This homemade pizza dough recipe is so easy to mix up, you’ll have better-than-delivery pizza whenever you want! Thin crust or thick, or even made into calzones, this healthy pizza dough is delicious every time!
My family loves pizza night, and we’re always on the quest for the best pizza ever.
Our search for the perfect pizza started several years ago, and we worked our way through multiple pizza shops, but none of them quite hit the spot (and the one that was the best-tasting closed!).
We LOVE East Coast-style pizza, so I was determined to find an easy and yummy replacement we could make at home. After many attempts, I have fine-tuned both the pizza dough recipe AND the pizza sauce. Now you can enjoy it too!
EASY HOMEMADE PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE
Besides the fact that this homemade pizza dough recipe is so tasty and super quick and easy, it’s also:
- Healthier. With only a few simple ingredients, this recipe is free of anything artificial. By making real-food pizza dough from scratch, we avoid all of the additives and sweeteners commonly found in pre-made, processed doughs.
- Made from scratch. Pizza dough is an easy, forgiving yeast dough to learn to make yourself, and it tastes delicious! (Learn all about baking with yeast here).
- Frugal. Making homemade pizza dough saves money with each pizza you make!
- Freezer-friendly. Pizza dough can be made ahead and refrigerated or frozen for longer-term meal planning. Here’s the full tutorial for freezing pizza dough.
After trying this easy pizza dough recipe, you’ll be making dough for pizza nights on a regular basis!
THE BEST PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE INGREDIENTS
This pizza dough recipe has just 5 simple ingredients:
- Warm water. You want it between 105-115 degrees to activate the yeast.
- Active dry yeast. For your pizza crust to rise.
- Granulated sugar or honey. To feed the yeast. The yeast eats most of the sugar so using a natural sweetener isn’t as important in this recipe.
- All-purpose flour. You can substitute einkorn flour or whole wheat flour as well.
- Salt. To enhance the flavor.
Psst! If you’re going to add salt, I highly recommend Ava Jane’s Kitchen. You may think all salt is created equal, but unfortunately, 90% of the salt produced around the world contains microplastics (gross, right?). Ava Jane’s Kitchen is an exception. Their salt is 100% microplastic-free, and it’s SO GOOD! Plus, you can get a free 8oz. bag of sea salt (just pay shipping and handling!)
HOW TO MAKE PIZZA DOUGH
Step 1. Combine warm water, yeast, and sweetener. Allow it to sit and bloom for five minutes, until the mixture bubbles and gets foamy on top.
Step 2. Add all purpose flour and salt and knead for 10 minutes using the dough hook on the stand mixer (or knead by hand), until the dough is elastic and springs back into place after pressing your thumb into it. Add additional flour ¼ cup at a time as needed, up to ½ cup total, until the dough comes together and pulls away from the side of the bowl.
Step 3. Cover with a towel and let the dough rise in a warm room temperature until doubled in size, 1 ½ to 2 hours.
Step 4. To make your pizzas: Preheat the oven to 550F or as high as it will go. Pound or roll out the dough one pizza at a time on a lightly floured surface – this pizza dough recipe makes enough for two 12-inch pizzas. Top with your favorite pizza toppings as desired with sauce, mozzarella cheese, vegetables, and pepperoni.
Step 5. Bake the pizzas in a hot oven on a hot pizza stone or preheated pan for 4-6 minutes.
RECIPE OF PIZZA CRUST TIPS
- When combining the warm water, dry yeast, and sweetener I use either a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer (I use a KitchenAid). A glass measuring cup works for proofing the yeast as well.
- Pizza dough on its own is not the most flavorful – that’s what makes it a good base for all those toppings! If you want to flavor the dough itself, try adding some Italian seasoning or garlic powder to the pizza dough recipe when you add the flour and salt. Start with 1 teaspoon of either one or add both.
- If your pizza dough bubbles up unevenly when it bakes, try pricking the dough with a fork a few times before baking.
- If your oven doesn’t reach as high of a temperature, you can also bake pizza at 425F for about 15 minutes, although the crust may not crisp up as much at a lower temperature.
- Using a pizza peel like this one makes moving the pizzas super easy! Parchment paper is also a great option, especially if you’re using a pizza stone.
- Instead of two big pizzas, let everyone make their own pizzas! Make smaller rounds of dough and let eat person top their own.
You can also make a recipe of pizza crust with einkorn flour, which is an ancestral grain. Even some people with gluten sensitivity can enjoy Einkorn flour! Here’s my recipe for Einkorn Flour Pizza Dough if you’d like to try it out.
RECIPES – PIZZA DOUGH TOPPINGS
We tend to keep it simple with pizza toppings.
- Pizza sauce: Here is my easy and delicious Pizza Sauce Recipe.
- Mozzarella: My favorite cheese for pizza is thinly sliced fresh mozzarella. You can also grate your own favorite cheese using a box grater.
- Diced vegetables: We like onions and bell peppers, finely diced
- Pepperoni/meats: Applegate Farms makes a nitrate-free pepperoni that is good. Read more about nitrates here. Top your pizza with whatever meats or veggies you prefer.
- A Buffalo Chicken Pizza or BBQ Chicken Pizza is also a favorite!!
You’re not limited to just adding toppings for pizza dough recipes – pizza dough also makes a great base for cheesy garlic bread, or fold half of the dough over the toppings for a pizza stromboli or calzone.
RECIPE OF DOUGH OF PIZZA FAQS
Can you use bread flour for this recipe of dough of pizza?
Yes! You can make bread flour pizza dough. I haven’t used it for this recipe – I use all-purpose flour, which is readily available in any grocery store. Bread flour has a bit more protein than all-purpose flour and will make for a slightly chewier pizza crust.
