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’m not a huge pizza fan just because you have it often with kids, but THIS recipe actually makes me want to have pizza night at home. It is sooo good! I’ve made it tons now and it works every time.
Hi! I would like to try meal prepping pizzas to keep in the freezer. Do you think this would work with this recipe? Making it up until step 8, but would wrap and freeze it and bake it at a later date? Or would you recommend parbaking for about 5 minutes before topping and then freezing?
Hi Kara, For a par bake and freeze make-ahead option, you could par bake the dough (without toppings) for 5-8 minutes, then freeze. Let it thaw before topping and baking. Make sure you roll the dough/flatten thin as it will puff up without toppings on. We don’t recommend freezing with the toppings on. Hope this helps!
I use this recipe all the time and I too wanted to try a meal prep. I made the dough divided it into 2 put on pizza pan and pre baked the dough for around 5 minutes. I then topped my pizza with sauce and all my toppings but didn’t cook. I wrapped in Saran wrap and foil and froze it. The day I wanted to cook it I took it outta freezer and cooked it at 425 for about 15 minutes give or take. the best tasting pizza ever! and it’s easy for we want pizza just to grab outta freezer.
I have tried a few different recipes for pizza dough & I have finally landed in the tried & true keeper! The grandkids absolutely love it & with the last batch, I used half to make fantastic bread sticks! I rolled/pressed it out, used my pizza cutter to cut into ‘fingers’, & baked until golden. When I took them out I brushed them with a mixture of butter, salt, garlic salt & parmesan cheese. Cutting the fingers before hand made them easy pull parts & they were absolutely fantastic. Thank you so much for this recipe & the many uses I am going to find for it
I love this recipe! I use a bread machine and just pop it on the dough setting. Absolutely would recommend
We are a pizza loving family but have committed to eliminating certain ingredients from our diet. That has severally crippled our pizza consumption. Finding an easy and quick recipe that I can make on a whim is fantastic! Thank you so much!
So easy, I make this dough regularly. Awesome pizza crust, but also cheesy bread. Thank you so much for this.
Thanks for sharing this recipe its easy and yumm
I made pizza last week with this, and the whole family loved it! Using it tonight to make Calzone.
Turned out fabulous. My toppings were sausage crimini mushrooms and black olives. My first time making pizza dough. I used a wooden spoon and hand kneaded and it worked great.
Came out perfect. Thank you for all your great recipes and videos.
#3 Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer and beat for an additional 5 full minutes,
You write beat..Does that mean with regular mixer or do I use the dough attachment?
Thanks!
Hi Karen, if you have a dough hook attachment available, that works best.
Thank you l!
I got confused with “beat”
Looking forward to making my own dough
Love the recipe!! I have extra don’t want to freeze it because I want to use it on Saturday. If I made it Wednesday will it still be goo
Hi Desiree, we’re so glad you enjoyed it! If you made the dough on Wednesday, it would be best to freeze it for use on Saturday. We don’t recommend keeping it in the refrigerator for that long.
Second time trying this recipe and the dough still turns out super wet… I needed to add another cup of flour before it became a kneadable consistency. Let me know if you know why this is happening, but I’m definitely staying away from this recipe in the near future
Hi Justin, do you live in a particularly hot and humid climate? There are a number of factors that can go into the consistency of yeasted doughs, down to the weather and even the humidity in the air. If the dough seems really wet, there’s nothing wrong with adding a bit more flour until it comes together to a workable consistency.
Hi Sally
This recipe is easy and awesome. I had one question though, if I have 00 pizza dough, do you recommend any changes to the recipe?
TIA
Hi Anand, you can use 00 pizza flour—same amount with no other changes to the recipe.
Curious about Italian 00 flour. How have you used it and do you find it a better taste or te tire, but just not readily available?
