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This homemade pizza dough recipe is the perfect start for your favorite kind of pizza. Pizza night just got much more fun!
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Before you call for pizza delivery, try making your own pizzas, starting with this delicious homemade pizza dough! It is so easy to prepare and, unlike some dough recipes I have tried, this one tastes delicious! We use this recipe all the time for pizza night with the kids. They like to roll out their own dough and add their favorite toppings for their own individual pizzas. This is hands down the best pizza dough recipe out there! This pizza dough recipe makes enough dough for two large pizzas. You can make two pizzas, or make one and freeze one, or use the second to make breadsticks instead. The dough keeps great in the freezer too!, just be sure to bring the dough to room temperature again before rolling out.
Ingredients for Homemade Pizza Dough
Made with easy pizza dough ingredients, this is one of the easiest and best homemade pizza recipes you’ll ever try. Here’s what you need:
- Warm water – about one and a half cups. Make sure it’s hot to the touch but not so hot that it kills the yeast.
- Sugar – a couple of tablespoons mixed with the water helps activate the yeast quickly.
- Active dry yeast – one ¼ oz. packet
- All purpose flour– just under four cups. Keep a little extra to create a lightly floured surface for rolling out the dough.
- Kosher salt – one tablespoon. You can use regular table salt if that’s what you have on hand.
- Extra virgin olive oil – three tablespoons
How to Make the Perfect Pizza Crust
The trick to the perfect pizza starts with the crust. Here are some tips for getting pizza crust that tastes delicious!
- Combine the warm water, sugar and yeast in a small bowl and let it sit undisturbed for five minutes.
- Meanwhile, in the large bowl of a standing mixer, mix the flour and salt together with a wooden spoon.
- Next, use the dough hook on the mixer to combine the yeast mixture and olive oil. Then add the flour mixture slowly, a little at a time until it’s fully combined.
- Knead on low speed for about 10 minutes, or mix by hand for the same amount of time.
- Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turning to coat. cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
- After the dough rises, punch it down and divide into two balls. Brush with olive oil then cover in plastic wrap. Let it rise another 45 minutes.
- Now’s the fun part! On a lightly floured work surface, use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a circle. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased pizza pan dusted with cornmeal. Pat it out from the center to the edge, leaving the outer edge a bit thick. Top with favorite toppings.
- Bake at 450 degrees for about 10-15 minutes until edges are golden brown.
Pizza Sauce Ideas
Once you have the perfect pizza crust, the sky’s the limit when it comes to sauces and toppings. Try any of these combinations for endless delicious options!
- Traditional Red Sauce
- Alfredo Sauce
- BBQ Sauce
- Pesto Sauce
- Oil and Garlic
- Ranch Dressing
- Teriyaki Sauce
- Peanut Sauce
- Thai Chili Sauce
- Garlic Aioli
- Sun Dried Tomato Sauce
- Creamy Red Pepper Sauce
- Hummus
Pizza Topping Ideas
- Pepperoni
- Mushrooms
- Onions
- Sausage
- Bacon
- Mozzarella Cheese
- Black Olives
- Green Peppers
- Red Peppers
- Pineapple
- Spinach
- Basil
- Chicken
- Ground Beef
- Salami
- Steak
- Tomatoes
- Gorgonzola
- Feta
- Artichokes
- Ham
- Canadian Bacon
Neapolitan-Style Pizza Dough
The recipe below is for an American-style pizza dough. If you are wanting a more authentic Italian pizza dough for Neapolitan pizzas or Margherita pizzas, we have the perfect Neapolitan pizza dough recipe! Top it with fresh buffalo mozzarella, thin tomato slices, and some fresh basil for the perfect Neapolitan pizza.
Frequently Asked Questions about Homemade Pizza Dough
Because pizza needs to bake longer in a home oven rather than a commercial pizza oven, you need to make sure your dough has enough water so it doesn’t dry out. So make sure you use the exact amount of water in the recipe.
Yes! This recipe makes enough for two pizzas so you can make one and freeze one. Keep it tightly covered in the freezer for up to two months. Just be sure to bring the dough to room temperature again before rolling out.
Homemade is cheapest. You can make two crusts for less than $3 worth of ingredients. A store bought crust can range from $2 to $7 each.
READ NEXT: 35+ Quick and Easy to Follow Dinner Ideas
Favorite Pizza Recipes
This pizza dough recipe is a great base for all of our favorite pizza recipes. Think outside the cheese and pepperoni box. Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Lemon Chicken Pizza – If you haven’t tried thin slices of lemon on pizza, you are missing something great! It is so refreshing and flavorful.
- Turkey Bacon Avocado Pizza – This pizza is topped with turkey, crisp bacon, and fresh avocado with lots of cheese. It’s all the flavors of a club sandwich on a delicious pizza crust.
