The Best Homemade Pizza Dough
The only homemade pizza dough recipe you’ll ever need!
Friday night is pizza night at our house, and this is the pizza crust recipe I’ve made from scratch almost every Friday for many, many years.
I’m updating this post today not because I’ve made any changes— it’s always the same, week after week— but because I love it sooo much. And I want you to fall in love with it too. It’s light and crispy on the outside while staying chewy on the inside. A wonderful base for whatever ingredients you like.
My recipe is basic— with flour, water, olive oil, yeast and salt. But I also like to add a few special ingredients to take the flavor of our pizzas to the next level. Herbs, garlic, and honey are my secret weapons and I swear by them. Pizza crust isn’t just a vehicle for yummy toppings, but it should have great flavor all on its own!
You can use fresh herbs like rosemary, sage, or thyme (or a combo!) or you can use dried herbs. You can use minced fresh garlic or you can garlic powder. And you can even use granulated sugar if you don’t have honey on hand.
If making pizza at home from scratch intimidates you, I’m here to tell you: you got this. Read the recipe through a few times, take a deep breath, and then give it a go. After a few pizza nights you’ll be baking like a pro, promise.
Of all the recipes on my site, this is definitely the one that gets the most use. Pizza night is our favorite night of the week!
baking tip:Rising and Proofing Yeast Breads
Letting kneaded dough rest so that the yeast can do its job will improve the volume, flavor, and texture of the bread. A second rising (or proofing) after being shaped will increase volume, give the bread a finer texture, and improve the flavor further. You can test if your dough has risen enough by pressing the dough with your finger. If the indentation remains, your dough is ready. If not, give it more time.
Let the dough rest in a warm place, covered with a towel or plastic wrap to retain moisture. Here are a few suggestions:
- Oven: Heat your oven to its lowest setting for a few minutes, then turn it off. Place the covered dough on the center rack and close the door.
- Microwave: Heat 1 cup of water in your microwave for 2 minutes. Place the covered dough in the microwave and close the door.
- Other: I’ve also risen bread on top of a warm oven, running dryer machine, and even on a chair set over a heater vent.
Basic Pizza Dough
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour (500 grams)
- 2 1/4 teaspoon active-dry yeast (1 package, 7 grams)
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1 tablespoon fresh herbs ,finely chopped or 1 teaspoon dried herbs (optional)
- 1 clove of garlic , minced or 1 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)
- 1 cup water (237 ml)
- 1/3 cup olive oil (80 ml)
- 1 tablespoons honey
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook (or in a large bowl if mixing and kneading by hand), combine 2 cups of the flour, yeast, salt, herbs, and garlic.
- Heat the water, olive oil, and honey in a small saucepan until steaming. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes, or until temperature is between 120-130 degrees F. Slowly add the water and oil to the dry ingredients, while mixing on low speed. Use a spatula to scrape down the bowl as needed.
- With the mixer on medium low, add the remaining flour a 1/4 cup at a time, mixing until incorporated between each addition. Continue adding flour until the dough clears the bowl and is sticky to the touch without coming off in your hands. You may not need all 4 cups of flour, or you may need a bit more.
- Once all of the flour has been added, continue to knead with a dough hook or by hand for a few more minutes until smooth and elastic.
- Shape dough into a ball and place in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Put in a warm place and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
- Gently push down on the center of the dough to release the gases and knead by hand on a clean surface a few times. Let dough sit for a few minutes, then divide in half and roll each out and shape into a rough 10 inch circle. Transfer to a greased pan for baking. Alternatively, you can roll the dough into one large rectangle and press into a greased regular sheet pan.
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
- Top dough with desired toppings and bake until crust is golden, about 10 minutes. Serve immediately.
Notes
- I like to use fresh herbs like rosemary, sage, thyme. If I use dried herbs I use Italian seasoning.
- You can substitute 1 tablespoon granulated sugar for the honey if desired. Add with the dry ingredients.
