Pizza Crust Recipe

This easy pizza dough recipe is great for beginners and produces a soft homemade pizza crust. Skip the pizza delivery because you only need 6 basic ingredients to begin!

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!

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.

Easy Homemade Pizza Dough

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.

Prep: 2h15min

Total: 2h30min

Yield: 2

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/3 cups (320ml) warm water (between 100-110°F, 38-43°C)
• 2 and 1/4 teaspoons (7g) Platinum Yeast from Red Star instant yeast (1 standard packet)*
• 1 Tablespoon (13g) granulated sugar
• 2 Tablespoons (30ml) olive oil, plus more for pan and brushing on dough
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 and 1/2 cups (about 450g) unbleached all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more for hands and surface
• sprinkle of cornmeal for dusting the pan

Instruction:

1. Whisk the warm water, yeast, and granulated sugar 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 rubber spatula in the next step.
2. Add the olive oil, salt, and flour. Beat on low speed for 2 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. With lightly floured hands, knead the dough for 5 minutes (for a visual, watch me do it in the video above). The dough can be a little too heavy for a mixer to knead it, but you can certainly use the mixer on low speed instead. 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. If not, keep kneading.
3. 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.)
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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, extra cheese pizza, Hawaiian pizza, pesto pizza, spinach artichoke white pizza, or homemade BBQ chicken pizza.
7. Using your fingers, push dents into the surface of the dough to prevent bubbling. To prevent the filling from making your pizza crust soggy, brush the top lightly with olive oil. Top with your favorite toppings and bake for 13-15 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
8. Slice hot pizza and serve immediately. Cover leftover pizza tightly and store in the refrigerator. Reheat as you prefer. Baked pizza slices can be frozen up to 3 months.

The Best Pizza Dough Recipe

How to make the BEST Pizza Dough Recipe

Prep: 15min

Total: 60min

Yield: 12

Serving Size: 1 serving

Nutrition Facts: servingSize 1 serving, calories 113 kcal, Carbohydrate 19 g, Protein 3 g, Fat 3 g, Saturated Fat 1 g, Sodium 146 mg, Fiber 1 g, Sugar 1 g

Ingredients:

• 2-2 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour OR bread flour¹ (divided (250-295g))
• 1 packet instant yeast² ((2 ¼ teaspoon))
• 1 ½ teaspoons sugar
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ⅛-¼ teaspoon garlic powder and/or dried basil leaves (optional)
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil (+ additional )
• ¾ cup warm water³ ((175ml))

Instruction:

1. Combine 1 cup (125g) of flour, instant yeast, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. If desired, add garlic powder and dried basil at this point as well.
2. Add olive oil and warm water and use a wooden spoon to stir well very well.
3. Gradually add another 1 cup (125g) of flour. Add any additional flour as needed (I’ve found that sometimes I need as much as an additional ⅓ cup), stirring until the dough is forming into a cohesive, elastic ball and is beginning to pull away from the sides of the bowl (see video above recipe for visual cue). The dough will still be slightly sticky but still should be manageable with your hands.
4. Drizzle a separate, large, clean bowl generously with olive oil and use a pastry brush to brush up the sides of the bowl.
5. Lightly dust your hands with flour and form your pizza dough into a round ball and transfer to your olive oil-brushed bowl. Use your hands to roll the pizza dough along the inside of the bowl until it is coated in olive oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and place it in a warm place.
6. Allow dough to rise for 30 minutes or until doubled in size. If you intend to bake this dough into a pizza, I also recommend preheating your oven to 425F (215C) at this point so that it will have reached temperature once your pizza is ready to bake.
7. Once the dough has risen, use your hands to gently deflate it and transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead briefly until smooth (about 3-5 times).
8. Use either your hands or a rolling pin to work the dough into 12″ circle.
9. Transfer dough to a parchment paper lined pizza pan and either pinch the edges or fold them over to form a crust.
10. Drizzle additional olive oil (about a Tablespoon) over the top of the pizza and use your pastry brush to brush the entire surface of the pizza (including the crust) with olive oil.
11. Use a fork to poke holes all over the center of the pizza to keep the dough from bubbling up in the oven.
12. Add desired toppings (see the notes for a link to my favorite, 5-minute pizza sauce recipe!) and bake in a 425F (215C) preheated oven for 13-15 minutes or until toppings are golden brown. Slice and serve.

