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.
David
I made this dough for a pizza party with friends. It came out amazing. Everyone loved it and kept commenting on how great it was. I’ll highly recommend this recipe for anyone who will listen.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
That sounds so fun, David! Thanks for using our recipe and coming back to leave a review 🩷
Owai
I don’t have a pizza pan
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
A cookie sheet will work too 😊
Abbey
Would this work to be used in an Ooni pizza oven?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Abbey! We haven’t tried it, but we think it could work 🙂
Sybil
It would depend if you follow the temps or not. I thought about this as a pizza wood pellet fire oven dough but there are some things that will work against you. The sugar and the oil. Most brick or wood ovens discourage the use of these two ingredients in dough unless you’re really good with temp controls as burning the crust would happen before the rest is cooked. I could be wrong though. It’s just what I’ve read.
Natalie
I’m super excited to make this! I want to use it for personal pizzas – how many personal-size pizzas do you think this recipe would make?
Sam
Hi Natalie! I haven’t personally tried it, but depending on size you could get 2 to maybe 3 smaller pizzas out of it, I would think.
Kat
Hi there ! If I left the pizza dough to rise for longer (a few hours), would that affect it negatively in any way ?
Melissa
excellent recipe! will double next time!
Todd L
Made this tonight along with the pizza sauce recipe and it was the best I’ve made so far. I ended up using bread flour so I had a little bit of a hard time stretching it out it was so elastic lol. Next one I’ll do with regular flour but, I really did like the crust from the bread flour. The sauce was great and I made one junk pizza with the air bake pizza pan and the other a cheese and mushroom in my Gino’s East electric deep dish pizza maker. Sooo good.
Joy
Very easy recipe. I will definitely use this recipe again. Super easy! Also, I like super thin crust so I was able to rollout the length of a regular cookie sheet. I have enough for another thin crust. Also, I used 1/2 whole wheat flour because I like it. I’m at high altitude and only used the 2 cups. It cooked faster by two min. Lift the crust and look at the bottom for your level of crustiness to evaluate doneness. Yummy! Thanks for the recipe!
Walt
Best crust ever… and so easy to make.
jmai
Hi, I have a problem. I was confused and added 1/4 cup instead of 1/4 tsp of garlic. What do you think will happen? Thanks
Sam
That is a lot of garlic. It will likely be very overpowering.
jmai
funny it turned out so well as I made a thick crust dough. But next time I will follow the recipe carefully.. Thank you
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy it turned out regardless 😊
Julie
we have a large family. can this recipe be doubled or tripled?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
It sure can! Just make sure to double/triple all ingredients, including the yeast.
Kynn C.
I don’t think there is enough water in this recipe.
The dough was so dry before I added the 2nd cup of flour I had to add more water.
Not sure about this recipe.
Chas
Best pizza dough lives up to its name
Karen D
Excellent results! So much better than frozen dough, and so easy to make – smelled so good while cooking! The only change I made was to substitute the parchment paper and pizza stone for a pizza pan (the kind with holes in it), because it’s what I had. Spread a little olive oil on the pan first, placed the rolled out dough directly on the pizza pan, added the sauce and cheese and toppings, rolled the crust and baked at 450 for 13 minutes. Perfect!
Shirley
EXcellent! EASY TO FOLLOW.
Cb
Ma’am!!!! the tittle of this recipie does not fall short! excellent taste and perfect proportions! couldn’t fault it if I tried! my family couldn’t stop raving about it! Absolutely delicious!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are so happy you loved it! Thanks for the review 🩷
Christian
Used for first pizza dough ever, was absolutely fantastic.