This easy pizza dough recipe is great for beginners and produces 2 soft and chewy homemade pizza crusts. Skip the pizza delivery because you only need 6 basic ingredients to begin!
This recipe is brought to you in partnership with Red Star Yeast. Originally published in 2013, this pizza dough recipe is a massive fan favorite and you’ll also find it in my New York Times best-selling cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
Every great pizza begins with a great pizza crust. Some like it thin and crispy, while others prefer a thick and soft crust. This homemade pizza crust has it all: soft & chewy with a delicious crisp and AWESOME flavor. It’s my go-to pizza dough recipe and just a glance at the hundreds of reviews in the comments section tells me that it’s a favorite for many others too. In fact…
Easy Dough for Bread Beginners
This is a no-fuss dough recipe for beginners. You need just 6 basic ingredients, plus a little cornmeal for preparing the pan. (You can skip that if needed.) Most of the time is hands off as the dough rises. You might wonder… why waste the time when you can just buy frozen pizza dough? Frozen pizza dough is certainly convenient, but from-scratch crust has unbeatable flavor and texture that only comes from fresh dough. And you can use the dough for cheese breadsticks, too!
If you’ve ever made homemade bagels or sandwich bread, you can easily make pizza dough because it’s quicker, easier, and requires fewer steps.
Reader, Andy, commented: “Super easy, super fast, super good! I don’t like doughy thick pizzas and I find with this recipe that I can make them thin and crunchy, I love how easy it is. I make pizza once or twice a month! Haven’t bought one for quite some time now! ★★★★★“
Overview: Homemade Pizza Dough Ingredients
All pizza dough starts with the same basic ingredients: flour, yeast, water, salt, and olive oil.
- Yeast: I use Platinum Yeast from Red Star. I have the best results when I use this instant yeast. The Platinum yeast is fantastic because its careful formula strengthens your dough and makes working with yeast simple. You only need 1 standard packet of yeast (2 and 1/4 teaspoons) to get the job done.
- Water: I tested this pizza dough recipe with different amounts of water. 1 and 1/3 cups is the perfect amount. Use warm water to cut down on rise time, about 100-110°F. Anything over 130ºF kills the yeast.
- Flour: Use unbleached all-purpose white flour in this recipe. Bleaching the flour strips away some of the protein, which will affect how much water the flour absorbs. You can substitute bread flour for a chewier pizza crust. If you love whole grain bread, try this whole wheat pizza dough instead.
- Oil: A couple Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil adds wonderful flavor to the dough. Don’t forget to brush the dough with olive oil before adding the toppings, which prevents the crust from tasting soggy.
- Salt: Salt adds necessary flavor.
- Sugar: 1 Tablespoon of sugar increases the yeast’s activity and tenderizes the dough, especially when paired with a little olive oil.
- Cornmeal: Cornmeal isn’t in the dough, but it’s used to dust the pizza pan. Cornmeal gives the pizza crust a little extra flavor and crisp. Most delivery pizzas you enjoy have cornmeal on the bottom crust!
You could also add 1 teaspoon each garlic powder and Italian seasoning blend to the dough when you add the flour.
One reader, Shane, commented: “Excellent pizza dough. I add about 1 tbs of garlic powder and Italian herbs to give the dough more flavor as well as 40 grams of cornmeal for a little crunch. It freezes well and makes a nice thin crust. ★★★★★“
This is a Lean Bread Dough
Pizza crust, like homemade bagels, artisan bread, and focaccia, requires a lean dough. A lean dough doesn’t use eggs or butter. Without the extra fat to make the dough soft, you’re promised a crusty pizza crust. (However, I recommend using some olive oil for flavor and to keep the interior on the softer side.) Recipes like dinner rolls & sweet potato dinner rolls, homemade breadsticks, and overnight cinnamon rolls require fat to yield a “rich dough,” which creates a softer and more dessert-like bread.
Overview: How to Make Easy Pizza Dough
- Make the dough: Mix the dough ingredients together by hand or use a hand-held or stand mixer. Do this in steps as described in the written recipe below.
- Knead: Knead by hand or with your mixer. I like doing this by hand. If you’re new to yeasted doughs, my How to Knead Dough post and video can help with this step.
- Rise: Place dough into a greased mixing bowl, cover tightly, and set aside to rise for about 90 minutes or overnight in the refrigerator.