- Storing pizza dough: You can let the pizza dough rise in the fridge slowly if you'd like to prepare it ahead of time. Dough it best if used within 24 hours. You can also freeze the dough, tightly wrapped for up to 1-2 months. Let thaw to room temperature and double in size before using.
This recipe was originally published May 2013.
I feel a grilled pizza with Sangria night on the deck coming soon …
I was totally the same with pizza, I actually thought it made me ill after just having delivered pizzas!! So glad I started making my own, I LOVE PIZZA haha!! I always go absolutely crazy with toppings and I love trying new pizza bases, so I’ll be having a pizza night soon to try your recipe! 🙂
I’ve love to try this on the grill!
I am totally trying the garlic add-in next time! And I love the in process shots with you in them! You’ll have to give me your secrets of the shots 🙂
You want to know my secrets? Oh Heidi, I’m so flattered. For these I just used the timer on my camera and whole lot of takes! 🙂
This looks SOOO good!! Definitely must try it 🙂 Is it possible to make the dough ahead of time and refrigerate it? Or would the dough not be as soft/crispy? I’m not very experienced with bread making
Oh that was silly of me, I just saw the bottom of the recipe that says you can refrigerate it.
Yes! Since the dough makes enough for two pizzas I usually refrigerate half of it for pizza another night. Works great!
Hello!
I’ve been wanting to write you something, but I do not have much time left. Doing great things and I really like your site.
I’ve done some your buns and they were magnificent.
Wait for the weekend to come and make this a great pizza!
Greetings from Bulgaria far!
That pizza dough looks amazing! Pizza night is a regular fixture in our house, as well, but we usually buy the dough at the Bakery’s…maybe it’s time to make it ourselves…this totally looks worth all the effort!
xo, Elisa
I love homemade pizza, and can’t wait to try your recipe! The herbs and garlic are a nice touch.
Tried it and loved it……Thank you!
I love to cook and bake but so afraid of pizza dough. After reading how easy and yummy this sounds, I’m determined to try it. What have I got to lose? Your pictures are so gorgeous. Thank you.
That is a GORGEOUS pizza. We love homemade, too, and always say we should make it more often. I always make the dough the night before, just cutting back the yeast a bit, then throw it in the fridge so we can bang it out fast when we get home from work the next day. While restaurant pizza is always good (I mean, it’s pizza!) there really is a lot to be said for being the boss of your own toppings and amounts when you make it yourself. I’ll have to give your dough recipe a bash soon. Thanks!
Perfect timing! I’ve been wanting to grill a pizza for a long time! Everything looks so good. Thanks for the recipe Annalise!
Hi,
I just recently found your Web site and I love it. The recipes, photography and your style of writing. One question. Do you know the weight of your pizza dough? I was thinking of making the pizza rolls with store bought dough, which weighs one pound.
Thanks!
I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to that question, but I’m confident you can use store-bought dough for this recipe without any issues. Good luck, and enjoy!
was a great recipe for our first homemade pizza crust. i used lavender salt and fresh sage in the crust and olive oil, caramelized onion, pear, gorgonzola, mozzarella and blueberries as toppings. it was so good and am grateful for a homemade recipe, not some food.com recipe!
Wow, that pizza sounds incredible. So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Annalise – would this recipe work in my bread machine on the dough setting? I am searching for just the right pizza dough for the bread machine as it’s a time saver on work days!
This was delicious, and came together so quickly! We did a sausage, bacon, Alfredo pizza. My husband said it was one of the best pizzas he’s ever had (and we’ve had a lot of pizza). Thank you for the recipe!!
I made a double batch of this pizza dough this morning; let it rise about 2 hrs on the counter in bowls covered with plastic wrap. Then I punched it down, kneaded a few minutes, reshaped into balls for a 2nd proofing. I can’t even tell you how good this dough with the herbs and minced garlic smells during rising..OMG!! Hope to get about 10-12 6″ pizzas; maybe more if I can get a nice thin crust.
