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
Wonderful! This dough rose really well, rolled out easily & was delicious!
Hi Sally,
This dough recipe is delicious, I made it so many times! I would like to try something different this time and have mini pizza’s instead of one big one. I’m planning to divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. How many minutes would you recommend in the oven?
Thanks!
I’m so happy you enjoy it, Deniz! The bake time would be less but I’m unsure of the exact time. Bake until the cheese on top is completely melted.
This was my first time making homemade pizza and it was absolutely delicious! My husband even said it was the best pizza he’s ever had…and we eat a lot of pizza! Thank you for an easy but delicious recipe.
This was easy and delicious! Since I don’t have a mixer, I mixed and kneaded the dough by hand and found it easy to work with. I made the dough last night for dinner tonight, so mine rose for about 20 hours in the fridge and still came out great! I baked the pizza at 550 degrees because I like a crunchy crust and it was perfect. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Sally, looking forward to this one….but I’m wondering if the dough will keep in the fridge for 1 night after making it. I want to make the dough today but the pizza tomorrow. Is it better to freeze even for just 1 night? Thanks so much!
I used to go to the grocery store and buy those premade pizza crusts…my boys love pizza..when I found this recipe I decided to give it a try…my family went crazy..it is so simple, turns out great every time..I will never go back to those store bought crusts..but I do have to make pizza more often now!
Thanks Sally for your advice…Ended up making this today without the full day instructions, just a 90 minute rise. The crust was deliciously pillowy on the inside and crisp on the outside. And was easy to do – as a first timer using yeast, I’m sold. Definitely going to use this recipe again!
Question!
Why does my dough roll out then snap.back small? Struggle bus!! But it does taste amazing!
Hi Kayla! This is completely normal for yeasted doughs. Cover the dough that keeps shrinking with a clean towel and let it rest for 10-15 minutes. (Giving the gluten a chance to relax.) Return to shaping it. You’ll have an easier time!
Great pizza crust, even if you don’t wait to let it sit overnight. My first ever completely homemade crust and I will continue to use this recipe. Decidedly good eats and super easy to make.
Bravo!
Thank you for this recipe and how you described the instructions so thoroughly and completely. I am not a new baker and yet I appreciate such detailed instructions. The pizza dough came out absolutely delicious and is my new favorite. Thank you so much.
I made this for dinner tonight (I froze one ball) and like many, have been making homemade pizza for years but didn’t have my usual homemade dough recipe when I came upon yours. My partner said ‘this was your best one yet’, I said ‘it’s homemade’ and he said ‘oh you can tell, that’s a keeper’. This will be my new go-to recipe. Looking forward to trying it for pan pizza in a cast iron frying pan.
I have tried making pizza crust many times before, but I never had much success. The recipes I used mostly came out hard like cardboard no matter how well I followed the recipe. I wanted to make a pizza for Superbowl Sunday rather than ordering out or making a frozen pizza. Ordering out always ends up to be so expensive by the time tax and delivery fees are added plus tipping the delivery person. I decided to give it one a try and am I ever glad I did. I took my time and followed the recipe plus all the tips. I made one pizza and then I made the cheesy breadsticks. This crust turned out awesome. I was so proud of myself. Thank you Sally. I will be making this all the time. It’s so great that it makes two crusts and either make two pizzas or make one pizza and freeze the extra crust for another pizza. No more frozen pizza and no more ordering out. This with my homemade pizza sauce and toppings are definitely a keeper.
I made this crust last night for the Super Bowl and it was a big hit!!! Made a plain cheese pizza for my son and used your fresh pesto recipe to make a pesto, fresh mozzarella and tomato pizza for me and my husband- WOW!!!
Hi Traci, After your 90 minute rise if you aren’t going to use it for a while, place the dough in the refrigerator. Then place it back on the counter for about 30 minutes to come back to room temperature before shaping it. I hope your family enjoys it!
Ok thank you ! Next time I will do that ! It was a little tough , maybe I kneaded it too long?
But it was excellent !!
Super bowl was your pizza , sauce and your peanut butter brownies !!
All a hit!!
My teenage son said they were ” fire”
Thank you Sally !
Perfect pizza dough recipe. I topped it with pizza sauce and a combination of fresh mozzarella and shredded mozzarella. The result was almost identical to NYC pizza that I haven’t had since I was a little kid.
Thank you so much Sally.
It’s like the dough the pizzeria I used to work out made 🙂
Absolutely outstanding! Turned out beautifully. Are use half of it for pocket sandwiches, and I’m going to use the rest for turnovers.