- Punch & shape: Punch down risen dough to release air bubbles. Divide in 2. Roll dough out into a 12-inch circle. Cover and rest as you prep the pizza toppings.
- Top it: Top with favorite pizza toppings.
- Bake: Bake pizza at a very high temperature for only about 15 minutes.
Young bakers can lend a hand AND have fun in the process. Let the kids help you press down the dough and shape into a circle. They can add their cheeses and make pepperoni faces on top of the pie. Who doesn’t love a smiley pizza? 🙂
Favorite Pizza Pans
Let me share my top choices for pizza pans just in case you’re shopping for a new one. I use and love (affiliate links) this one and this one. If you like baking your homemade pizzas on pizza stones, I’ve used this one before and it’s wonderful.
If you don’t have a pizza pan, use a regular sheet pan. Grease it with olive oil and sprinkle with cornmeal as directed below, and then press the dough into whatever shape that will fit. Make sure the dough is about 1/2-inch thick. For a thinner pizza, stretch the dough out more.
Uses for Homemade Pizza Dough
Here are the many uses for this homemade pizza dough:
- Stuffed Crust Pizza
- Pesto Pizza
- Homemade Ham & Cheese Pockets
- Pepperoni Pizza Rolls
- Stromboli
- Spinach Artichoke White Pizza
- Homemade BBQ Chicken Pizza
- Garlic Knots
- Margherita style (pictured above): For 2 pizzas, when it’s time to top it in step 6 below, top with the following. (Feel free to halve for only 1 pizza.) Make a homemade tomato sauce by blending 1 28-ounce can San Marzano tomatoes, 1 Tablespoon olive oil, pinch of salt, and 2 minced cloves of garlic. Spread on shaped doughs. Top each with 2-3 ounces thinly sliced fresh mozzarella. Bake as directed, and then sprinkle each hot pizza with 2 Tbsp freshly grated parmesan cheese and a handful of roughly chopped fresh basil.
- Apple gorgonzola pizza is a favorite: For 1 pizza, when it’s time to top it in step 6 below, top with 1 and 1/2 cups (6oz or 168g) shredded mozzarella cheese, 8 ounces crumbled gorgonzola cheese, thin slices of apple, then sprinkle with chopped fresh or dried rosemary before baking.
- Or any other pizza topping you love: pepperoni, crumbled sausage, black olives, onions, mushrooms, jalapeños, etc
Here are my flatbread pizza crust, whole wheat pizza dough, Chicago-style deep dish pizza, and cold veggie pizza recipes.
Print
Easy Homemade Pizza Dough
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
- Yield: 2 12-inch pizzas
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Follow these basic instructions for a thick, crisp, and chewy pizza crust at home. The recipe yields enough pizza dough for two 12-inch pizzas and you can freeze half of the dough for later. Close to 2 pounds of dough total. This recipe is also in my New York Times best-selling cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 and 1/3 cups (320ml) warm water (about 110°F/43°C)
- 1 Tablespoon (13g) granulated sugar
- 2 and 1/4 teaspoons (7g) Platinum Yeast from Red Star instant yeast (1 standard packet)*
- 3 and 1/2 to 4 cups (438–500g) unbleached all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more as needed
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing
- 1 teaspoon salt
- sprinkle of cornmeal, for dusting the pan
Toppings (halve these amounts if making just 1 pizza)
- extra-virgin olive oil, for brushing
- 2 garlic cloves, minced (optional)
- 1 cup (250g) store-bought pizza sauce
- 4 cups (1lb/454g) shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Whisk the warm water, granulated sugar, and yeast together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or paddle attachment. Cover and allow to rest for 5 minutes. *If you don’t have a stand mixer, simply use a large mixing bowl and mix the dough with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula in the next step.
- Add the flour, olive oil, and salt. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
- Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer and beat for an additional 5 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 5 full minutes. (If you’re new to bread-baking, my How to Knead Dough video tutorial can help here.) If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a “windowpane test” to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough: tear off a small (roughly golfball-size) piece of dough and gently stretch it out until it’s thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so, your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading until it passes the windowpane test.
- Rise: Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or nonstick spray—just use the same bowl you used for the dough. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 60–90 minutes or until double in size. (Tip: For the warm environment on a particularly cold day, heat your oven to 150°F (66°C). Turn the oven off, place the dough inside, and keep the door slightly ajar. This will be a warm environment for your dough to rise. After about 30 minutes, close the oven door to trap the air inside with the rising dough. When it’s doubled in size, remove from the oven.)