Pizza Crust

What a treat — hot homemade pizza, with exactly the toppings you like. And this crust adapts to YOUR schedule: make the dough now, and serve fresh pizza up to 2 days later. Please read this recipe all the way through before starting. It gives you a lot of baking options, and you want to choose the one that best fits your schedule.

Prep: 20min

Total: 3h8min

Yield: 12

Serving Size: 1/12 crust

Nutrition Facts: servingSize 1/12 crust, calories 130 calories, Carbohydrate 22g, Cholesterol 0mg, Fiber 1g, Protein 4g, Sodium 240mg, Sugar 0g, Fat 2.5g, Saturated Fat 0g, Trans Fat 0g

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast or instant yeast
• 7/8 to 1 1/8 cups (198g to 255g) lukewarm water*
• 2 tablespoons (25g) olive oil
• 3 cups (360g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons (8g) salt

Instruction:

If you’re using active dry yeast, dissolve it, with a pinch of sugar, in 2 tablespoons of the lukewarm water. Let the yeast and water sit at room temperature for 15 minutes, until the mixture has bubbled and expanded. If you’re using instant yeast, you can skip this step., Weigh your flour; or measure it by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. Combine the dissolved yeast (or the instant yeast) with the remainder of the ingredients. Mix and knead everything together —by hand, mixer or bread machine set on the dough cycle — till you’ve made a soft, smooth dough. If you’re kneading in a stand mixer, it should take 4 to 5 minutes at second speed, and the dough should barely clean the sides of the bowl, perhaps sticking a bit at the bottom. Don’t over-knead the dough; it should hold together, but can still look fairly rough on the surface., To make pizza up to 24 hours later, skip to step 5., To make pizza now: Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl, and allow it to rise till it’s very puffy. This will take about an hour using instant yeast, or 90 minutes using active dry. If it takes longer, that’s OK; just give it some extra time., To make pizza later: Allow the dough to rise, covered, for 45 minutes at room temperature. Refrigerate the dough for 4 hours (or for up to 24 hours); it will rise slowly as it chills. This step allows you more schedule flexibility; it also develops the crust’s flavor. About 2 to 3 hours before you want to serve pizza, remove the dough from the refrigerator., Decide what size, shape, and thickness of pizza you want to make. This recipe will make one of the following choices: Two 1/2″-thick 14″ round pizzas (pictured); Two 3/4″-thick 12″ round pizzas; One 3/4″ to 1″-thick 13″ x 18″ rectangular (Sicilian-style) pizza (pictured); One 1 1/2″-thick 9″ x 13″ rectangular pizza; One 1″-thick 14″ round pizza., Divide the dough in half, for two pizzas; or leave it whole for one pizza., If you’re making a rectangular pizza, shape the dough into a rough oval. For a round pizza, shape it into a rough circle. In either case, don’t pat it flat; just stretch it briefly into shape. Allow the dough to rest, covered with an overturned bowl or lightly greased plastic wrap, for 15 minutes., Use vegetable oil pan spray to lightly grease the pan(s) of your choice. Drizzle olive oil into the bottom of the pan(s). The pan spray keeps the pizza from sticking; the olive oil gives the crust great flavor and crunch., Place the dough in the prepared pan(s). Press it over the bottom of the pan, stretching it towards the edges. You’ll probably get about two-thirds of the way there before the dough starts shrinking back; walk away for 15 minutes. Cover the dough while you’re away, so it doesn’t dry out., When you come back, you should be able to pat the dough closer to the corners of the pan. Repeat the rest and dough-stretch one more time, if necessary; your goal is to get the dough to fill the pan as fully as possible., Allow the dough to rise, covered, till it’s noticeably puffy, about 90 minutes (if it hasn’t been refrigerated); or 2 to 2 1/2 hours (if it’s been refrigerated). Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 450°F., Bake the pizza on the lower oven rack till it looks and feels set on top, and is just beginning to brown around the edge of the crust, but is still pale on top. This will take about 8 minutes for thinner crust pizza; about 10 to 12 minutes for medium thickness; and 12 to 14 minutes for thick-crust pizza. If you’re baking two pizzas, reverse them in the oven (top to bottom, bottom to top) midway through the baking period., To serve pizza immediately: Remove it from the oven, and arrange your toppings of choice on top. Return to the oven, and bake on the upper oven rack for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, until the crust is nicely browned, both top and bottom, and the cheese is melted. Check it midway through, and move it to the bottom rack if the top is browning too much, or the bottom not enough., To serve pizza up to 2 days later: Remove the untopped, partially baked crust from the oven, cool completely on a rack, wrap in plastic, and store at room temperature. When ready to serve, top and bake in a preheated 450°F oven, adding a couple of minutes to the baking times noted above. Your goal is a pizza whose crust is browned, and whose toppings are hot/melted., Remove the pizza from the oven, and transfer it from the pan to a rack to cool slightly before serving. For easiest serving, cut with a pair of scissors.

