This is the easiest, best pizza dough recipe. With just 6 ingredients and no fancy flours required (I’ve included instructions for using all-purpose or bread flour), this pizza crust requires just one bowl (no stand mixer, though you can use one if you’d like), about 3 seconds of kneading, and just 30 minutes to rise.
If you’re uncomfortable working with yeast or making your own pizza dough at home, I’ll walk you through every step of the process in my video just below the recipe. You’ve got this!
It’s a little silly how excited I am to share this recipe with you today. It’s pizza dough, not exactly glamorous or sexy and it was honestly pretty boring to photograph (how do you make a ball of dough look fun and appealing in pictures, please tell me!).
But as someone who has struggled with baking even the most simple recipes with yeast, perfecting this pizza dough was definitely a triumph for me and I’m really happy to announce that there’s nothing to be afraid of! Yeast baking isn’t all that scary or hard, and you too can make your own super simple pizza crust at home in a matter of minutes, no fancy ingredients required.
I kept this pizza dough recipe as simple and approachable as possible. It’s made with all-purpose flour (and notes on how to substitute that flour, in case you want to get fancy 😉), no stand mixer needed, and only the most minimal amount of kneading required.
Below I’ve tried to ask some of the most frequently asked questions about making your own pizza dough. Let’s get to it.
What is the best flour for making homemade pizza dough?
Many pizza-making-pros will likely argue that bread flour is best for making homemade pizza. However, I rarely keep any flours in my pantry that are more exotic than all-purpose flour, so when I was working on this recipe I first and foremost made sure that it worked perfectly with regular old all-purpose flour.
I did make a point to test this recipe (repeatedly, we ate a lot of pizza last week) with bread flour and it works very well when made that way, too. I find that the biggest difference is that using bread flour gives my pizza dough a crispier crust, while the all purpose flour yields a softer one.
Can I flavor my Pizza Dough?
Pizza dough on its own is obviously important as a base for your favorite pizza, but it’s also kind of… bland. Shockingly, something made primarily of flour and water isn’t super exciting to the taste buds, and most of the flavor will come from whatever toppings you add.
I do usually try to spice up my crust just a bit, though, by adding a dash of garlic powder (usually around a ¼ teaspoon) and sometimes dried basil leaves (dried oregano could also work for you but I absolutely loathe oregano) into the dough before you add your oil and water.
How do you stretch out pizza dough?
You can use a rolling pin or you can use your hands. If you’re especially skilled, you can toss it up in the air and spin your dough like an Italian pizza artist, but I definitely lack the ability to tell you how to do that one.
I prefer to use a rolling pin and roll the dough out into a circle (or more like an amoeba-shape, since I can’t roll a perfect circle to save my life). Alternatively you can use your hands to flatten and stretch the dough until it reaches the desired width.
Then use your hands to pinch the edges to make a crust or fold over the edges (I always fold mine over because it gives me a thicker crust, which I love), brush the entire surface of the pizza generously with olive oil, and then use a fork to poke holes over the center of the dough to prevent any bubbles from forming while it bakes.
How do you make Homemade Pizza?
You can use this pizza dough recipe to make your own homemade pizza using any toppings you’d like (I love making Margherita pizza and have even made a BBQ chicken version using my BBQ pulled chicken).
I included instructions in the recipe, but once you’ve prepared your pizza dough, just add your favorite toppings and bake in a 425F oven for about 15 minutes (you may need longer if you add a lot of toppings). Do make sure you let your oven preheat properly and use an oven thermometer as possible, my oven takes a while to reach that temperature and usually “tells” me it’s ready when it’s not even close.
OK, are you guys sick of hearing about my beloved pizza dough recipe yet? In case you just can’t get enough, I also made a video just below that you can watch so you can see exactly how your dough should look in every step.