- Preheat oven to 475°F (246°C). Allow it to heat for at least 15–20 minutes as you shape the pizza. (If using a pizza stone, place it in the oven to preheat as well.) Lightly grease baking sheet or pizza pan with nonstick spray or olive oil. Sprinkle lightly with cornmeal, which gives the crust extra crunch and flavor.
- Shape the dough: When the dough is ready, punch it down to release any air bubbles. Divide the dough in half. (If not making 2 pizzas, freeze half of the dough for another time. See freezing instructions below.) On a lightly floured work surface using lightly floured hands or rolling pin, gently flatten the dough into a disc. Place on prepared pan and, using lightly floured hands, stretch and flatten the disc into a 12-inch circle, about 1/2-inch thick. If the dough keeps shrinking back as you try to stretch it, stop what you’re doing, cover it lightly for 5–10 minutes, then try again. Once shaped into a 12-inch circle, lift the edge of the dough up to create a lip around the edges. I simply pinch the edges up to create the rim. If using a pizza stone, place the dough directly on baker’s peels dusted with cornmeal.
- Cover dough lightly with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and allow to rest for a few minutes as you prepare your pizza toppings. I suggest pepperoni & green peppers or jalapeño slices, Hawaiian pizza, pesto pizza, spinach artichoke white pizza, or homemade BBQ chicken pizza.
- Top & bake the pizza: Using your fingers, press dents into the surface of the dough to prevent bubbling. Lightly brush olive oil over the top of the crust. Sprinkle with minced garlic (if using), then spread on 1/2 cup (125g) pizza sauce, and top with 2 cups (227g) shredded mozzarella cheese. Top with any additional toppings of your choice and bake for 13–15 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
- Slice hot pizza and serve immediately. Cover leftover pizza tightly and store in the refrigerator.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: This recipe yields enough dough for two 12-inch pizzas, a little less than 2 pounds (900g) total. After the pizza dough rises and you divide the dough in half (step 5), you can freeze one of the balls of dough to make pizza at a later time. Or you can simply freeze both balls of dough separately. Lightly coat all sides of the dough ball(s) with nonstick spray or olive oil. Place the dough ball(s) into individual zipped-top bag(s) and seal tightly, squeezing out all the air. Freeze for up to 3 months. To thaw, place the frozen pizza dough in the refrigerator for about 8 hours or overnight. When ready to make pizza, remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow to rest for 1 hour on the counter. Preheat the oven and continue with step 5, punching down the dough to release air if needed.
- Overnight/All Day Instructions: Prepare the dough through step 3, but allow the dough to rise for 8–12 hours in the refrigerator. (If it needs to be in the refrigerator for longer, use cooler water (about 70°F/21°C) in the dough, which will slow the dough’s rise and allow for more time.) The slow rise gives the pizza dough wonderful flavor! When ready, continue with step 4. If the dough didn’t quite double in size overnight, let it sit at room temperature for 30–45 minutes before punching down (step 5).
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Stand Mixer or Large Mixing Bowl and Wooden Spoon or Silicone Spatula | Dough Scraper | Pizza Pan or Baking Sheet | Pastry Brush | Pizza Cutter
- Yeast: Red Star Platinum yeast is an instant yeast. You can use active dry yeast instead. The rise time will be at least 90 minutes. Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
- Pictured Pizza: This recipe yields 2 pizzas. For each, top with 1/2 cup pizza sauce, 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, pepperoni slices, thinly sliced green pepper or jalapeño, and a sprinkle of Italian seasoning blend or dried basil.
Recipe originally published on Sally’s Baking Addiction in 2013
FAQ: How Can I Make The Dough Ahead of Time?
Prepare the dough through step 3 above, but allow the dough to rise for 8-12 hours in the refrigerator. (If it needs to be in the refrigerator for longer, use cooler water in the dough which will slow the dough’s rise and allow for more time.) As a bonus, the slow rise gives the pizza dough wonderful flavor! When ready, continue with step 5 in the recipe above (the shaping step). If the dough didn’t quite double in size when rising, let it sit at room temperature for 30-45 minutes before shaping.
