), you can freeze one of the balls of dough to make pizza at a later time. Or you can simply freeze both balls of dough separately. Lightly coat all sides of the dough ball(s) with nonstick spray or olive oil. Place the dough ball(s) into individual zipped-top bag(s) and seal tightly, squeezing out all the air. Freeze for up to 3 months.
FAQ: How Do I Thaw Frozen Pizza Dough?
Place the frozen pizza dough in the refrigerator for about 8 hours or overnight. When ready to make pizza, remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow to rest for 30 minutes on the counter. Continue with step 5 in the recipe below.
Uses for Homemade Pizza Dough
Here are the many uses for this homemade pizza dough:
- Extra Cheese Pizza & Stuffed Crust Pizza
- Pesto Pizza (pictured above)
- Homemade Ham & Cheese Pockets
- Pepperoni Pizza Rolls
- Stromboli
- Spinach Artichoke White Pizza
- Homemade BBQ Chicken Pizza
- Garlic Knots
- Margherita style: For 2 pizzas, when it’s time to top it in step 6 below, top with the following. (Feel free to halve for only 1 pizza.) Make a homemade tomato sauce by blending 1 28-ounce can San Marzano tomatoes, 1 Tablespoon olive oil, pinch of salt, and 2 minced cloves of garlic. Spread on shaped doughs. Top each with 2-3 ounces thinly sliced fresh mozzarella. Bake as directed, and then sprinkle each hot pizza with 2 Tbsp freshly grated parmesan cheese and a handful of roughly chopped fresh basil.
- Apple gorgonzola pizza is a favorite: For 1 pizza, when it’s time to top it in step 6 below, top with 1 and 1/2 cups (6oz or 168g) shredded mozzarella cheese, 8 ounces crumbled gorgonzola cheese, thin slices of apple, then sprinkle with chopped fresh or dried rosemary before baking.
- Or any other pizza topping you love: pepperoni, crumbled sausage, black olives, onions, mushrooms, jalapeños, etc
Here are my flatbread pizza crust, whole wheat pizza dough, and cold veggie pizza recipes.
PrintEasy Homemade Pizza Dough
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
- Yield: 2 12-inch pizzas
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Follow these basic instructions for a thick, crisp, and chewy pizza crust at home. The recipe yields enough pizza dough for two 12-inch pizzas and you can freeze half of the dough for later. Close to 2 pounds of dough total.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/3 cups (320ml) warm water (between 100-110°F, 38-43°C)
- 2 and 1/4 teaspoons (7g) Platinum Yeast from Red Star instant yeast (1 standard packet)*
- 1 Tablespoon (13g) granulated sugar
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) olive oil, plus more for pan and brushing on dough
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 and 1/2 cups (about 450g) unbleached all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more for hands and surface
- sprinkle of cornmeal for dusting the pan
Instructions
- Whisk the warm water, yeast, and granulated sugar together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or paddle attachment. Cover and allow to rest for 5 minutes. *If you don’t have a stand mixer, simply use a large mixing bowl and mix the dough with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula in the next step.
- Add the olive oil, salt, and flour. Beat on low speed for 2 minutes.
- Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer and beat for an additional 5 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 5 full minutes. (If you’re new to bread-baking, my How to Knead Dough video tutorial can help here.) If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a “windowpane test” to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough: tear off a small (roughly golfball-size) piece of dough and gently stretch it out until it’s thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so, your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading until it passes the windowpane test.
- Rise: Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or nonstick spray—just use the same bowl you used for the dough. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 60-90 minutes or until double in size. (Tip: For the warm environment on a particularly cold day, heat your oven to 150°F (66°C). Turn the oven off, place the dough inside, and keep the door slightly ajar. This will be a warm environment for your dough to rise. After about 30 minutes, close the oven door to trap the air inside with the rising dough. When it’s doubled in size, remove from the oven.)
- Preheat oven to 475°F (246°C). Allow it to heat for at least 15-20 minutes as you shape the pizza. (If using a pizza stone, place it in the oven to preheat as well.) Lightly grease baking sheet or pizza pan with nonstick spray or olive oil. Sprinkle lightly with cornmeal, which gives the crust extra crunch and flavor.