How to Make Homemade Pizza Dough
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The Best Pizza Dough Recipe
Ingredients
- 2-2 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour OR bread flour¹ divided (250-295g)
- 1 packet instant yeast² (2 ¼ teaspoon)
- 1 ½ teaspoons sugar
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ⅛-¼ teaspoon garlic powder and/or dried basil leaves optional
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil + additional
- ¾ cup warm water³ (175ml)
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Combine 1 cup (125g) of flour, instant yeast, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. If desired, add garlic powder and dried basil at this point as well.
- Add olive oil and warm water and use a wooden spoon to stir well very well.
- Gradually add another 1 cup (125g) of flour. Add any additional flour as needed (I've found that sometimes I need as much as an additional ⅓ cup), stirring until the dough is forming into a cohesive, elastic ball and is beginning to pull away from the sides of the bowl (see video above recipe for visual cue). The dough will still be slightly sticky but still should be manageable with your hands.
- Drizzle a separate, large, clean bowl generously with olive oil and use a pastry brush to brush up the sides of the bowl.
- Lightly dust your hands with flour and form your pizza dough into a round ball and transfer to your olive oil-brushed bowl. Use your hands to roll the pizza dough along the inside of the bowl until it is coated in olive oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and place it in a warm place.
- Allow dough to rise for 30 minutes or until doubled in size. If you intend to bake this dough into a pizza, I also recommend preheating your oven to 425F (215C) at this point so that it will have reached temperature once your pizza is ready to bake.
- Once the dough has risen, use your hands to gently deflate it and transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead briefly until smooth (about 3-5 times).
- Use either your hands or a rolling pin to work the dough into 12" circle.
- Transfer dough to a parchment paper lined pizza pan and either pinch the edges or fold them over to form a crust.
- Drizzle additional olive oil (about a Tablespoon) over the top of the pizza and use your pastry brush to brush the entire surface of the pizza (including the crust) with olive oil.
- Use a fork to poke holes all over the center of the pizza to keep the dough from bubbling up in the oven.
- Add desired toppings (see the notes for a link to my favorite, 5-minute pizza sauce recipe!) and bake in a 425F (215C) preheated oven for 13-15 minutes or until toppings are golden brown. Slice and serve.
Notes
Making in Advance:
To make in advance, let the dough rise covered at room temperature as indicated in the recipe, then deflate it, wrap it tightly so it doesn't dry out, and store in the refrigerator for up to several days or it will freeze for up to a month. Top your pizza off with my favorite, easy, homemade pizza sauce!Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Heidi E
My family and I make this dough every other Saturday night. We make two batches of dough as I use organic whole wheat flour for one batch (soooo delicious). We have fun making four individual pizzas and we each have leftovers for breakfast the next day.
Thank you for including weight measurements in addition to cup measurements as flour really does vary depending on the type you use.
A truly fail proof recipe!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Heidi! 🙂
Barbara
My daughter never eats pizza. I just made it and she ate all of it! This is a very good recipe and easy to make. Thank you so much! 😊
Sam
I’m so glad she enjoyed it so much, Barbara! 🙂
Sujatha
It is a rainy rainy day in Kerala, India… and of course the best day to try out your pizza dough recipe as we’re in the middle of lockdown with no chance of getting a pizza base from the store.I topped it with some basic pizza sauce and a Moroccan spice mix in some cream and mayonnaise ,some onions and capsicum and lots of cheese. Yum is the word. Thank you for the recipe
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Sujatha! 🙂
Phea
Hello!! I want to make a bigger pizza, I have a 11 x 13” baking dish which I would like to use. Do I have to double all the ingredients, or how do I calculate what I need? Thank you!
Sam
This should fit in an 11 x 13 without any issues. 🙂
Arlene
This is the best pizza crust recipe I’ve ever tasted. I’ve been experimenting with homemade pizza. My first 2 attempts were ok, but not great. I continued looking on line and found this recipe. The only change I made was baking my pizza at 450 for 20 minutes instead of 425 degrees. If you are looking for the perfect pizza crust this is it.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Arlene! 🙂
jayla
can i use active dry yeast as a substitute for the instant yeast.