FAQ: How Do I Freeze Homemade Pizza Dough?
This recipe yields two 12-inch pizzas. After the pizza dough rises and you divide the dough in half (step 5), you can freeze one of the balls of dough to make pizza at a later time. Or you can simply freeze both balls of dough separately. Lightly coat all sides of the dough ball(s) with nonstick spray or olive oil. Place the dough ball(s) into individual zipped-top bag(s) and seal tightly, squeezing out all the air. Freeze for up to 3 months.
FAQ: How Do I Thaw Frozen Pizza Dough?
Place the frozen pizza dough in the refrigerator for about 8 hours or overnight. When ready to make pizza, remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow to rest for 30 minutes on the counter. Continue with step 5 in the recipe above.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I make this so often now! It’s really easy and it always turns out. I don’t have a mixer and I don’t have any counter space, so I knead it right in the bowl. It turns out so good! Tasty, crispy and tender. Excellent recipe! Thank you so much!
This is definitely my go to pizza crust recipe when I don’t want to wait 1 day in advance. For optimal browning of the crust, I reduce the temperature to 350 and bake for 30-40 minutes and my crust browns perfectly. Due to the thickness of the dough I’ve never had success with high temperature baking as it bakes the top fast but the bottom of the crust doesn’t burn.
Amazing. I have tried many pizza dough recipes, but now I have found the perfect one.
Can you do half all purpose and half bread flour ?
Hi Cassandra, Certainly! Bread flour has a higher protein level and forms a stronger gluten network. It creates a chewier pizza crust. We published this recipe with all-purpose flour since it’s more commonly used in kitchens. You can use either with no changes to the recipe, or use a combination of both. I swap between the two when I make it at home.
Can I roll out this dough thinner than what you pictured in order to make a thin crust pizza?
Hi Kyra, definitely! Your bake time might be shorter though, so keep an eye on your pizza while it bakes.
Been using your recipe for years!!! Love it every time!
If we don’t want two pizzas/have a small mixer, can we split this recipe in half to only make one crust?
Hi Jenna! My recommendation is to make the full dough recipe, then use half of it. You can freeze the other half for another time. If all of the ingredients won’t fit in your mixer, you can mix by hand until the dough comes together, then knead it as directed. Hope you enjoy it!
This was a good recipe except it needed more salt. I would add 1 extra teaspoon
This pizza crust is the absolute best and thank you so much for making it double so I can make twice as much at the same time or save one ball of dough for later! You are literally a lifesaver for me! My sons have food allergies, and due to the new FDA rules on labeling, processed and packaged products are no longer safe for them. My youngest son recently had a anaphylactic reaction to a packaged food he had eaten many times before, we had to give him a shot of epi and call 911. He was unable to go to the hospital because of Covid, so we have had to take care of this at home and completely change the way we eat to keep him safe. We are a family of five so I need to prepare large meals three times daily from scratch and your recipes have been so so very helpful and delicious. Thank you so much!
Wow!! We just made two massive pizzas using this dough recipe. Absolutely fantabulous! Didn’t have an instant yeast, so we used an Active Dry Yeast, let it rise for about 75 minutes only, baked for about 13 minutes, and it turned out absolutely scrumptious. Thank you, Sally! Literally have a folder saved with all your recipes! 🙂
Tonight is the second time I’m making this recipe. I enjoyed it the first time, having frozen-then-thawed half for a second pizza a few days later. Tonight, I have some leftover shredded cheese, and am going to use it up before it goes bad. THIS TIME, I weighed the flour (like a good baker is supposed to) – but I found the dough waaaaaay too sticky. I ended up adding (an estimated) three quarters of a cup of extra flour, and kneading the dough until it hit the right consistency – soft yet slightly springy. I’m not sure what I did wrong, but I’m sure this will taste just fine. I’m curious to know what you think; do you typically weigh your flour, or do you spoon/level it into a cup measure?
My daughter wanted pizza tonight. Looked up pizza recipes
Yours came up. 15 min no yeast. Gave it a try. Glad i did. So easy to make . Tastes great. Thank you for the recipe
Excellent recipe, easy & comes together quickly, especially when using a stand mixer. I made it using 2 cups of 00 flour & 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour. The addition of the whole wheat gives it a nice flavour & adds extra nutrients & fibre. I have some rising right now for tonight’s dinner.
