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.
Janel Day
So good! First timer and this was the best pizza crust I’ve had!
Sheila Dudney
My first time making pizza dough and it turned out great!! Thank you for sharing!!!
David D.
I made this yesterday with 00 flour and it was excellent, the garlic powder was the champion of the smell factor. You’re one of my “go to” chefs when baking and you’ve never disappointed. Thank you for building and sharing your recipe.
Always the best.
Kirsten
Perfect for at home pizza, I proof it for longer than 30 minutes but it turns out every time 🙂
Tom Pool
What a wonderfully delicious pizza crust …I used pizza flour and followed your directions to the “T”…..before the final knead I added 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar… a secret I learned which enhances with a light fluffy crispness
Rebecca
Hi Tom, you wrote to add the vinegar at the final knead. Do you mean after the proofing?
Tom Pool
Yes add the vinegar to the final knead….then let it double in size before shaping into crust
Ann Kutach
Very yummy!
Monica G
We have used this recipe numerous times & really enjoy it a lot. I have had great success doing an open bake on parchment paper with all of our toppings on it & get the crispness we like for our pizzas. Thanks for the great recipe.
Alvaro
Great recipe, and good experience making it (and I do not make dough regularly). I doubled the recipe, almost did not add any extra flour (on top of the 2 cups x 2). Dough rose beautifully (almost tripled). I split the dough in 3 and made 3 pizzas which fed 3 hungry adults (a bit was left for breakfast). I baked them in the oven at 480F on the pizza stone and required 10min+. One think I struggled a bit with is that the dough was overly elastic, so when trying to shape it (tried by hand and rolling pin) it was hard to make it thin because it just shrunk after rolling. So pizzas ended up being a bit too thick and smaller than its potential (more dough less topping space). Nevertheless, it was delicious and easy.
Brenda Newedde
I found that if I bake it about 5 to 7 minutes before I put my toppings on the crust turns out better. Otherwise the crust is too “soggy” for me. NOt done on the bottom.
Jono
You know that a cup is 250g right?
I didn’t check the G measurements, and went by cups… only to have a super dense bagel dough like consistency that was requiring serious kneading.
So fyi to others. Check the G rating. Because it’s actually 1 cup of flour total.
I’m mid way and frustrated and figured I’d comment. I’ll follow up with how it tasted.
Sam Merritt
Hi Jono! A cup of flour is only 125g. 250g of flour would be 2 cups.
Jono
Hi Sam
I stand corrected! My apologies. I’d missed “instant yeast” and had already added the dry active yeast, that I was worried wouldn’t rise. So when I got to the flour and it was seeming way to dense to mix with a wooden spoon, I just commented instead of thinking more. I’m not used to ingredients by weight, and I automatically (and incorrectly) equated g:ml as 1:1. And a cup is 250ml by volume.
The recipe still seemed way too dense for the way the it instructs on how to mix, so I did use less flour. If kneading it like you would bread, it would work, but the wooden spoon mix didn’t give any chance to get that much flour in. I ended up adding a splash more of water and only used about 1.5 measuring cups of flour. It might have resulted in a slightly fluffier dough? Either way it worked out great.
All this to say that the recipe was super tasty and I’d highly recommend. Thank you for the reply!
Sam Merritt
I’m glad you ultimately enjoyed it! 🙂
Maria
Being second generation Italian,I grew up making breads, pastas and pizzas but I have had a hard time getting my pizza dough just right especially after my mother passed away a couple of years ago. I tried this recipe and felt emotional after making this and seeing how perfect it came out. It was a sentimental moment because I felt like my mother would be so proud of me. Thank you for putting your heart into this recipe, I certainly put my heart into it as well. 💖
Sam Merritt
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed it so much, Maria! 🙂
Sam
Every American flour manufacturer lists 1 cup of flour as weighing 120 grams. Unfortunately, that number is rarely used.. Depending on how it is measured, a cup can weigh as much as 155 grams. Since baking is a formula, it would be beneficial to all if we abided by the flour manufacturers’ weight. End of rant.
Sam Merritt
The United States doesn’t have a standard and most flour companies vary on the weight. 120 grams is used by some, but not even the majority of the big-name brands. I would strongly recommend using the weights listed by the recipe developer as that is precisely what was used when developing the recipe. I hope that helps!
Sam
Using the recipe developer’s weight is a good idea, except so many of them go by volume & not weight. Also, many that do use a conversion chart are not always accurate. Sorry, but this a huge pet peeve of mine!
Sam Merritt
On this website you will always be safe to use the weights, they are what I use personally when testing.
Sam
Thanks. I do trust yours since you parenthetically add grams in the ingredient list. But many of those who use a generic conversion chart? Not so much. 😏
Jono
Maybe I’ll watch the video next time 🙈
Colleen
First time I’ve made pizza dough that wasn’t dense. It was so easy. I will make it often.
Megan
Way too sticky and wet. Dough did not come together even with significantly more flour (3+ tbs) Baked as recommended and stuck to pan, would not come up. Zero stars
Sam Merritt
Hi Megan! I’m sorry you had issues with this one. I just want to make sure you only used three quarters of a cup of water? You can always just add flour until you get the proper consistency. 🙁
Jenna
Would this work without the sugar or is there a good substitute that would work?
Sam Merritt
Hi Jenna! The sugar helps feed the yeast here. I’m not sure how a sugar substitute would work.
Jenna
I substituted honey for the sugar and let it rise longer since the sugar speeds up that process and it worked wonderfully. The crust was a little crisper though. My kids still enjoyed it just the same.
Sara
This really is the best pizza dough. The flavored is spot on & the texture is perfect!
Cathy
Have used this recipe several times. Absolutely love it! We like a thinner crust so I press it in to a 15″ cast iron skillet. Perfect!
Katheleen Miller
I want to make a deep dish tape Pizza. with the bottom crust sauce and some cheese some meat on cover that with another dough and add additional sauce cheese and meat. can I do that with this recipe? I need to make it double? or two separate batches to double? I really want to try this have everything ready to go but now I’m nervous. husband’s looking forward to a big fat Pizza. can you help me out very soon?? thank you Kathleeen thank you
Sam Merritt
Hi Kathleen! I haven’t personally tried making this dough into a deep dish pizza. I would make a double batch at least. You can do it all in one bowl if you want or you can make two separate batches. Let me know how it goes if you try it. 🙂