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.
Wendy Danziger
I use King Arthur OO Pizza flour, bought at costco. This recipe comes out perfect every time. PPL are so impressed that we never buy pizza out anymore ( i bake at 425 regular oven)
Peggy
This has become my go to pizza dough when the mood strikes – thanks for an easy to follow recipe! I usually use AP flour, tried bread flour last time and it was also good.
Anna
Love this pizza dough.
I need some direction about freezing it for later.
The dough rose and I kneaded it down again. Then I wrapped it tightly in cling wrap and placed it in the freezer. When I took it out today the dough had popped the cling wrap.
Lisa
Can this be made with gluten free flour ?
Sam
Hi Lisa! I haven’t personally tried it, but others have reported using Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten free flour with success. 🙂
Rena Bergen
I used older yeast so it didn’t rise but it was delicious anyway. We had this and a new refrigerator pizza dough and this was just so much better! Thanks
Laura
love the recipe I’ve made it a few times now playing with the ingredients different yeast and flours but overall good everytime! I do want to know if I wrap it and refrigerate for the next day do I need to let it rise and get to room temp again before rolling out?
Sam
Hi Laura! You will want to let it come back to room temperature before attempting to roll it out. 🙂
Melissa Gale Lewis
My dough did not rise after sitting for 30 minutes I used it anyways what could I have done incorrectly?
Sam
Hmmm was your yeast still good? Did you use instant yeast? The yeast is probably the main culprit here. 🙁
Anna
I like to put my doughs in the oven with the light on to rise. Often my house is on the colder side and doughs have a hard time rising.
Angela
This turned out well, and my party guests liked it. I think it’s helpful to know before you make it though, that it’s more like pizza on fluffy “rolls” rather than a denser pizza dough. It was yummy, just different than what I expected. Thanks for the recipe.
Laurie
Yes I found that to be true. But it was delicious
Ricki
Wow, this was so good! Adding in the garlic and dried herbs was such a game changer. This was the first time I made pizza dough. The directions were really easy for me to follow and the flavor was soooo good. Printed the recipe and I’m sure I’ll be making more soon!
Leslie
This pizza was a hit at potluck and I brought none home. I will definitely be making this again. I did use 3/4 cup whole wheat flour and the rest white. With this 2 cups of flour were Enough.
Rebecca
Horrible consistency! This dough was way too sticky and completely unusable. Very disappointed…a big waste!
Sam
Hi Rebecca! Sounds like you just needed to add a little bit more flour. 🙂
Pam
Best pizza dough recipe I have ever tried. I had to add a little more water, we are coming out of a dry winter & summer rains not started yet, so no humidity in flour. Thanks so much for this
Sara
How much bread flour do u use in cups for this recipe?
Sam
Hi Sara! It’s the same 2-2 1/3 c of bread flour. 🙂
Marcia
Simply the best! No fuss, no big wait time! Never fails! We LOVE it!
Nee
Omg bread so soft and fast so good, my kids love this so much. Thank you for the recipes
Gabriella
This is my go to recipe when I make pizza dough!
Brigitte
I’ve made this recipe many times and my family always says it’s the best pizza they’ve ever tasted.
I usually double the recipe and make two sheet pan pizzas. This takes the extra 1/3 amount of flour (x2 plus a bit more) and some “heaping”measurements of the other ingredients every time to get the dough large enough to fill the pan. When I use King A bread flour it usually needs a bit more water. Sometimes it’s a bit of a stretch to get it to fill each pan but it still works and tasted great. That being said, I would not mind if someone more knowledgeable about converting recipes to a larger scale would offer their suggestions. Great recipe, Sam!
debbie
It was good if you like thin very crispy crust, cracker like. Since this was my frist time making it I am unsure if this is how its supposed to be. I genrally but yeast in warm water with sugar, let sit 10 mn till yeast starts to rise an becomes puffy. Then add that to other ingredients. It rises more then this di, but in your pic yours looked like mine usually does.
It was good held up well .Crispy which I like on botton and edges of crust but not all the wqy through , like cracker texture . I like more traditioial pizzia dough , more soft in middle with crispy bottom and edges. however its god good to have options. unless this was not supposed to be like that as I said frist time making.it was quicker .
Maria Reimer
My son and I just made the dough and baked the pizzas! Turned out light and crispy and so delicious!