This simple recipe for pizza dough
makes two soft, chewy crusts that are great for beginners. You only need six
basic ingredients to get started, so don't order pizza.
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Red Star Yeast helped us bring you this recipe. This pizza dough recipe was
first published in 2013 and is a huge hit. You can also find it in my New York
Times best-selling cookbook, Sally's Baking 101.
A great pizza starts with a great crust. Some people like the crust to be thin
and crunchy, while others like it to be thick and soft. This homemade pizza
crust is soft and chewy, has a great flavor, and is crispy. This is my favorite
pizza dough recipe, and a quick look at the hundreds of reviews in the comments
section shows that many other people like it too. Actually...
Dough for Beginners Who Want to Make Bread
This is a simple dough recipe for people who are just starting out. To make the
pan, you only need 6 basic ingredients and some cornmeal. (You don't have to do
that if you don't want to.) Most of the time, you don't have to do anything
while the dough rises. You might be wondering, "Why bother when you can
just buy frozen pizza dough?" It's easy to use frozen pizza dough, but
nothing beats the taste and texture of a crust made from scratch with fresh
dough. You can also make cheese breadsticks with the dough!
Making pizza dough is easy if you've ever made your own bagels or sandwich
bread. It's faster, easier, and has fewer steps.
Andy, a reader, said, "Super easy, super fast, super good!" I don't
like thick, doughy pizzas, but this recipe lets me make them thin and crunchy,
which I love. I make pizza one or two times a month. I haven't bought one in a
long time! ★★★★★
In short: What You Need to Make Pizza Dough at Home
The basic ingredients for all pizza dough are flour, yeast, water, salt, and
olive oil.
Red Star's Platinum Yeast is what I use. This instant yeast gives me the best
results. The Platinum yeast is great because its carefully made formula makes
your dough stronger and makes working with yeast easy. To do the job, you only
need one standard packet of yeast, which is 2 and 1/4 teaspoons.
Water: I tried this pizza dough
recipe with different amounts of water. The right amount is 1 and 1/3 cups. Use
warm water, around 100–110°F, to speed up the rise time. Yeast dies at
temperatures above 130ºF.
Use unbleached all-purpose white flour for this recipe. When you bleach the
flour, it loses some of its protein, which changes how much water it can soak
up. If you want a pizza crust that is chewier, use bread flour instead. Instead
of regular pizza dough, try this whole wheat pizza dough if you like whole
grain bread.
Oil: A few tablespoons of extra
virgin olive oil give the dough a great taste. Before you put on the toppings,
don't forget to brush the dough with olive oil. This keeps the crust from
tasting soggy.
Salt: Salt is a necessary flavor.
Sugar: Adding a tablespoon of sugar
to the dough makes the yeast work harder and makes the dough softer, especially
when you add a little olive oil.
Cornmeal: Cornmeal isn't in the dough, but you use it to dust the pizza pan.
Adding cornmeal to the pizza crust makes it taste better and crispier. Most of
the pizzas you order for delivery have cornmeal on the bottom crust!
When you add the flour, you could also add 1 teaspoon each of garlic powder and
Italian seasoning blend.
"Great pizza dough," said one reader named Shane. I add 1 tablespoon
of garlic powder and Italian herbs to the dough to give it more flavor, and I
also add 40 grams of cornmeal to make it a little crunchy. It freezes well and
makes a nice thin crust. ★★★★★
“
Like homemade bagels, artisan bread, and focaccia, pizza crust needs a lean
dough. You don't need eggs or butter to make a lean dough. You can expect a
crusty pizza crust without the extra fat that makes the dough soft. (But I
suggest adding some olive oil for flavor and to keep the inside soft.) Dinner
rolls, sweet potato dinner rolls, homemade breadsticks, and overnight cinnamon
rolls all need fat to make a "rich dough." This makes the bread
softer and more like a dessert.
Make the dough: You can mix the
dough by hand or with a hand-held or stand mixer. Follow the steps in the
written recipe below to do this.
Knead: You can knead by hand or with
a mixer. I like doing this by hand. My post and video on how to knead dough can
help you with this step if you're new to yeasted doughs.
Rise: Put the dough in a greased
mixing bowl, cover it tightly, and let it rise for about 90 minutes or
overnight in the fridge.
Punch and shape: To get rid of air
bubbles, punch down the dough that has risen. Split it in half. Make a 12-inch
circle out of the dough. Cover and let it rest while you get the pizza toppings
ready.
Put it on top: Add your favorite
pizza toppings on top.
Bake: For about 15 minutes, bake the
pizza at a very high temperature.
Young bakers can help out and have fun at the same time. Let the kids help you
shape the dough into a circle by pressing it down. They can put their cheeses
on top of the pie and make pepperoni faces.
Who doesn't like a pizza with a smiley face?
If you're looking for a new pizza pan, here are my top picks. I love and use
this one and this one (affiliate links). I've used this pizza stone before and
it's great if you like to bake your own pizzas on them.
Use a regular sheet pan if you don't have a pizza pan. As shown below, grease
it with olive oil and cornmeal, then shape the dough into whatever shape will
fit. Check that the dough is about half an inch thick. Stretch the dough out
more to make the pizza thinner.
This homemade pizza dough can be used in a lot of different ways:
Pizza with Pesto
Pizza Rolls with Pepperoni
Stromboli
White Pizza with Spinach and Artichokes
BBQ Chicken Pizza Made at Home
Knots with Garlic
The style of Margherita (shown above): When it's time to top the pizzas in step
6 below, do the following for two pizzas. (You can cut it in half if you only
want one pizza.) Make your own tomato sauce by blending 1 28-ounce can San
Marzano tomatoes, 1 Tablespoon olive oil, pinch of salt, and 2 minced cloves of
garlic. Put on shaped doughs. Put 2 to 3 ounces of thinly sliced fresh
mozzarella on top of each one. Follow the baking instructions, then top each
hot pizza with 2 tablespoons of freshly grated parmesan cheese and a handful of
roughly chopped fresh basil.
People love apple gorgonzola pizza: For one pizza, when you get to step 6, add
1 and 1/2 cups (6oz or 168g) of shredded mozzarella cheese, 8 ounces of
crumbled gorgonzola cheese, thin apple slices, and chopped fresh or dried
rosemary. Then bake the pizza.
Or any other pizza topping you like, such as black olives, onions, mushrooms,
jalapeños, or pepperoni.
These are my recipes for flatbread pizza crust, whole wheat pizza dough,
Chicago-style deep dish pizza, and cold veggie pizza.
FAQ: How do I prepare the dough in advance?
Follow steps 1 through 3 to make the dough, but put it in the fridge for 8 to
12 hours to let it rise. (If it needs to stay in the fridge longer, use cooler
water in the dough. This will slow down the rise of the dough and give it more
time.) The slow rise also gives the pizza dough a great taste. When you're
ready, move on to step 5 of the recipe above, which is the shaping step. If the
dough didn't quite double in size while it was rising, let it sit at room
temperature for 30 to 45 minutes before shaping it.
How do I freeze pizza dough that I made myself?
This recipe makes two 12-inch pizzas. You can freeze one of the balls of dough
after the pizza dough rises and you cut it in half (step 5). This way, you can
make pizza later. You could also just put both balls of dough in the freezer.
Spray or brush olive oil or nonstick spray on all sides of the dough ball(s).
Put the dough ball(s) into separate zipped-top bags and seal them tightly,
making sure to get rid of 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.
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