We are in love with this pizza dough recipe! It’s easy to make and perfect for home kitchens. Plus, you can whip it up the same day or let it sit overnight for a longer, slower rise. The result is a light, fluffy, and bubbly pizza crust that tastes amazing. Trust us, you’ll love it!
Related: Try making these easy flatbread pizzas!
The Best Homemade Pizza Dough We’ve Made
We’ve been trying different pizza dough recipes at home for years, but finally found the perfect one to share with you. This recipe is so easy to make and is perfect for home ovens. You’ll have your dough ready in just over an hour, most of the time being hands-off. Alternatively, you can let the dough rest in the fridge overnight. And the best part? The bubbles! The crust is crispy underneath and soft on top, with the most delightful light and airy bubbles.
Pizza Dough Ingredients
- Instant yeast and warm water: Instant yeast works quickly to produce those beloved bubbles that make homemade pizza so delicious. If you only have active dry yeast, don’t worry! We’ve included tips for using it in the recipe below.
- All-purpose flour is perfectly adequate for this recipe, but if you prefer, you can substitute it with 00 flour or bread flour without any changes.
- Sugar: Just like when we make focaccia dough, we use a tiny bit of sugar in the dough. This jump-starts the yeast and helps speed up the rising process.
- Salt: For the best pizza, use salt in your pizza dough. It makes the dough taste amazing.
How Do You Make Pizza Dough?
This recipe is perfect for both beginners and experienced bakers alike. To start, you’ll want to gather all of your ingredients. You’ll need instant yeast, warm water, sugar, flour, salt, semolina flour (for dusting your pizza pan), and pizza toppings.
Begin by whisking together the instant yeast, warm water, and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Let this sit for a few minutes until the water becomes foamy. This indicates that the yeast is ready to use in the dough.
Combine the yeast mixture with the flour and salt and mix until a shaggy dough forms. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise for 30 minutes. After this time, knead the dough a few times until it’s smooth. Fold the dough a few times, cover it again, and let it rise for another 30 to 45 minutes. Alternatively, you can let it rise in the fridge overnight for a longer, slower rise.
Now that your dough is ready, you can either place it, covered, into the fridge for a few hours until you are ready to assemble and bake or, if you are ready now, make your pizza. Begin by dusting some semolina flour onto the pizza pan (or pizza peel) to prevent the dough from sticking.
To stretch the dough, avoid rolling it out, as this can flatten the bubbles that have formed. Instead, use your fingers to make dimples in the dough, starting from the center and working outwards. Carefully stretch and push the dough to fit your pizza pan or peel.
Once the dough is stretched, add your desired toppings and bake the pizza for 6-12 minutes, depending on your oven’s temperature (more on that below). Here’s our recipe for homemade pizza sauce for you (it’s light and garlicky).
Related: We use this dough and a garlicky homemade pizza sauce to make our ultimate cheese pizza!
Our Tips for Baking Homemade Pizza
How you bake pizza at home depends on two things: the equipment you have available to you and how hot you are comfortable heating your oven.
Let’s break this down a little more. The best homemade pizza I’ve made was using this pizza dough, a pizza steel, and a scorching oven (550° F convection). I preheated my oven using the convection (fan) setting for 40 minutes. The result was a golden, crispy crust on the bottom, with bubbles throughout the pizza and perfectly melty cheese with golden brown spots, just like what you would expect from a high-quality pizza restaurant. Additionally, this method only required 7 minutes of baking time.
I highly recommend trying the pizza-making method I described earlier. However, please keep in mind that not all ovens are the same. We have found that when our oven is heated to such a high temperature, when we open our oven door, the fire alarm occasionally goes off due to the hot air that escapes. It’s not a problem, other than the noise and in our experience is remedied with a few fans of a dish towel near the alarm, but it is something to consider. If you have sleeping children or close neighbors, it may be best to reduce the oven temperature. Also, if you have a vented hood above your oven, turning it to high helps.
No need to worry, though. The great thing about this pizza dough is that it can be baked at a lower temperature (425°F to 450°F) for longer. While the crust may not get as crispy and the dough may not bubble much, the pizza will still taste absolutely delicious and much better than anything you can find in the freezer department of the grocery store.
Do I need a pizza stone or steel? Pizza stones and steels are a great way to ensure even cooking and a crispy crust (we love our pizza steel!). However, it’s worth noting that you can still make delicious pizza using a pizza pan. Lightweight pans with holes in them work particularly well.
This homemade pizza dough recipe was created with Chef Richard Hattaway. He helped us develop the best homemade pizza we’ve made at home. This dough makes pizza with a crisp bottom and bubbly, chewy edges. We love it!