- Shape the dough: When the dough is ready, punch it down to release any air bubbles. Divide the dough in half. (If not making 2 pizzas, freeze half of the dough for another time. See freezing instructions below.) On a lightly floured work surface using lightly floured hands or rolling pin, gently flatten the dough into a disc. Place on prepared pan and, using lightly floured hands, stretch and flatten the disc into a 12-inch circle, about 1/2-inch thick. If the dough keeps shrinking back as you try to stretch it, stop what you’re doing, cover it lightly for 5-10 minutes, then try again. Once shaped into a 12-inch circle, lift the edge of the dough up to create a lip around the edges. I simply pinch the edges up to create the rim. If using a pizza stone, place the dough directly on baker’s peels dusted with cornmeal.
- Cover dough lightly with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and allow to rest for a few minutes as you prepare your pizza toppings. I suggest pepperoni & green peppers or jalapeño slices, extra cheese pizza, Hawaiian pizza, pesto pizza, spinach artichoke white pizza, or homemade BBQ chicken pizza.
- Top & bake the pizza: Using your fingers, push dents into the surface of the dough to prevent bubbling. To prevent the filling from making your pizza crust soggy, brush the top lightly with olive oil. Top with your favorite toppings and bake for 13-15 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
- Slice hot pizza and serve immediately. Cover leftover pizza tightly and store in the refrigerator. Reheat as you prefer. Baked pizza slices can be frozen up to 3 months.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: This recipe yields enough dough for two 12-inch pizzas, a little less than 2 pounds total. After the pizza dough rises and you divide the dough in half (step 5), you can freeze one of the balls of dough to make pizza at a later time. Or you can simply freeze both balls of dough separately. Lightly coat all sides of the dough ball(s) with nonstick spray or olive oil. Place the dough ball(s) into individual zipped-top bag(s) and seal tightly, squeezing out all the air. Freeze for up to 3 months. To thaw, place the frozen pizza dough in the refrigerator for about 8 hours or overnight. When ready to make pizza, remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow to rest for 1 hour on the counter. Preheat the oven and continue with step 5, punching down the dough to release air if needed.
- Overnight/All Day Instructions: Prepare the dough through step 3, but allow the dough to rise for 8-12 hours in the refrigerator. (If it needs to be in the refrigerator for longer, use cooler water in the dough which will slow the dough’s rise and allow for more time.) The slow rise gives the pizza dough wonderful flavor! When ready, continue with step 4. If the dough didn’t quite double in size overnight, let it sit at room temperature for 30-45 minutes before punching down (step 5).
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Stand Mixer or Large Mixing Bowl and Wooden Spoon or Silicone Spatula | Dough Scraper | Pizza Pan or Baking Sheet | Pastry Brush | Pizza Cutter
- Yeast: Red Star Platinum yeast is an instant yeast. You can use active dry yeast instead. The rise time will be at least 90 minutes. Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
- Pictured Pizza: This recipe yields 2 pizzas. For each, top with 1/2 cup pizza sauce, 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, pepperoni slices, thinly sliced green pepper or jalapeño, and a sprinkle of Italian seasoning blend or dried basil.
Recipe originally published on Sally’s Baking Addiction in 2013
My dough was really really sticky. I used “00” flour and had to use a lot more flour to bring it all together. It is now waiting to rise, I hope! Read that I was not the only one that had this problem. Maybe I should not have used so much water?
This was so DELICIOUS!!
I have a question, what speed should my stand mixer be on during the last kneading session? Still low? Also my dough was really under salted. I used Diamond Crystal salt which I know can be less salty than other kosher salt because of the flake size. Could this have been the problem? Otherwise my dough was also very sticky, but I went with it and it turned out great other than the lack of salt.
Hi Laura! Low (speed 2) is best for kneading in your mixer. All our recipes are developed with table salt, unless otherwise noted, which is saltier than kosher salt. Feel free to add a little more flour as needed!
Can you pre-bake the crust a little first, add toppings and then finish baking? This would help with transporting to another location to bake. thank you.
Hi Vandana, For a par bake and freeze make-ahead option, you could par bake the dough (without toppings) for 5-8 minutes, then freeze. Let it thaw before topping and baking. Make sure you roll the dough/flatten thin as it will puff up without toppings on.
Major struggles with this recipe 🙁 I was so excited to use it for the stromboli recipe, but alas it was not meant to be.
First attempt I thought might have been my error as I store my flour in a canister and did not know for certain that if it was unbleached flour. The issue was it remained extremely sticky through the kneading process. For this attempt I did try kneading by hand initially and was worried I was adding too much flour so I switched to the stand mixer. I then tried to search on the internet on what to do- some advice was let the flour and water do their work and just keep kneading- don’t add any flour- well that ship had already sailed in my handing kneading attempts, but I stopped adding flour. Well after kneading in the stand mixer for a very long time it just kept stickier! It very stringy and stretchy and flowed like a river.