I’ve tried a few pizza dough recipes but so far haven’t found one that I love. I’m not sure if it’s me, or the recipes, but I’m going to try yours to see if I have more luck. Could you please clarify a few things. I can’t see that your dough has a second rise after being degassed. Is this correct? What technique do you use to shape the dough? If making the dough ahead, how many days can it be kept in the fridge? Will the dough freeze successfully in a ball and if so, could it simply be thawed and then allowed to come to room temperature before shaping or is it best to parbake the dough and then freeze it? Thanks for the clarifications.
Your H20 is way off on this recipe .
It’s the ratio I’ve been making weekly for years! 🙂
Not a good recipe. Measurements were wayyy off. I followed it EXACTLY had to throw my first batch away and my second batch still did not come out right. Plus you never included the glucose in the recipe
Sorry for the typo! Thanks for bringing it to my attention, I’ve fixed the instructions.
And I’m sorry the pizza dough didn’t work out for you. I’ve made it literally hundreds of times over many years and it’s still a family favorite. If you’d like to troubleshoot some issues via email, I’d be happy to help! completelydelicious@gmail.com 🙂
This is the first time I have ever left a review. I made this pizza dough last night and my family and friends LOVED it! Thanks for such a great recipe. We will definitely make Again!!
Yay! Thanks so much for the review!
Homemade pizza dough is the best! I love this easy recipe! Thank you.
y u don’t add sugar in the dough can u tell me???
I use honey in place of granulated sugar. If you’d rather use sugar, substitute honey for 1 tablespoon sugar and add it with the dry ingredients.
I found this recipe and the first time I tried it out my kids said “why don’t you ALWAYS make pizza?” For over a year now we’ve been doing family movie night every weekend and I make this pizza (for my family of teenagers and almost teenagers I double this and SOMETIMES we have leftovers!) Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
Solid dough recipe. We used it to make calzones. It made enough for 4 servings.
Works amazingly
I was just wondering if the pizza dough can be froze?
Definitely!
This pizza dough recipe is exactly what I was looking for. The only pizza crust that I can find with herbs in it is the Great Value pizza crust, which I love. But, this recipe is even better! I made my pizza last night, brought some to heat up at work tonight, and it was still just as soft and yummy as it was last night! Thank you! I don’t have to buy pizza crust anymore because I just found my pizza dough recipe. I added twice as much herbs (italian seasoning) and it turned out perfect! Delicious. 😊
Can you make this without the salt or reduced salt? I’m not a baker so I am not sure if the salt has a purpose other than flavor. This looks super yummy, and I can’t find pizza crusts without sodium.
You’ll want at least some salt for flavor, but yes you are welcome to reduce it as much as you like!
I tried using this recipe and works pretty well, i made half the recipe and add water measurements a lil bit
Thank you so much for share recipe 👍
Can you use Bread Flour ?
Do not make this pizza dough. It has too much oil in it, it will not rise. Very heavy dough, not light and crunchy. This is not pizza dough
First time I tried this recipe.
Loved it.
It was easy & quick. I can understand how it came to be a weekly favorite of yours!
I noticed that the ingredients published for the 2 x 10” pizza and the 4 x 10” pizza are exactly double ingredients in cup sizes. However, the metric measurements are the same for both recipes….this could be the reason some people are having poor results if they used the scaled ingredients, not cup measurements.
The dough was delicious but the first pizza burnt to a crisp in 8 minutes at that temperature. The other 2 pizzas we cooked at 400 and they were wonderful!! Will make this recipe again.
I saw your pizza dough recipe yesterday online and I tried it first thing when I got home. It was a success, my family loved it. But it only took 3 and 3/4 cups of flour is that normal?
Yep, totally normal. Which is why I mention you might not need all 4 cups of flour. Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Basic?
Seems like not enough water for 500 grams of flour. The dough is very dry and hard 🤔
Did you follow the recipe? The instructions say to “…add the remaining flour a 1/4 cup at a time, mixing until incorporated between each addition. Continue adding flour until the dough clears the bowl and is sticky to the touch without coming off in your hands. You may not need all 4 cups of flour, or you may need a bit more.” Sounds like you added too much flour. Let me know if you have any other questions!