Easy Pizza Dough
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We highly recommend using this easy pizza dough recipe, a pizza steel, and a very hot oven (550° Fahrenheit convection) to make the best pizza. If you have a vented hood above your oven, be sure to turn it on high. We have found that when our oven is heated to such a high temperature, when we open our oven door, the fire alarm occasionally goes off due to the hot air that escapes. It’s not a problem, other than the noise and in our experience is remedied with a few fans of a dish towel near the alarm, but it is something to consider. If 550° Fahrenheit (288°C) is too high for you, feel free to use a lower temperature. However, keep in mind that this pizza bakes best between 425° Fahrenheit and 550° Fahrenheit (218°C to 288°C). The lower the temperature, the longer it will take to bake and the less bubbly it will be.
If you do not have a pizza steel or pizza stone, lightweight pizza pans with holes in them work particularly well for this recipe.
1 large or 2 small pizzas
You Will Need
2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast, (one 1/4-ounce packet)
1/2 teaspoon sugar or honey
3/4 cup (177 grams) lukewarm water, about 110° F to 115° F
1 ¾ cups (228 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon (6 grams) fine sea salt
Semolina flour, for baking
Directions
- Prepare Dough
1Combine yeast, sugar, and water in a mixing bowl and whisk a few times to help wake up the yeast. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 to 10 minutes — it will become frothy and foamy.
2Add the flour and salt, then mix until a sticky, shaggy dough forms. Cover with a clean dishcloth and let rise, in the mixing bowl, at room temperature for 30 minutes.
3Uncover the dough, lightly dust a work surface with flour, and knead 5 to 10 times or until smooth.
4Clean the mixing bowl, add a few drops of olive oil, and then place the dough into the bowl, rotating it around so it’s lightly coated in oil. Now decide to proof at room temperature (45 minutes) or overnight in the fridge.
5Option 1, Proof at room temperature: Allow to rise, at room temperature, covered with the dish towel, for another 45 minutes. At this point, you can move on to making your pizza or cover it and keep in the fridge for a few hours until your are ready to make pizza. Thirty minutes before you are ready to assemble your pizza, remove it from the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature again.
6Option 2, Proof overnight in the fridge: Alternatively, for a slower rise, place into a resealable freezer bag or bowl covered with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. When ready to make pizza, allow the chilled dough to come to room temperature before forming into a pizza.
- Bake Pizza
1Before working with the dough, preheat your oven and prepare all pizza toppings. Pizza is best baked in a very hot oven. Preheat the oven for at least 30 minutes. If you are comfortable with it, preheat your oven to its maximum temperature (ours is 550° Fahrenheit). Alternatively, if you feel this temperature will cause smoking or a fire alarm to go off, reduce the temperature to 425° Fahrenheit and 550° Fahrenheit (218°C to 288°C).
2If you have a pizza stone or pizza steel, place it in the oven before preheating.
3Prepare the pizza when your oven has preheated for at least 30 minutes.
4Dust a pizza pan or pizza peel (if using a pizza stone/steel) with semolina flour. To stretch the dough, avoid rolling it out, as this can flatten the bubbles that have formed. Instead, use your fingers to make dimples in the dough, starting from the center and working outwards. Carefully stretch and push the dough to fit your pizza pan or peel. Use a light touch to maintain as many air pockets in the dough as possible.
5Top with sauce and pizza toppings and bake until the crust is set and golden brown and the cheese has melted, 6 to 15 minutes depending on oven temperature. Remove from the oven, cut and serve.
- Freezing Pizza Dough
1Once the dough has risen, lightly coat it with olive oil and place it in a resealable freezer bag. Be sure to squeeze out all the air before sealing the bag tightly. You can freeze the dough for up to 3 months. To thaw it, place the frozen pizza dough in the refrigerator for about 8 hours or overnight. When you’re ready to make pizza, remove the dough from the fridge and let it come to room temperature for about an hour. Then you can use it to make delicious homemade pizza!
Adam and Joanne’s Tips
- Convection ovens: It’s often recommended to reduce the temperature in recipes down by 25 degrees Fahrenheit since convection baking is quicker. In fact, most ovens automatically do this for you. Ours does, but we turn off this setting when making pizza so that we can get our oven as hot as possible. Instructions for doing so should be in your oven manual.
- Active dry yeast can be used in the recipe without any changes. Instant yeast has a bit more pep, but active dry yeast will work just fine.
- Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values. These are for the pizza dough, not a full pizza.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste
Nutrition Per Serving
Serving Size
1/4 of the recipe
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Calories
208
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Total Fat
0.7g
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Saturated Fat
0.1g
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Cholesterol
0mg
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Sodium
585.4mg
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Carbohydrate
43.2g
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Dietary Fiber
2.1g
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Total Sugars
0.7g
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Protein
6.6g