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
Not sure what I did wrong. Made the recipe twice and both times the dough was too wet to work with. The first time I tried kneading it myself, I had to add about another cup of flour to keep it from sticking to my hands and surface. The second time I tried making it in my kitchen aid mixer and same problem, in order to keep it from sticking to the bowl, I had to keep adding flour. A LOT of flour! Terribly disappointed. I love to hear suggestions.
Hi Karen! Thanks for the feedback. This is one of my favorite multi-purpose doughs, so I’m sorry to hear it didn’t work for you. I encourage you to try it again because it’s wonderful when baked. Did you alter any of the ingredients or perhaps your water was too warm? Extra flour usually helps bring the dough together. I’m surprised to hear that 4 and 1/2 cups of flour still wasn’t enough for the 1 and 1/3 cups water. (Plus oil.)
I made the dough about a week ago and it was perfect. I made it again today and the dough was way too wet and sticky. I added more flour and its still sticky. I finally left it to rise because I didn’t know what else to do. I kept re-reading the ingredients and instructions and I followed it all. I then read the part where you said to use unbleached flour. I used bleached all purpose flour because it was all I could find at the grocery store. I wonder if that is the problem? So would the solution be to just keep adding more flour until it isn’t sticky or lessen the water? I’m so bummed. It came out perfect last week and my whole family has been excited for this pizza.
I am in awe of this recipe. I baked for the very first time and thanks to you the pizza turned out to be amazing nA big Thankyou from india! Please keep posting always!
Followed the recipe exactly and it was perfect! Very easy recipe and tastes better than take-out! Thank you for a wonderful recipe!
This recipe was awesome!
I modified a bit and cooked ours on the grill. It was hands-down one of the best simple crust recipes we have tried! We used about 1/3 cup more flour than the recipe called for. When it came time to bake it, we split it in half (froze half per the recipe directions) and then split the remaining into half again so that we had two smaller pizzas. We flattened them into thin rectangles and then brushed oil on both sides. We put them on the grill without the toppings over medium-high heat for about 4 minutes. Then we brought them inside and topped the grilled side. We placed them back on the grill for another 4 minutes, until the cheese was melted. They were like a cross between a fire-cooked pizza and a flatbread. SO good!
It was a hit! Great recipe, easy to follow, amazing pizza base just the way I like it.
I never write a review but this recipe is awesome. This is the first time I was able to make an edible pizza. I was in awe.
For a first time maker of pizza dough this worked great for me. I’m a novice cook, so I know enough to make it work. Thank you.
I loved it! The details were fundamental for me since this is the first time i make my own pizza from scratch. Thank for taking the time to break the details down to simple tasks.
Thanks for this recipe AND your detailed instructions Sally! I was a bit upset with ‘Barbara’s’ comment. Maybe for a ” professional baker” this might seem long and drawn out. But for those who may be making this for the first time (which your title does say for beginners) your extended instructions are awesome. As a person makes things over and over, they can find their own “groove” to omit steps or shorten things up as they prefer, I am sure you don’t even have to look at your recipe anymore. But just be rest assured that most of your faithful followers do appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule of looking after a home, family, website, testing recipes, making tutorial videos, and everything else you do, to provide us with the very best of your knowledge and experience. Thank you!
Thank you for sharing your delish pizza crust recipe! It was helpful to have two pizzas from 1 easy dough. My son enjoyed watching your video tutorial. He shaped the dough himself! Thank you for these recipes Sally.
So good. Split the recipe in thirds to make calzones. Thank you for sharing.
Just wanna say thank you sooo much for this recipe, i have made it twice this week and they were lovely. However, I have reduced the water to 1 & 1/4 cup because i think my flour requires less water.
This recipe was very beginner friendly! My family enjoyed it thoroughly. Thank you for sharing it!
I recently tried this recipe and my family loved it. I’ll be making my own pizza bases in future as the recipe was actually very quick and easy to do.
My husband and I love this pizza dough so much! Directions are easy to follow and results are awesome. I’ve been trying to talk everyone into trying this recipe to make their own homemade pizza.
