The Best Pizza Dough Recipe
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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 1/4 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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Easy as advertised and made a perfect base for a breakfast pizza on the fly. Will definitely make this again!!
Thanks for the review, Jen! Enjoy your pizza 😊
Delicious And as easy as indicated. I added a little bit of the no salt seasoning from Costco to my dough and it was absolutely delicious great Thursday night football treat!
Thank you!
Yum! So glad our recipe was a hit for you, Steven 🥰
Easiest dough ever. I used instant yeast to speed up the process and added some rosemary powder to the mix. Best pizza ever!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Jenn! 🙂
Tired this pizza dough recipe tonight and I love it. Thank you
We’re so happy you enjoyed it 😊
So easy and yummy!!! My family loves this pizza crust!!
We are so happy it’s a hit for your family, Liz 🥰
Hello! I just made my dough I was wondering if I can use air fryer and for how long??
Hi Mariam! I have not tried it in an air fryer so I can’t say for sure if it would work/how long it would take. Let me know how it goes if you try it. 🙂
I haven’t tried any other recipes, but I don’t think I’m going to because this is perfection. Thank you very much!!!
This is delicious and very easy to make! Thank you for sharing this!
Worked perfect! My new go to
Best pizza dough ever, the only one I go to now.
Very simple and easy to make. The dough was soft and delicious. This will be a keeper for my family.
Can we get a recipe without the novels?
Not for this price! Unless you click that big ol’ “jump to recipe” button, that is.
Is there a sub for the sugar? I don’t use sugar and would love to try this recipe
Hi Laura! You can use honey or coconut sugar. Enjoy!
I used Monkfruit Sugar, which is a 1:1 sub with no calories and no after taste.
I’ve used this recipe many times. It’s delicious!!! An easy crowd pleaser
Thanks for the review, Jenia! We’re so happy our recipe is such a hit for you 🩷
100% WINNER! my picky autistic eater gave 2 thumbs up. trust me we’ve tried 6 other dough recipes, this one is soft and foldable, just like the pizza restaurants! Delicious !
Yay! We’re so happy our recipe was a success 🥰
can I use whole wheat flower? This is my go to recipe for last several years it’s Great, but I am trying to get better whole grains into my diet for better health.
Whole wheat flour tends to be a bit “thirstier” so you may need to make some other adjustments with the liquid as well, but we think it could work 🙂
Super easy. Used half all purpose and half bread flour. Yielded 2 flatbreads spread on sheet pans brushed with olive oil. Put on toppings and baked at 500° to desired crispness.
Thanks for letting us know how it went for you, Becky!
For some reason, the dough was very dry- and I only used two cups of flour I would add more than 3/4 cup water. I think it would be better with at least one cup or more of water. I liked that it wasn’t too thin or thick. Perfect in that regard.
So fast! 5 min or less to make, and 30min rise? 1 hour pizzas for the win!
I made this recipe using active dry yeast twice, once by proofing yeast and once by adding straight to other dry ingredients, the proofing method was better pizza all the way around..It was delicious both ways though….
I’ve made this pizza dough multiple times and I love it and so does my family. Making calzones with it this week.
We’re so happy it’s such a hit for you, Kayla! 😊
Super soft.