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
If you enjoy watching these videos, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel to be notified every time I publish a video!
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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
The best pizza dough. I love it! I put different spices in my pizza dough and it was yummy 😋!
I am so glad that you enjoyed it, Lynda! Thank you for commenting and for trying my recipe. 🙂
Thank you for the recipe first try it was so good
I am so glad that you enjoyed it, Marie Ann! 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing the best pizza dough recipe ever! Absolutely delicious!
I am so glad that you enjoyed it, Kiran! Thanks for trying my recipe and for commenting. 🙂
Amazing! Super easy for a novice like me. My wife and my daughter truly appreciate it. Thank you so much.
I am so glad that your family enjoyed it! Thank you for trying my recipe. 🙂
If I use active dry yeast do I just mix it with water before adding to the dough or how would I do?
Hi, Michelle! Another user who used active dry yeast (same amount listed on the recipe) proofed the yeast in 1/4 cup warm water + 1 tsp sugar before putting it in the flour mixture. Then added the rest of the wet ingredients and flour. After about 45 mins it should double in size! I hope that helps! 🙂
After proofing it in the 1/4 cup of water do we still use 3/4 cup of water in the rest of the recipe or do we reduce it to 1/2 cup to keep the total water at 3/4 cup? (When using dry active yeast). Thanks for the recipe!
Hi, Nikola! You will reduce it to 1/2 cup to keep the total water at 3/4 cup. 🙂
Hi, for some reason when I used only 3/4 cup of warm water my dough would not conform at all. It was in bits of pieces in the bowl. As I watched the video the cup appeared to be more than 3/4 of a cup of hot water. Is there an error or am I doing something wrong? Second time around, I put in over 1 cup of warm water and it was much better and it confirmed. Please help!
I am sorry that you experienced an issue with the dough, Huong. 3/4 is the correct amount of water needed. It sounds like too much flour was added. The most common mistake in baking is over measuring flour so I have created a guide on how to measure flour properly that can be used as a reference for next time. Regardless, I am happy that you were able to get it to work the second time around. I hope that you enjoyed your pizza. 🙂
I have been experimenting alot lately with homemade pizza dough recipes.
I stumbled upon this recipe yesterday and tried it last night.
It was amazing. It raised nicely, was light and easy to work with.
Baked up real good, nice, lighty, and crisp.
Perhaps needs a tad more salt but overall excellent
I am so glad that you enjoyed it, Ken! Thank you for trying my recipe and for commenting. 🙂
I tried this recipe tonight & the whole family loved it! The dough was lovely to work with – so easy to roll out. The crust baked well and was nice and light. Will be a favourite recipe we will use again and again. Thank-you.
I am so happy to hear that your family enjoyed your pizza night and that the recipe was a big hit, Lani. Thank you for commenting. 🙂
I was skeptical about this recipe and video at first but I made it anyway. I was predominantly trying a new pizza sauce idea that had been percolating in my head and caught the SugarSpunRun pizza dough recipe on my first search for “Best pizza dough”. Anyway my result was absolutely wonderful. I added slightly more olive oil to the initial mix (1/2 tsp.), added onion powder instead of garlic, and cooked it at high temp (450) on a pizza stone. Even though the pizza was thick with sauce, three different cheeses, mushrooms, peppers and onions, the bottom remained deep golden brown and wonderfully crisp. The dough was easy to rollout and easy to work with. I totally agree with using all purpose flour as I believe the resulting texture is better. Its amazing what a good crust will do for your pizza. Thanks so much for the recipe
Thank you so much for deciding to try my recipe, Brian! I am so glad that you enjoyed it and found the dough easy to work with. Thanks for commenting. 🙂
I’m using your recipe tomorrow to make calzones. I couldn’t find packets of yeast, only frozen chinch of yeast. I never used yeast before. I plan to melt the yeast in a little warm water. Will that work?
I am excited for you to try this recipe too, Pat! I have never tried using “frozen chinch of yeast” so I can not provide you with any personal recommendations. If it is like dry yeast, it will need to be proofed before adding it into the dry ingredients. I would follow the directions on the packaging for guidance. Keep me posted on how it turns out. 🙂
Well I defrosted in a bit of warm water. Proofed it as instructed and saw nothing. Like 30 minutes later I looked a bit active. I just made my first calzone with it. Have to say 1 thumb up 😊 i’ll try again when I can find dry yesdy. Not bad though. Thanks
Thanks for sharing what you tried. It may have just needed more time to activate and rise. Yeast can be tricky. Regardless, I am glad that it turned out well. I am excited for you to try it with instant yeast next time to see how it compares. Thanks for the feedback, Pat!
I tried this recipe tonight for the first time! I doubled all the ingredients to make 2 pizzas and they turned out great! I used garlic powder and it was a great touch!
I am so glad that you enjoyed it, Ashley! Thank you for trying my recipe and for commenting. 🙂
Awesome pizza dough recipe! Super easy!!! Loved it. I added half whole wheat flour for a healthier version and added garlic powder, basil and oregano plus salt and pepper. It turned out delish!!!
Yummmmyyyy
I am so glad that you loved it, Sukhi! Thank you for trying my recipe and for commenting. 🙂
I prefer wheat crusts but this turned out really well. I let it rise most of the day because I made it this morning but it was perfectly cooked with a golden brown bottom at 20 minutes. My husband loved it.
Thank you for trying my recipe, Amber! I am glad that your husband loved it. Since you enjoy more of a wheat crust, others have substituted using wheat flour in place of all-purpose flour and have reported wonderful results. I have not tried it myself, but hopefully, it turns out perfectly for you too. Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Thank you so much. I am new to baking pizza. I have seen my mom make pizza in the past. But, this is the first time I tried it myself and it was perfect, soft and flavorful.
Thank you so much!
I am so happy to hear how much you enjoyed it, Sally! Thank you for trying my recipe and for commenting. 🙂
This is one of the best pizza dough!!! ❤️❤️❤️
Thanks for sharing this!
Ive added dried oregano as well.
I am so glad that you enjoyed it, Pringles! Thanks for trying my recipe. 🙂