How do you make pizza crust that’s crispy?
To get a crispy crust, you need an exceptionally hot oven and a pizza stone (I have this one). Rolling the dough out on the thinner side also helps with getting a crispier recipe of pizza crust. Preheat your oven to 550F when you start making the dough. This creates a great warm environment for the dough to rise, plus plenty of time for the stone to get piping hot.
What if I prefer a thick recipe of pizza crust rather than New York style?
New York Style (East Coast) pizza isn’t everyone’s favorite so if you prefer more of a Sicilian-type pizza (thicker, chewier crust), try my Focaccia Bread Recipe spread out over a 9″x13″ baking sheet, then top with Pizza Sauce and your favorite toppings.
MORE YUMMY PIZZA RECIPES
- Easy Pizza Sauce
- Pizza Bagels
- Homemade Buffalo Chicken Pizza
- Perfect Cast Iron Skillet Pizza
- Homemade Pizza Bagel Bites
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Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe
This homemade pizza dough recipe is so easy to mix up, you’ll have better-than-delivery pizza whenever you want! Thin crust or thick, or even made into calzones, this healthy pizza dough is delicious every time!
- Prep Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 6 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 21 minutes
- Yield: 2 pizzas 1x
- Category: Main Meals
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups warm water
- 2 tsp active yeast
- 2 tsp granulated sugar or honey
- 3 ¼ cup all-purpose flour (plus ½ cup if needed)
- 1 tsp salt
- Toppings, as desired: pizza sauce, mozzarella (fresh or shredded), diced vegetables (we like onions and bell peppers), and pepperoni or cooked sausage
Instructions
- Combine warm water, active dry yeast and sweetener in either a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer (I use a KitchenAid).
- Allow the yeast mixture to sit and bloom for five minutes.
- Add all-purpose flour and salt and knead for 10 minutes, or by hand until the dough is elastic and springs back into place after the thumb test. Add additional flour, ¼ cup at a time, as needed for the dough to come together and pull away from the sides of the bowl.
- Cover the bowl with a towel and allow it to rise in a warm place until it’s doubled in size, 1 ½ – 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 550F or as high as your oven will go. Shape into two round balls of dough on a lightly floured surface. Cover with a towel until you are ready to use.
- To make your pizza: pound or roll out dough one pizza at a time with a rolling pin. Top as desired with sauce, mozzarella, vegetables, and pepperoni. Bake in a hot oven on a hot pizza stone or preheated pan for 4-6 minutes.
Notes
Using a pizza peel like this one makes moving the pizzas super easy!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 160
Can you freeze this dough to use later? There are only two of us. Thank you for your help.
Hello Cathleen,
Yes! Here’s how – https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/freeze-pizza-dough/
Can I make this recipe with whole wheat flour?
Hi Jennifer,
Yes, you definitely can!
We tried the dough this afternoon for dinner. My family are big eaters so I did the 3x recipe & we actually had a whole pizza & dough left over for 1 more pizza. Made pizza (made an attempt) sauce the day before out of a #10 can of diced tomatoes, needs more spice in my opinion, but I was a tad conservative on some of them. But it was a hit with my family. So, we’ll add this to our list of meals with tweaking the dough & thing’s a bit more for us.
But so glad for the size options, less work for me to have it pre-done. :o)
I’ve made this several times, and it is our go-to for pizza night. But my dough always rises again in the oven, making a wonky-shaped pizza. Any idea what I’m doing wrong? It’s hard to spread sauce and toppings on a crust that is not flat!
You simply need to prick the dough with a fork or a docking tool that has a bunch of little pokey “finger” on a roller style tool before adding your toppings. Works wonders.
Here’s a trick I learned in making homemade pizza:
Roll or shape the dough on parchment paper on which you have sprinkled corn meal. The corn meal eliminates sticky dough. Add desired sauce and toppings. Use a pizza peel or pizza screen to slide under the parchment paper and transfer the whole thing, parchment paper and all, onto the preheated stone in the oven. The parchment paper/peel makes the transfer easy-peasy, and I’ve never had anything less than a perfectly crisp crust. We never eat restaurant pizza anymore because we like ours better.
I’ve been making this for years, but I see that you recently updated it to only use AP flour. Did you find that you didn’t notice enough of a difference to justify the cost of semolina? Was that change made simply to reduce the cost or produce a result you like better?
Thanks for the recipes!
Hi Kim! Over the years we “made do” on pizza night with whatever we happened to have, and as much as we like the semolina, it wasn’t so noticeable to keep it on hand all the time. And now with my daughter’s gluten sensitivity, we can’t use it anyway. But you can still use it, if you like that original version!
Thanks for sharing the recipe! Have you ever used instant yeast? I found an online source that said I could sub instant (all I can find around here) at a rate of 0.75 of the required active dry and skip the bloom. Do you think this would work?
I’ve subbed instant yeast for active dry yeast all the time and just use the same amount. Technically, you don’t HAVE to bloom instant yeast, but nothing is worse than making a recipe and it not turn out because the yeast was bad… so I always bloom, regardless of the type of yeast!
I have tried and enjoyed the crust recipe for the dough and it was great. However, I used jar pizza sauce before and would like to use your sauce recipe this time but cannot find the link. Can you provide it?
Hi Kevin!
Thanks for asking. 🙂 We actually have a new post for the pizza sauce set to publish on the 16th, which is Saturday. Check back with us on Saturday. It will be up on the blog early in the morning. We hope you enjoy it! 🙂
Hey there. How long is leftover sauce good in the fridge? (In a mason jar)