Easy Pizza Dough

A step by step guide for making homemade Pizza Dough. This easy pizza dough recipe is quick and inexpensive and adaptable for thin or thick crust pizza!

Prep: 90min

Total: 100min

Yield: 3

Serving Size: 1 serving

Nutrition Facts: calories 751 kcal, Carbohydrate 131 g, Protein 18 g, Fat 15 g, Saturated Fat 2 g, Sodium 1167 mg, Fiber 5 g, Sugar 3 g, servingSize 1 serving

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 3 3/4-4 cups bread flour ((bread flour works best, but all purpose works fine))

Instruction:

1. In a large bowl of a stand mixer combine 1/2 cup of the warm water with the sugar and yeast. Stir to dissolve the yeast and let rest for 5 minutes.
2. Add the remaining 1 cup of warm water, and the olive oil, salt and vinegar.
3. Begin mixing on medium-low speed, gradually adding the flour, and knead the dough for about 7 minutes, or until it’s smooth and elastic. The dough should be slightly sticky, but not so sticky that it really sticks to your fingertip when touched.
4. Cover the bowl with a dry towel and allow to rest in a warm place until doubled in volume–about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
5. Gently punch the dough down and place on a lightly greased or floured counter top. Divide the dough into 2 or 3 equal pieces (depending on how thick you want your crust/how big you want your pizza. I make three medium size, thinner crust pizzas. But you could make two larger pizzas).
6. Roll and stretch your dough to desired size and thickness.
7. Allow the dough to rest while you preheat your oven to 450 degrees F. If you have a pizza stone (or want to use a baking tray) place it in the oven while it preheats.
8. Brush pizza dough lightly with olive oil and prick it all over with a fork. Pre-bake the dough on a hot pizza stone or in pizza pan for 6 minutes.
9. Remove from oven and add pizza sauce and toppings. Return to oven and bake for 8-15 more minutes or until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbly.

Homemade Pizza Crust (Dough) from Scratch – Easy Recipe

FAQ

What is the secret to good pizza crust?

What makes pizza crust taste better?

1. Let the dough rise in the refrigerator. …
2. Take advantage of a pizza stone or steel. …
3. Use a sourdough base. …
4. Stuff the crust like Pizza Hut. …
5. Swap in beer for dry yeast. …
6. Make sure your oven is hot. …
7. Opt for a gluten-free alternative instead of flour. …
8. Baste crust with oil, then butter.

Is it better to bake pizza crust before putting on toppings?