Attempt 2 I had a new bag of flour ( Pilsbury Unbleached All Purpose). I used my stand mixer to do the kneading this time, ignored it for 5 minutes. Still extremely sticky. I let it go without adding flour for a bit longer and it seemed like it was starting to get to the right place and then it suddenly became sticky again. I did try adding flour at this point, but could not get it to the right place.
I measure all my ingredients on a digital scale. I used an electric kettle to heat the water to 105F. I live in Pennsylvania, the humidity was 35% on the day I was trying to do this recipe. I keep my house at 69F.
If there are any tips you can offer I’d appreciate it for my future dough making endeavors. Thank you!
Hi Ruth, happy to help! There are a lot of variables that go into the consistency of dough, even down to the weather and humidity in the air. There’s nothing wrong with adding a little more flour to bring the dough into a less sticky and knead-able consistency.
Under ingredients the directions say heat oven 475 degrees for at least 15-20 minutes while you fix the toppings on your pizza.
I am an average guy cook. I saw this recipe and gave it a try. I prepared my pie and read the recipe that said “bake on a high degree for 15 minutes ” not what degree to bake it. So my oven goes to 500 degrees and at about 13 minutes I smelled burning. There goes $10 up in smoke and no lunch.
This is our go to pizza dough recipe. My 4 year old loves pizza nights and making this dough together, a couple batches at a time and then freezing, has made that easy on me! I was buying pre-made dough balls at our grocery but it is so much more worth it to do this recipe, it tastes better – and it IS truly easy.
Hi Sally, loooove your recipes! I am a “baker” now according to my family because I discovered your recipes lol. Anyways, my question is about the overnight rise in the pizza dough. I didn’t see the note about using cooler water before making the dough, so I followed recipe as is. I will not be using the dough for about 18-20hrs from the time I made it. Will it affect the dough being in the fridge that long?
Hi Tracey, Apologies, we are just seeing this question! How did your pizza dough turn out? If you have to do a longer overnight rise again, try using cooler water next time.
My dough doesn’t rise. I use self raising flower and dry active yeast (I am based in the UK). I still use it but it turns out soggy. I have no idea what I’m doing wrong. Please advise.
Hi Angela, we do not recommend using self raising flour in this recipe.
How do you get the dough spread on a pizza stone if you preheat the stone?
Hi Andrew, you can prepare the dough on a pizza peel or another baking sheet, and then carefully transfer it to the hot pizza stone before baking.
I am wondering if this recipe would work well in a bread machine?
Hi Monique, we haven’t made this dough in a bread machine, but many readers have reported success doing so. Let us know how it goes for you!
This pizza has amazing flavor and texture. It was my first time making pizza dough and we all created the most delicious pizzas with everyone using a variety of toppings. Have made it now twice in two weeks.
We love this recipe so much! We make it in the bread maker with bread machine yeast and I also add vital wheat gluten to make the all purpose flour more similar to bread flour. Also helps add a bit of chew. We freeze it and it thaws perfectly. The crust puffs up so much, so delicious!
Hello. We don’t have all-purpose flour where I’m from so can I use bread flour instead? If so, what would be the ratio?
You can substitute bread flour for a chewier pizza crust, but add a couple extra Tablespoons of water since bread flour contains more protein than all-purpose flour.
First time making dough. Got as far as mixing dough but it came out like damp flour crumbles. Reviewed the recipe.and checked out some other recipes. Seems like 450 gm flour (bread flour) is way too much or needs more liquid.
We’re happy to help troubleshoot. The flour measurements as written are correct—how did you measure your flour? Be sure to spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) to ensure the flour isn’t over measured, which can result in a dry dough.
Would this dough work for a pizza roll? Thinking I’d flatten as if to top it, then roll it around the ingredients. Worried it might get soggy.
Hi C. Torres, we use this dough to make Stromboli, pizza rolls, and ham & cheese pockets (Among other things). It’s very versatile!
I weighed all of my ingredients but it still came out way too wet. Seems like I had to add ALOT of extra flour. Are you sure your measurements are correct? Anyway, I’m waiting for it to rise. I hope it comes out.
