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)
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.
Mike
Awesome recipe and I use a 11×14 cookie sheet and roll dough out to fit. Dough will look pretty thin but when cooked it does rise and makes a beautiful thin crispy crust. I also add 1/4tsp garlic powder and 1/4tsp ground basil leaves to dough when mixing just for xtra flavour.
Roll into 12″ circle and brush with garlic butter and top with Saputo pizza mozzerella cheese for a diy garlic fingers
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
So glad you enjoyed it, Mike! Thanks for commenting 😊
Stacey
I have been trying different recipes and so far this is the best. I used my tortilla press to make two smaller pizzas which worked well. I like a crust that tastes cooked that is slightly crunchy. I think that a super hot pizza oven is good at. I even bought a pizza oven.. haven’t mastered it yet… seems to burn faster then it cooks. This one still reminds me of soft under done puffy crust from junior high which is good for most. My 6 year old son loved it!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re glad you enjoyed it overall, Stacey! To make your crust a little more crisp, you can bake it longer or prebake 😊
Rose
This IS the best pizza dough recipe. It’s super easy, super soft and fluffy and so delicious. FOLLOW the instructions as is. It will be sticky, but don’t add more flour than needed. It won’t be sticky after rising. I usually don’t do reviews but I just made this recipe two days in a row and it was awesome. I also used it for other types of food, like potato filled pies.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are so happy you decided to leave a review, Rose! Thanks for letting us know how it turned out for you ❤️
Cindy
I dpubled the recipe, used the bread machine on pizza dough setting. I divided into 3 rectangular pizzas about 12”x7”. I let each rest 5 minutes (which worked timing wise for pizzas 2&3 while previous pizza crust was baking. I poked lots of holes, then baked one at a time on parchment paper on cookie sheet at 425 for about 10 min. Just crusts and only to the point the crust had hardened enough but not browned. Then pulled that crust out and baked the next 2, one at a time. When the last one was in oven, I added the olive oil, and on the first 2, I added pizza sauce, mozzarella and Italian sausage, the 3rd was the 1/3 jar of pesto, chopped olives, sausage, bell peppers, a little feta, mozzarella and drizzled with a Korean balsamic bbq test added just a tiny bit of sweetness. Baked each on the lowest rack until bottom was slightly brown. The crusts were delicious! Super crunchy but enough chewiness to taste the crust too. This fed 2 adults and 5 boys ages 12-15. Thx for the recipe. I’ll use it again.
Bridget Feitknecht
Love it!!
Bridget Feitknecht
Food Lover
I used the exact recipe and the dough was too dry, I had to add additional 1/2 cup of water but the pizza crust didn’t turn out to be fluffy and crunchy but it wasn’t bad for a home made pizza
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi! If your dough was dry, it probably had too much flour. Next time try gradually adding the second cup of flour until the dough reaches the right consistency, then stop. You may not need the full second cup. We hope you’ll give it another try 😊
AJ Potter
Maybe I did something wrong but this crust is more bread than pizza crust. Like the Pillsbury boxed dough I made as a kid. Tastes fine but the texture for me was all wrong. I used ap flour.maybe thst is the issue. Ordered some 00 flour. Will try something else next time.
Fish
I do not agree with the baking temp of only 425°. True Pizza oven bake at temps as high as 800-900°. I usually turn my oven on to broil, then when it comes up to temp, turn it down to 500° and throw the pizza in. Cooks more authenticly that way.
Linda
This is the Best pizza dough hands down. So easy to make and turns out so good. Make this once a week!
Antonella
Hi I did this the other time with all purpose flour and turned out fantastic. If I use 00 flour this time, should I use the same amount of water and flour? Thanks!
Sam
Hi Antonella! A number of commenters have said they have used it without significant adjustments, but I haven’t tried it myself to say exactly what/if anything would need to be done. 🙂
Ace Green
IT was fun to make and I love the outcome
Autumn
Hello!
If I wanted to make , 5 personal size pizzas , how would I adjust the recipe?
Sam
Hi Autumn! It really depends how big you want to make your personal pizzas. I would suspect you’d need to at least double the recipe. 🙂
Rose
This recipe makes 1 12″ pizza. Google says personal size is 7″, so with one recipe you can make just about 2 personal size pizzas.
You would have to make the recipe 2.5 times to make 5 personal size pizzas.
Kate Goss
Best and easiest homemade crust ever! Will use this recipe every time. Thank you!
Rhianon
“Everything but the Bagel” seasoning is a fantastic addition to the dough for flavour!
MM
Great recipe. We use it often.
Anne
Best and easiest crust ever. I left mine in the oven longer to crisp it up more. Husband approved and will definitely make again. I only needed 1.5 cups and was worried it would make a big enough crust. It was the perfect size. Thanks