I made this last weekend, but I didn’t have enough flour for the whole recipe. I cut the recipe in half and still got two (very) thin-crust pizzas out of it! Even though the crust was so thin, my whole family agreed this crust is way better than the one I’d been using before. Can’t wait to make it again this weekend–full recipe this time!
Today was Homemade Pizza Redemption Day. I have had enough – I have tried every recipe known to mankind to achieve the perfect pizza crust. Today was Redemption Day. If this didn’t work I swore to my husband that homemade pizza dough would never darken our doorway again. Well today is the most successful pizza EVER ! I used Bread Flour and added a couple of extra tablespoons of water as suggested. Still didn’t get that chewiness I want but that could be any number of things…pan, altitude who knows! But honestly I must say that after today my faith in homemade pizza has been restored. I’m in Canada so I used Fleischmanns yeast which could be the difference. Or the type of wheat ? Who knows. All I know is that Pizza Nirvana was pretty much achieved !!!! Thank you so much for this simplistic recipe I found the tutorial video really helped too!
The search for a perfect pizza crust is over. Yummy!
Sally: I plan to make this tonight. I’ve wanted to make pizza for a long time, so I’m going to jump in. I made your sandwich bread yesterday and it was fabulous. So easy and almost no “hands on” as the mixer did all the work. I’m going to make another loaf but with cinnamon and raisins to see how that tastes. Thanks for all your wonderful and easy recipes.
Thank YOU! Please let me know how to pizza crust turned out for you. It’s my favorite! So glad you enjoy the sandwich bread, another staple in my house.
Hi Sally –
I’m going to make one pepperoni and one cinnamon with icing like a cinnamon roll! I’ll let you know how it turns out! Dinner and dessert in one recipe! Win-Win! (And then I’ll jump on my recumbent bike).
I would like to try your recipe. But I want to double it. Can I just double everything? I feel two packets of yeast would be too much. Thanks
For best results, I recommend making two separate batches of dough rather than doubling. This helps the ingredients to incorporate better. I hope you enjoy this recipe!
Omg! Absolutely love this dough recipe. Super easy to make and tastes amazing. I used vegetable oil, because i forgot to grab more olive oil. Made pizzas tonight, but I believe this dough would work for calzones, strombolies as well.
Wonderful recipe! I have made this many many times and it always turns out great! I’ve made this by hand, as well as in a bread maker and it turns out great both ways 🙂
Thank you so much for the quick video too to go along with the recipe–super helpful when making dough for the first time!!
I’ve been wanting to make this for sometime now. I made it for New Years Eve and it was a hit. Thank you again for an amazing recipe. I never make a new recipe without test driving it first. I can honestly say that I don’t need to do that with your recipes Sally
Sally! Wow! I experimented with your dough recipe today. Despite being a pretty experienced baker, I’ve never made pizza dough. I think it’s because I’m worried I’ll mess it up and it will ruin the meal I attempted it for. This crust is so easy to come together, and well worth the overnight proofing in the fridge. I will not be ordering pizza again! It was a huge hit with kiddos home on winter break. I am for to make pizza for New Year’s Eve now. Love your recipes in general! Thank you for one more that is yet again my go to!
I loved this ! I just got a kitchen aid for Christmas and I have been pinteresting tons of recipes to try. Pizza was one we were all excited for! I made the dough and used both halves. I did one rectangle pizza and one circle pizza. We did a cheese and a pepperoni pizza. They both came out amazingly! My boyfriend accidently bought cornmeal mix not just plain cornmeal so we didn’t have that ingredient and everyone still loved it! Can’t wait to try it again with the cornmeal. Thanks!! I wish I could attach pictures!!
First time making pizza dough. Made 2 batches last night. One to make and one to freeze. My husband said, we will never buy pizza again! We loved it and it is so easy to make and the clean up was not much either. There is no reason for us to ever buy frozen or delivered again. Love it. Thanks so much…
I made this dough last night and it was delicious! I’ve never made dough before, I let it rise for just over and hour and popped the second ball Into the fridge to eat for dinner tonight.
Hi there!
We really like a loaded pizza with lots of ingredients and extra cheese. I think this would affect the cook time and possibly the temp. Do you have a recommendation? I have the dough on rising for our Friday night pizzas!
Hi Deborah! The cook time will need to be longer so the dough underneath all the toppings can cook through. No need to change the oven temperature, though you could slightly lower it if desired.
Best pizza dough I’ve ever made! We were going to order take out pizza tonight but I had the ingredients to make one at home and I’m SO glad I did. This crust is so pillowy and perfect, I will be writing it down in my recipe book tonight. Thank you!
Absolutely perfect. Delicious perfect crust.