Hi Sally,
I’m planning on letting the dough slowly rise in the fridge overnight. Can I use it immediately once I remove it from the fridge, or does it need to sit out for any length of time? I will also be using a pizza stone if that makes a difference.
Hi KS, You can use it right out of the fridge unless the dough didn’t quite double in size overnight. If it did not, let it sit at room temperature for 30-45 minutes before punching down (step 5). Enjoy!
Chewy and soft and flavorful. My go-to recipe for pizza at home!
Tonight I made this for dinner. I topped it with pesto, tomato and fresh mozzarella then sprinkled some chopped basil leaves when I took it out the oven. DELICIOUS!!!!! Will definitely make this again.
Hi Sally,
I used this recipe, but the whole mix was like thick batter! I added about 1/2 cup more flour. The mix would not resemble your dough. Still not able to knead it. I left it to rise, which it did beautifully. But still too wet to shape. So I have just picked up the wet and runny dough and put it in a nine inch pan, basted it with herb and garlic butter and plan to bake it at 150 degrees for 15 minutes. The ingredients are good so I trust I will get a delicious bread.
By the way I can understand what you mean by addiction! I am agonising over crusts and rise and perfect measure of ingredients!
Made 2 batches of the dough this morning for a pizza night with the family and it turned out so well! The crust was easy to roll out, light and delicious. We also had plenty to freeze for this Friday. Thanks for always posting such great and easy to follow recipes 🙂
Great recipe! Just got a stand mixer and wanted to try making pizza dough (never done it before) and this recipe was so easy and turned out great. Thanks!
Can I use a mix of bread flour and all-purpose flour or is it better to use just all-purpose?
I have plenty of bread flour but white plain flour is still in short supply here.
Thanks
Anne
Hi Anne, certainly! Bread flour has a higher protein level and forms a stronger gluten network. It creates a chewier pizza crust. We published this recipe with all-purpose flour since it’s more commonly used in kitchens. You can use either with no changes to the recipe, or use a combination of both. I swap between the two when I make it at home.
Thank you so much for replying so quickly!
I’ll mix and match too until until I can get enough plain flour.
I love this pizza recipe! I had to buy 2 lb bag of the Red Star Yeast because they were out of packets during the Covid mess. After opening it should I put it in the refrigerator or place it in the cabinet?
So glad you enjoy this recipe, Tracie, thank you! I recommend storing the yeast in the refrigerator.
Made homemade pizza for the first time, turned out great! Made my own sauce, too. 🙂 Thanks for your great recipes, Sally!
Hi! I let the dough rise for an hour outside the fridge but I don’t plan on making it until later on. Should I just put it in the fridge as is now (in a bowl and very much risen) or divide the dough now into 2 balls and wrap them up for later in the fridge? Great recipe by the way!
Hi Sandra, if it’s already doubled in size, I would punch it down and divide it in two, then wrap each up/cover tightly and store in the refrigerator until later.
Best ever pizza crust
I wish to say thank you for the best pizza dough I have ever made.
I am writing this comment from long distance and want to show You my great thankfulness from Iran.
Wish You joy and happiness
Best pizza dough recipe we’ve found yet and another homerun from your site!
I have used this recipe many time now and it is fantastic. I would love to double it so that I can make 4 pizzas. Any advice on which ingredients I should double? Not sure if I should double yeast or not.
Hi Jamie, for best taste and texture– and so you don’t overwhelm the mixer with excess dough (and since the added volume of dough would take much longer to rise), I recommend making 2 batches of dough separately.
Hey Sally!! I tried this recipe last week and my whole family loved it!! I’m going to try to make calzones this week with this dough, and I need about 1 pound of dough. Do you know how much this recipe makes??
Hi Alexa, this recipe yields about 2 lbs of dough.
I followed the instructions to a T and made a four cheese pizza. The best pizza I ever had. I added some garlic powder to the dough and used corn meal on the pan as recommended. I cooked it for the whole 15 minutes at 475. Froze 1/2 the dough per instructions. Thank you.
Got a very nice, soft and fluffy pizza with this recipe, in one attempt.
Inspite of having baked many cakes and breads etc never gathered the courage to make pizza from scratch. Son was craving for it and bases were not available…..and this recipe gave me the courage to attempt it.
Have made it 3 times in 10 days and henceforth no buying readymade pizzas bases.