Hi Ly, there are a lot of variables that go into the consistency of dough, even down to the weather and humidity in the air. There’s nothing wrong with adding a little more flour to bring the dough into a less sticky and knead-able consistency.
Are you in a higher elevation? I always have to add a little extra flour, even after weighing items.
I have made this many times and love it, in fact any recipe I make from you is my fav!
I’ve made this a couple times so far and it’s SO good! It’s be a lot fun to make homemade pizza with my younger daughters! I was wondering if when I make this recipe since it yields to pizza crusts would it be possible to just put one in the fridge to bake a few days later or does it have to be frozen right away?
Hi Alicia! It would rise too much if stored in the fridge for two days. It’s best to freeze!
Oh my gosh! I LOVE your recipes, but this one did not work out for me! I followed the recipe to a “T”, but as much as I floured my hands, there was more dough on my hands than the floured surface. I will try again though. LOVE your artisan bread!
Hi Patty, we’d be happy to help troubleshoot. How was the dough before the kneading process? There are a lot of factors that can go into the consistency of dough (down to even the humidity and weather), so it’s completely fine if you have to add a bit more flour to get the dough to come to a workable consistency. Continue adding flour (1 Tablespoon at a time) until it comes together. Hope you can give it another try soon!
I have used this recipe for many years…over 20 and it is my favorite. I’ve taught many people over the years how to make it. Everyone is amazed and like it as well. I make the dough and stretch it out (usually doubling or tripling the recipe depending on the group) on the pans and when I go back to add sauce and toppings it’s already started rising. I don’t usually give it 60-90 minutes. We like it…kids are usually too anxious to get started making the pizza. Thank you for this tried and true recipe.
Shoot I’ve tried twice and for some reason the dough will not pull away from the sides of the bowl. Can you imagine why? My yeast was not refrigerated… could that be it?
Hi Megan! Was the dough wet and that’s why it wasn’t pulling away? You can always add a little extra flour as needed.
I’ve made many different pizza crusts, but this was the best by far! I loved how the whole pizza crust was crispy and light. I messed up my toppings (yeah, I’m that talented in the kitchen), but couldn’t stop eating because the crust was THAT good! Thanks for a pretty quick crust recipe and giving me the confidence to actually hand knead my dough. (I’ve just avoided it in the past.)
I’ve used and loved this recipe for pizza dough for a while now! Delicious every time. I’m wondering if you could use the dough to make little rolls? Breadsticks? Has anyone tried this?
I don’t know why I never make my own crust. This was easy to follow and made for a very tasty crust, and pizza. I froze the other half for next week’s pizza. Thank you, Sally
Hi Sally, I have a question. This is my favorite pizza dough that I have made multiple times now, however I have had to add much flour to it when kneading in order for it to be not as sticky and more like your consistency in the video. I follow the recipe to the T-in grams and ML, and once I get the flour addition to your consistency it is amazing! But I can’t figure out why my dough is like a batter at first….could humidity and APF flour brands be a factor?? It’s so strange, I might just have to tweak your recipe for my climate when I make the pizza but oh is it worth it! Best pizza ever!
Hi Jordan, climate (especially humidity!) can place a big role in the consistency of dough, so no worries if you have add a bit more flour to bring your dough to a workable consistency. We’re so glad you’re enjoying the recipe and have been able to make it work for you!
Followed the exact instructions and was perfect! was worried about the dough proofing in German winter, but her tips were spot on! thank you!
Im so happy i found this recipes i love it
I have tried so many pizza crust recipe, but this one has been the best! I put all the ingredients in my bread maker to help save time- so good and easy. Thank you for sharing.
Great recipe for beginners! I haven’t worked with yeast based recipes much, but wanted to try to make my own pizza dough. I followed the directions exactly. The dough was a little sticky after mixing (I have a stand mixer) so I put it on a board dusted with a little flour and kneaded for just a minute, then continued with directions. It turned out great, including the 2nd half which went into the freezer until the following week. So much easier to work with than store bought pizza dough and tasted better. Making again tonight!
Hi! This is my favorite pizza dough recipe. Is it possible to prepare and pre-bake the day before you are going to make the pizzas? My daughter wants homemade pizza for her slumber party and I am seeking ways to save time so things flow
For a par bake and freeze make-ahead option, you could par bake the dough (without toppings) for 5-8 minutes, then freeze. Let it thaw before topping and baking. Make sure you roll the dough/flatten thin as it will puff up without toppings on.
amazing- thanks for your help with this!! Happy to keep using this same incredible recipe!