Sam
Hi Jayla! You can use active dry yeast. I cover this in the notes section below the recipe. 🙂
Maddie
If I proofed my active dry yeast with sugar as instructed on the packaging, should I still add in the sugar from your recipe?
Sam
Hi Maddie! If you used all of the sugar to proof the yeast you shouldn’t need to add any more. 🙂
Ogochukwu
Thanks for this recipe. It’s certainly an addition to our other recipes. Made it with my 8 years old daughter. Pretty easy and simple❤️.
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Anjali.C
Yes…. The best pizza dough recipe i have come across. Made the pizza yesterday and it turned out fantastic !! Thanks for sharing
Ms M
Love love this recipe.
Really easy
Turned out fabulous I used Italian bread flour.
Texture is great, tender with crispy edges.
Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Mac
WOW!!
I made this dough for my family tonight and we are IN LOVE! Such an easy recipe and nice and quick. It was very easy to follow the directions and achieve a great crust and I have little experience making breads. I would describe this as very similar to soft and fluffy delissio pizza rising crust dough.
My only comments were this dough made much more than 1 12” pizza. The dough rose a lot in the oven so we could have probably rolled the dough thinner, and even as thin as we had rolled it out we probably achieved closer to 15”across.
We baked some pizzas straight on cooking stones and we found those required 25 minutes in our oven at 425 where as one baked on a cookie sheet and parchment cooked nicely in 15 minutes at 425 for us.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much! Thank you for your feedback. 🙂
Judy
Love this recipe! It is amazing and so easy! Thanks for helping me curb my craving and spend quality time with my very bored daughter.
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it, Judy! Baking is a great family activity. 🙂
sarah bech
Mac, did you follow ingredient measurements? I found that I had to keep adding more water to get to the texture on the video. It was really “floury”..
Aidan
If I were wanting to triple this recipe to make 3 pizzas would I do everything the same and then just divide the dough up at the very end before rolling it out?
Sam
Hi Aidan! That will work great. Enjoy! 🙂
Melissa Glick
I don’t know what I did wrong…. Is 3/4 cup of water enough to make 2 cups of flour sticky? Mine was pretty dry. It didn’t rise either.
Sam
Hi Melissa! You may need more or less flour depending on how things are in your kitchen. For this recipe it’s best to add flour gradually until you get to the desired consistency. If your dough didn’t rise your yeast may have been dead. 🙁
Tina
This was one of the best pizza crust recipes I ever made. I hade handling pizza dough so I decided to throw everything in my bread make and let that do the work. Now I don’t know if that also plays a part but it was better than any crust I ever tasted. I basted it with oil before I laid my toppings and I like to always remind newbies if your working with veggies on your cheese your mushrooms LAST so they don’t make your crust soggie.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Tina! 🙂
Mirra Hohaus
If I put parchment on the pan and it is still sticking, does that mean my dough needed more flour?
Sam
Hi Mirra! I’m not sure I have ever encountered this problem. You need to add flour until the right consistency is reached. The video in the post may help you determine if your dough needs more flour or not. 🙂
Anne
Excellent recipe. Perfectly baked, yet airy and chewy. held up well with our massive amounts of sauce, cheese, and pepperoni. The dough was one of the best we’ve tried. So good we wrote it down in our recipe book. Thanks for sharing!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Anne! 🙂
Cynthia
The easiest pizza dough that I have made. Great texture
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Cynthia! 🙂
Prudy
Just made a pizza with your dough recipe. It was great. The dough had a wonderful density. My picky husband loved it also. Happy I found you. Will be trying all your recipes. Thank you.
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Prudy! 🙂
Eva
I used regular all purpose floor and found this a bit too doughy. Might try again with bread flour after reading the notes. Easy recipe and very quickly prepared by hand. Wouldn’t bother even getting a mixer out as others have asked. Comes together in a heartbeat. Generous amount Foto be pizza.