Craving pizza but want something a little different? Try our Cast Iron Pan Pizza (Copycat Pizza Hut Pizza Recipe), Chicago Deep Dish Pizza, Easy Stromboli Recipe, or Four Cheese Pizza with Tomato Basil Arugula Salad!
The BEST Pizza Dough Recipe
I have been making this easy homemade pizza dough recipe for years. It’s really simple and uses ingredients we always have on hand. And it rises really quickly (only 30 minutes), so I can get things started and have cheesy, fantastic pizza customized with all of our favorite toppings ready in about an hour. It hardly takes any longer than picking up pizza from our favorite pizza place. And it’s definitely WAY less expensive to do a weekly pizza night tradition when you make them at home. If you find yourself making pizza at home often, you might also want to try this whole wheat pizza dough or sourdough pizza dough next!
Pizza Dough Recipe Ingredients
Water Sugar Yeast Bread flour Olive oil Salt
What is the best flour for pizza dough?
I highly recommend using bread flour when making this pizza dough recipe. I know it’s a pain buying a special ingredient if you don’t regular stock bread flour in your pantry. And you CAN make this pizza dough recipe with all-purpose flour if that is all you have on hand. BUT, there is a noticeable difference between pizza dough made with bread flour and all-purpose flour. Which is why I swear by it for making homemade pizza dough. Bread flour gives a crispier pizza crust that is truer to the classic pizzeria-style crust, which can be difficult to attain at home. I recommend either King Arthur Bread Flour or Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Bread Flour. This post isn’t sponsored, those are just two widely available brands that always have great quality to make the best pizza dough.
Can I use 00 Pizza Flour?
Yes, you can replace the bread flour in this pizza dough recipe with 00 flour, although it might require slightly more so the dough isn’t too sticky. For serious pizza aficionados, you might have heard of “00 pizza flour” or double zero flour which is a special type of finely ground Italian flour used for making pizza or pasta dough. Because of it’s lower gluten content than regular flour and fine texture, it is said to make the best pizza dough with a chewy texture and crisp crust on the edges. You will likely need an extra 100 grams of 00 flour (usually between ½ to 1 cup) if using it in this pizza dough recipe to replace the bread flour.
How to make Pizza Dough
How to use this Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe
This homemade pizza dough recipe is super versatile beyond just making a classic pizza crust for your family. When you want to make your pizzas, just pull the dough out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter for two hours to come up to room temperature and rise before proceeding like normal. I actually think the flavor and texture of the crust of the pizza is even better when the dough is made at least a day in advance! Freezing: You can actually even freeze pizza dough to always have some one hand. Make the dough like normal and let it rise, then divide it into 2-3 balls. Rub a little extra olive oil around each ball of dough, then place the balls of dough into freezer-safe ziploc bags and freeze completely. You can keep the balls of frozen pizza dough in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge for at least 12 hours, then let it sit on the counter at room temperature for at least 1 hour before using.
Breadsticks – Use this pizza dough to make cheesy garlic breadsticks by brushing it with garlic butter and sprinkling with mozzarella cheese before baking. Once it’s done slice it into sticks and serve with some marinara sauce for dipping! Stromboli or calzone – Wrap up your favorite pizza fillings inside the crust to create your own delicious calzone or stromboli to create your own homemade pizza pockets. Make dessert – Try frying chunks of dough in hot oil then toss them in a bag of powdered sugar to coat for zeppole, which is like an Italian fried donut. I used to get these from my favorite corner pizza place in New Jersey when I lived there!
How I shape pizza dough
I always shape my pizza dough by hand, rather than using a rolling pin. A rolling pin totally works and gets uniform thinness, but I actually like a little bit of a thicker crust around the edges and thinner center, which also helps the pizza cook more evenly as well, and that isn’t something you can achieve with a rolling pin. These are the two best way I’ve found for achieving this is to shape the pizzas by hand. They both take a little practice, but neither is hard once you get the hang of it. And if you find that your dough keeps shrinking back as you are trying to stretch it out, let it rest for 5 minutes so the gluten can relax, then try again.
Method 1: Drape the dough over your fists
Start with a ball of dough and pat it out into a disc. Then make sure you aren’t wearing any rings and lay the dough on top of your balled fists, using them to rotate and gently stretch the dough. Go ahead and try giving it a little toss even! This is going to cause the dough to thin more in the center while leaving a slightly thicker ring around the edges.
Method 2: Steering wheel approach
My other technique starts the same way with flatting a ball of pizza dough into a disc. Then I hold it like a steering wheel with my hands at the top. The weight of the dough will cause it to naturally start to stretch on its own. Keep turning and rotating the “wheel” of pizza dough, holding it a couple inches in from the top, until it has stretched out into a large thin circle. Here is our long list of our favorite pizza toppings. We change it up all the time and when we have friends over, it’s fun to pull out a bunch of different toppings so everyone can make their own! Cooking at lower temperatures (or overloading your pizza with too many toppings) can cause the pizza to cook slower, which can result in soggy, limp pizza that might taste okay, but won’t be nearly as close to authentic pizzeria-style pizza that we’re going for. I recommend preheating your oven for AT LEAST 30 minutes, even up to an hour, at 500 degrees F (or 475 if that’s as high as your oven will go). Many ovens will indicate that it is completely preheated when it actually is not all the way there, which is why I recommend the extra heating time. If you are using a pizza stone, put it in the oven before turning the heat on so it has plenty of time to get hot as well. So things like sausage need to be cooked in advance, and it’s best to slice veggies on the thin side, or even roast them first. Also, I always spread my sauce over the dough then sprinkle with half of my shredded cheese first, followed by the toppings and then the rest of the cheese. I find having cheese on the top and bottom helps the pizza cook more evenly, not be as soggy (especially if using toppings like pineapple or sliced tomatoes), and the toppings don’t all slide right off.
Cheese: freshly grated mozzarella cheese (it melts so much better than the pre-shredded kind), ricotta or burrata cheese (if you want to get all fancy), freshly grated parmesan or pecorino romano Meats: pepperoni (forever and always), cooked sausage, Canadian bacon, crumbled cooked bacon, sliced Italian meatballs, leftover grilled chicken Veggies: sliced green, red, or yellow peppers, chopped red onions, sliced olives, sliced mushrooms (we prefer fresh), thinly sliced Roma tomatoes, roasted red peppers (so good!), minced garlic, artichoke hearts, roasted broccoli, thinly sliced zucchini (a personal favorite that I came to love on pizza while traveling through Italy), caramelized onions Fruit: Sorry, Italians, but we love pineapple tidbits (if using, be sure to drain these really, really well or they will make your pizza soggy) or even pear (especially good with a balsamic drizzle and arugula) Herbs & spices: fresh basil leaves or other herbs (add these right as the pizza is coming out of the oven) or dried Italian seasoning, parsley, or red pepper flakes. Olive oil
I would love to hear your other favorite toppings in the comments below and will update this list periodically as I think of more toppings! Also, anybody else love dipping your pizza in ranch dressing or butter garlic sauce? So good!
More Dinner Recipes
Best Ground Beef Taco Meat All-American Hamburger with Crispy Onion Strings & Burger Sauce Baja Fish Tacos Recipe Red, White, and Blueberry Bacon Burger with Basil Aioli
Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
Legit Chicago Deep Dish Pizza
Whole Wheat Veggie Pizza
Let me know what you thought with a comment and rating below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @houseofnasheats or share it on the Pinterest pin so I can see.