Hi Caryl, 00 flour works great in this recipe. You can use the same amount with no other changes. The recipe is fantastic with all-purpose flour, too, and is what we use since it is more readily available to most. Hope this helps and that you enjoy the pizza!
This was the best pizza dough recipe I’ve ever tried. The best part was the detailed directions about when it’s ready to stop kneading. I was able to shape it with my hands into a circle and it didn’t split or break.
This recipe is amazing!!! Totally loved it. We used garlic granules and mixed herbs with the flour and it was so good. Thanks Sally I use your Chocolate chip cookies recipe too
If you are hesitating… don’t! This recipe is excellent! My husband declared THIS pizza crust was the best he’s had and asked me to stick with this recipe, so I will happily oblige! Thank you Sally, love your recipes
This is the best recipe for pizza my family gobbled it up , crispy crust not soggy, flavorful…just the best and easy too!
I love this recipe and use it weekly for family pizza nights! I’m wondering… could you make it a day or two ahead, and keep it in the fridge (after step 5)?
Hi Jena, we don’t recommend keeping it in the refrigerator for that long, but see recipe Notes for a few different make ahead options.
This recipe is absolutely perfect. Followed it to a T (except the brand of yeast) and it made a delightfully chewy but still crispy base for our pizzas. Topped half with supreme toppings and half with Hawaiian toppings and all of them were devoured almost as soon as they came out of the oven. I was very nervous because I’m baking in Southeast Asia and wasn’t sure about temps and brands and all that stuff, but this was foolproof. Thank you!
Good basic dough, makes 2 decent sized pizzas( probably 12-14”???) . Its a little basic but a good jumping off point till you get the hang of making homemade pizza . Then you can tweak it for your own taste
Best pizza dough recipe ever! It was so easy to work the dough into a disc.
I’m afraid that the Italian seasoning in the dough would negatively affect the cell wall of the yeast because of the anti microbial properties of the seasonings
Hi Meg, I’ve never had an issue but feel free to skip it!
I love this recipe
Oh my gosh, Sally! This was perfect! I have never made a pizza crust before and I have almost no experience working with yeast. I followed your recipe (I even messed up a step) and the crust turned out so good! I was a little worried because the dough seemed to be very sticky, but I just kept adding flour until I could knead it without it sticking. It passed the window pane test and then rose to a beautiful dome that was threatening to escape my bowl! We topped it with cheese, pepperoni, and Italian sauage. We will definitely make this again.
All of Sally’s recipes are amazing! This is my go to pizza dough recipe. I sell pizza on Fridays and everyone loves this crust.
This recipe is so easy and the dough is delicious! The dough raised in 60 min, so I wrapped each individual pizza portion in saran wrap and placed in a ziploc bag and popped them in the fridge. We made the pizzas about five hours later and the dough had raised more in the ziploc bags…lol To my surprise, they weren’t over-proofed and everyone loved making their own pizzas. I made two batches (4 pizzas); 2 plain and 2 with granulated garlic per your suggestion. The dough held up to the toppings and tasted delicious. Thank you….we’ll be making again!
This is my go to recipe for pizza dough, it’s perfect. Also I use my bread machine, less work for me and it comes out perfectly.
Made this tonight, incredibly simple to make, came together beautifully and cooked up crispy. This is nowy go-to dough recipe for pizza! The only change I made was using pizza flour instead of all purpose.
I love it
It was easy enough to make. Followed the recipe to the letter. I’m pretty new to homemade pizza but I’ve made lots of different homemade bread (in the oven). The crust was nice and thick. I just found it to be too plain. Kind of tasted like bland bread. Second time I added garlic and oregano to the dough and it still tasted bland. Maybe, since I’m new to it, it’s something I’m not thinking of. I’ll try it one more time, mixing the seasoning with the olive oil that I brush on the pizza. The pizza covered with sauce was pretty good though.
Hi Mel. Maybe let it sit in the fridge for a day or so to develop the flavor more. This is advised for many other doughs I have tried.