- Antipasto Pizza – A garlic cream sauce replaces the traditional red pizza sauce on this pizza. Spinach, artichoke hearts, pepperoncinis, cherry tomatoes, and olives make this a delicious, vegetarian pizza option.
- Thai Peanut Chicken Pizza – Our version of the California Pizza Kitchen’s Thai Chicken Pizza tastes just like the original. The Thai flavors on this pizza are mouth-watering good!
- BBQ Chicken Pizza – BBQ Chicken Pizza is always a favorite! It features barbecue chicken, pineapple, cilantro and plenty of cheese.
- Garlic Ranch Pizza – Who doesn’t love garlic and ranch in their pizza sauce? When you add bacon, chicken, tomatoes, and mozzarella, it creates a pizza that will have everyone begging for more.
How to Make Homemade Pizza Dough
Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast one ¼ oz. packet
- 3 3/4 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon Kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Combine water, sugar and yeast in small bowl. Let sit 5 minutes. Mix flour and salt together in the bowl of a heavy duty mixer fitted with dough hook. Add oil to yeast mixture.
- Mix flour and salt together in the bowl of a heavy duty mixer fitted with dough hook. Add oil to yeast mixture.
- Pour yeast mixture into flour mixture and knead on low speed for 10 minutes. (If mixing by hand, knead dough for same amount of time.) Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turning to coat. cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
- Punch dough down and divide in half. Shape into 2 balls. lightly brush dough balls with olive oil and cover completely with plastic wrap. Let rise another 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- Lightly grease pizza pan or dust with cornmeal. Take each dough ball and using your fingers, pat it out from the center to the edge, leaving the outer edge a bit thick. Top with favorite toppings.
- Bake 10-15 minutes until edges are golden brown.
Notes
- If you are freezing after the first rise, punch the dough down and divide it into two balls as directed in the recipe. Place the dough balls in the freezer on a cookie sheet. After the dough is frozen, place the dough balls in freezer resealable plastic bags. To thaw, let the dough come to room temperature (about 1 hour) and then let it rise another 45 minutes.
- If you are freezing after the second rise, freeze the dough balls and then place them in freezer resealable plastic bags. To thaw, let the dough come to room temperature (about 1 hour) and then roll out onto pizza pan.
Nutrition Information
My hubby made pizza from scratch the first time he cooked for me – it was not a roaring success. He suggested pizza one night a few months back and I found this recipe and now we only make scratch pizza’s. I even used garlic infused olive oil and put parmesan in the dough for a cheesey crust – it’s delicious. I’ll be making this dough again today and we will be cooking them on the grill to get that wonderful smokey flavor we love.
Thank you, Cassandra. I’m so glad you like the recipe! I love the idea of using garlic infused olive oil and parmesan. Yum!
I use a similar recipe but I don’t use sugar. It takes the dough a little longer to rise without sugar, but the end result is a more zesty/savory crust. I don’t like sweetness in my pizza crusts. Another thing I do is to prepare some garlic butter a half hour or more in advance, then brush it on the outer crust right before baking so the pizza bones become delicious garlic breadsticks.
Thank you for the tips, Janine. I love the garlic butter addition. I’ll try it!
Hey just confused about the second rise. By coving completely do you mean take the ball of dough and wrap it like a ball in Plastic wrap?
No, just make sure the bowl is covered completely so it doesn’t dry out
I got this recipe from an OLD Betty Crocker cookbook! I half this recipe, and it makes a huge pizza…I’ve also added Italian Seasoning, or Garlic powder, or Onion powder to the mix…best crust recipe EVER!!!
Why raise the dough twice? I wanted to ask because with any yeast doughs I have never let rise twice. Just once punch down then make into what ever u are making. I am not trying to be a know it all just asking for my information. Didn’t know if there was a reason.
Nice and easy to remember the measurements on this one. I can never remember mine. This is our new pizza crust. Using tonight.
Rising dough twice helps to create a more flavorful dough. It also creates a better texture for pizza crust! Hope you enjoy it!
Hi,
I noticed on your recipe it states tablespoon measurements for sugar, salt, and olive oil. In your comments you stated teaspoon measurements. I have never made pizza dough before before, so I didn’t really read the comments until after I prepared the recipe. You probably should fix that. Anyway, the recipe turned out fine.
In this recipe, you use Tablespoon measurements for the sugar, salt, and olive oil and teaspoon measurements for the yeast. I’m glad the pizza dough recipe turned out for you. Thank you for your comment!
I don’t remember if I commented already haha… but regardless- THANK YOU! I love this recipe and it’s my go to. We don’t eat a lot of wheat in my house but this recipe is easy and worth the splurge 🙂 I use a large cookie sheet for the whole batch and it lasts my family about 2 meals, depending on how hungry we are 😉 Thanks!!