I’ve made this recipe many times and wanted to say thank you! My family loves it, although our favorite use is making strombolis
I’m a Professional Baker loved the recipe but I’m sorry I felt it was so long an drawn out there we’re steps not necessary it extended the wait time. I think it’s much easier to make it similar to a loaf of bread with the very same results only a shorter time and a Kitchenaid I don’t think is necessary as well you can do it in a bowl with a spoon then turn it out and knead it. Put it in a greased bowl and the saran wrap over the bowl the yeast does its job and heats up no proofing in an oven is really needed. I haven’t tried your recipe as a Professional Baker it seemed some of the steps you are taking in the recipe we’re extending the process. Hopefully the suggestion helped I don’t mean to take over the whole thing but it’s the easiest thing to make and let’s face it when you want a pizza you want it moving fast…
I agree, did not need a KitchenAid either. I used a silicon spatula for this stage to avoid it sticking to my hands but when it was pretty mixed I kneaded with hands. Simple and easy recipe though you might want to be careful on the water. Might want to hold some back and add when it’s dry, or else it can be too sticky/runny.
My dough is SUPER sticky. I had to continuously add flour while kneading. Is this normal or what did I do wrong?
The amount of flour you need can depend on a lot of different factors like the flour itself and the environment you’re working it. But it can also depend on how you are kneading it- if you’re rough with the dough, you would constantly be exposing the sticky interior of the dough, and thus would think you need more flour. King Arthur Flour has some really good instructional videos of hand kneading and how to avoid problems like over adding flour that could help if your kneading is what led to needing more flour. But sometimes your dough just needs it, I’ve made bread before where for some reason it needed about an additional cup of flour than normal. Instead of adding flour while kneading, try just keeping your hands floured and keep a dough scraper handy 🙂 Hope this helps some!
I did not use all the water in the recipe. I left a bit in the cup and added when the dough was dry, bit by bit till I felt it was right. Had I used the whole amount it would have been sticky as well.
can this be prebaked and the already baked crusts frozen? if so, how long and is there anything special you need to do with the crust if you aren’t putting pizza toppings onto the raw crust? thanks!
I can’t see why not! No need to make any changes if you are baking without the toppings.
Hi! I see we can use instant vs rapid rise yeast and that it takes longer, but does the amount I need to use differ? I am new to this! Thanks!
Hi Rachel, Same amount of yeast, just different rise times! You might find my Baking With Yeast Guide helpful!
This pizza crust is AMAZING!
Don’t have cornmeal in the house, any substitutions that would work?
You can skip it.
The pizza crust tastes unbelievable and is very easy. We used it for your garlic knots too! Thanks for sharing. We will try your ham and cheese pockets next.
First of all I would like to thank you for posting such a nice recipe.
I was searching for homemade pizza crust recipe as there is complete lockdown, here in India. I found this one and gave it a try. It turned out too good.
I am wondering if I can use this recipe for making PAU/PAV (Small Indian buns, usually eaten with BHAJI, spicy gravy made using vegetables)?
A recipe that even covered my mistakes – I realized halfway through measuring the flour that I didn’t have enough white, and had to build the rest with wheat instead.
Even given that, this worked wonderfully. The texture was just about perfect, and it held up well to being stretched and tossed out (putting my years in a pizza kitchen to use!).
I’ve been looking for a good small-batch, same-day dough recipe, and I think this is it.
It came out absolutely perfect! light, crispy outside, tender inside… great recipe! Thanks!
First time working with yeast and I was nervous, but this recipe was a huge hit and now a fam favourite.
Very easy recipe and produces a really nice crust. This is the one that I use now. Thanks.
As I’m using a pan and not a stone, I usually pre-bake the dough for five minutes or so before adding the sauce and toppings in order to ensure the center is not soggy.
This was amazing! The best pizza dough recipe.Ive ever tried. We all enjoyed our pizza! Who needs a Dominoes or Pizza hut?.;-)
Hi! I’m trying this recipe for the first time and I’d like to know if I can leave ithe dough out all night (my house is not warm) or if I have to put it in the fridge… Thanks!
Best to refrigerate it– see my overnight instructions.
Thanks for the reply! I made two pizzas the next day for Sunday lunch and they were great! This is definitely my new go-to pizza crust recipe! The next one I’ll be trying out is the Chicago deep dish recipe…I’ll keep you posted 😉