So glad you like this recipe! It is our go-to dough recipe, so happy that you like it too! Thanks for the nice comment!
Just tried your pizza dough recipe. Love the taste of this dough. I did have a problem with the dough not getting done all the way through. I preheated the oven to 450 and I left it in for the 15 minutes also. If I had left it in any longer it would have burned around the edges. Can anyone tell me what I could have possibly done wrong here?
I always bake the dough for about 5 minutes before I add the sauce and toppings, then I bake for another 10-12 minutes. No matter what homemade dough recipe I’ve used I’ve found “prebaking” the dough to be key.
Thank you for the tip!
My search is done, tried your pizza dough recipe and the only words to say, its a keeper. I did exactly as the recipe called for and it worked out perfect. It is good if the crust is thick or thin.
Thank you
Yay! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for your recipe! It was great! I used white whole wheat with no problem.
The measurements for the sugar and salt are listed as T or tablespoons. Is this correct? Other recipes only call for teaspoons of these two ingredients. Thanks!
Hi there! This looks so easy! Have you used this dough for other italian dishes like stromboli or as a calzone? I’m going to try the pizza recipe tonight. Also, I’m happy to hear that whole wheat flour can be used. Thanks for the information!
Yes we have used it for calzones and it is delicious!
Hi there. does the “t” in the recipe stand for tablespoon??? or teaspoon.
teaspoon. We always try to capitalize the T if its a Tablespoon
1 T of salt was to salty for me when I did the second tried I reduced to 1/2 T and the result was so good.
It is written as T. I believe that’s why she was double checking since that would an awful lot of salt for this recipe. You may want to update this recipe with that correction.
Actually it is a Tablespoon of salt for this recipe. We haven’t found it to be too salty but if you are worried that it will be, you can definitely reduce the amount of salt. Hope this helps!
Do not have a stand mixer. Can this be made by hand?
I do mine by hand without problems.
What brand of flour do you use? I have made this but always have to add quite a bit more flour to make this a smooth unstickly ball after kneading….or maybe I measure my flour differently?…I spoon flour into my cup.;..not scoop it…do you sccop yours…therefore getting more flour in the 3 3/4 cup than I do by spooning…..thanks
Otherwise it turned out great and we loved it.
Yes, I scoop the flour into the cup, it probably condenses down more that way.
Hi! Thanks for dough recipe! I made it and it was awesome. We loved it. It was sooooo right and good. I wanted to know if i can use the same recipe and use whole wheat flour instead? Thanks!
Never tried it with whole wheat.. Let me know how it turns out if you do it!
I love this recipe! I used a combination of whole wheat flour and all purpose. It worked perfectly!
I use white whole wheat every time and it takes yummy!!
I love this recipe! This is the first time I ever made my own pizza dough, it was so good, I’ll never use another recipe.
Larissa, I made mine with a combination of whole wheat and all purpose flower and it turned out great. Haven’t tried full whole grain, though.
Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Super easy and turns out great every time! Thanks.
Wow great site for recipes.Great.
Thanks.
This is our new favorite dough recipe. I cooked it on a hot pizza stone and it was perfect!
yes! So trying this. We have pizza every monday. And if you make this, I know it is going to be delish!
This sounds pretty easy and has to be better than store bought. I was just wondering if you can freeze the dough after it rises completely. I typically make just one pizza at a time but rather than halve the recipe i thought it might be nice to have the other premaid for next time. Thank you!
I’m not sure.. I never have frozen it. I have refrigerated it to use the next day and it worked fine so I am sure you could freeze it… since I have never done it though I don’t know if it will be as good! Let me know if you do it and it turns out ok!
So do you refrigerate it after both rises? Just wondering because I would like to make it a day in advance. Thank you!
It can be frozen. I put it in a freezer bag .
Thaw for an hour or so.
Worked great for me!!
I froze it after and had no problems.
Yes u can freeze pizza dough… roll into balls and freeze the balls 1st then put balls in zip lock bag… we owned a bakery and did pizzas also….
Thanks for the tip! VERY good to know! Definitely will try it next time… it would definitely make thing easier!
I’ve done it! Freeze the dough before the 2nd rise, after dividing. Easiest way is to coat a freezer bag with oil, drop in the dough & squeeze out the air. I have never stored it longer than a month. When you are ready to use it, pull out of freezer and thaw on counter for about 2 hours, which allows it time to thaw and rise. I leave it in the bag and just work a little harder to get it into “pizza” shape. It works great and if you have a small family like mine, it makes the 2nd pizza night faster. 🙂
I made this recipe and froze the other half for later. I pulle it out a week later and let it rise….shaped it into another pizza and it was just as good as if it was freshly made. I oiled my zip-lock baggie and shaped it in the bag.
If you freeze before it rises and take it out and let it rise during the day it will be fine. I do it all the time