Easy Pizza Dough
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This easy pizza dough comes together quickly and after a short rise, it’s ready to bake into a chewy, crispy crust that makes the best homemade pizza you’ll ever make! This 6 ingredient pizza dough recipe will become a pizza night staple.
Last summer, we hacked a GMG pizza oven to be a Traeger pizza oven, and thus began the summer of experimentation.
We tried many different variations of pizza dough, some with bread flour, some with OO pizza flour, some with all purpose flour, and in the end, this easy pizza crust recipe was our favorite – and it’s made with all purpose flour.
I believe that I’ve officially found the best pizza dough recipe. And after a year of testing, tweaking, and carb-loading I’m finally ready to share it!
This easy pizza dough recipe is dedicated to sharing.
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Tips + tricks
No. 1 –> Proof that yeast! It only takes a couple extra minutes, but it’s worth it. There are a few reasons to proof your yeast, but the most important is to ensure the yeast is still viable – preventing a dinner time disaster.
No. 2 –> Be careful with the temperature of your water! Too hot and you’ll kill the yeast, too cold and your rise will take longer. I like to use water right around 100f.
No. 3 –> Use the scoop and level method for measuring your flour. This will help ensure consistent results across batches of homemade pizza dough. To do this, stir your flour then spoon it into a measuring cup and level with the back of a knife.
No. 4 –> If you’ve got a Traeger, you’ve gotta check out my wood fired pizza oven! It literally bakes the best homemade pizza!
Key ingredients
Flour: I use all-purpose flour for this basic pizza dough recipe, however, you can switch out the flour to suit your tastes. Bread flour will give a crispier homemade pizza crust while sticking with all-purpose gives a nice chewy pizza base.
Yeast: This recipe for homemade pizza dough includes pizza dough yeast, but if you only have active dry yeast, that will work too! Pizza dough yeast is the same as active dry yeast, but it contains additives to relax the yeast making it easier to roll out without snapping back.
How to make easy pizza dough
Make the dough:
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, add warm water. Stir in granulated sugar and yeast. Let stand 5-10 minutes or until the mixture is foamy on top and smells like beer.
- Dump flour, olive oil, and salt into the mixing bowl and mix at low speed with the dough hook until the dough comes together in a ball.
- Continue mixing in the mixer for 5-6 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. The dough is ready when it bounces back after being poked.
- Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, and toss it to coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it aside to rise until doubled in size, this usually takes between 30-60 minutes, depending on the temperature in your kitchen.
- if you’ve got a pizza stone or baking steel, place it into the oven and preheat to 475f while the dough rises. This allows the oven to fully come to temperature before baking and will result in better pizza.
Prepare the dough:
- Once fully risen, punch down the dough, and turn onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 4 even portions if baking thin crust pizza, or 2 portions for thicker pizza crust.
- Working with one portion at a time, gently flatten with your fingers or roll out the dough with a rolling pin until it reaches your desired size and shape. If the dough is sticking to the work surface, add more flour underneath. We really don’t want sticky dough!
- If using a baking stone or steel, lightly dust a pizza peel with cornmeal, and slide the dough onto the peel. Once the dough is on the pizza peel, you’ve only got a short period of time before it begins sticking, so it’s imperative to work quickly. It helps to jiggle the pizza dough every so often while it’s on the peel. If you’re baking on a baking sheet or pizza pan, lightly dust the baking sheet with cornmeal, and slide the pizza onto the baking sheet or press the dough into the pizza pan.
- Add the sauce and toppings to the dough and transfer to the oven.
- Bake the pizza in the preheated oven for 10-13 minutes for thin crust and up to 20 minutes for thicker crust pizza.
- Remove your pizza from the oven and allow it to cool slightly before slicing and serving.
Batch + storage
Batch:
This easy pizza dough recipe makes enough for 4-6 thin-crust pizzas, depending on the desired size – and 2 – 3 thicker crust pizzas. I find one batch to be enough to feed my family of 4 twice.
Storage:
If you’ve been feverishly baking pizzas and you still have dough leftover, don’t fret, simply toss it in a plastic bag and seal it shut. Keep the bag in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
How to freeze homemade pizza dough:
Your homemade pizza dough can easily be frozen! Simply allow it to rise, then punch down, separate into 4 equal sized balls. Wrap each ball in plastic wrap then slide the wrapped balls into a freeze ziplock bag or airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months.
How to thaw frozen pizza dough:
It’s important to thaw your homemade dough in the fridge to keep the yeast sluggish during the defrosting process. To thaw, place the dough in the fridge and allow it to rest in the fridge for 8-12 hours. Then warm up the dough by resting it at room temperature for 30-60 minutes before you’re ready to cook with it!
Variations + substitutions
- Whole wheat pizza dough: substitute up to 2 cups of all purpose flour with whole wheat flour.
- Herb’d pizza dough: add some oregano, parsley, rosemary, garlic powder, onion powder, or whatever you feel like to the dough while adding the flour.
- Calzone: this dough bakes up beautiful calzones too!
- Breadsticks: Roll out the dough in a thick layer, slice it into strips and brush it with garlic butter.
Recommended Equipment
Stand mixer: I use my KITCHENAID MIXER for so many things. It makes everything much easier – I couldn’t live without it for my baking! I’ve got a faulty (LOL) wrist on my dominant hand, so it makes my life so much easier to have a machine do the heavy lifting!
If you love this recipe, please give it a star rating or leave a comment below! This helps me to create more content you enjoy!
📖 Printable Recipe
Easy Pizza Dough
Ingredients
- 2 cups warm water
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon pizza dough yeast or active dry yeast
- 2 tablespoons olive oil + more for oiling
- 5 cups all purpose or bread flour + more for flouring
- 2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons cornmeal optional
Instructions
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, add 2 cups of warm water. Stir in 1 teaspoon granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon pizza or active dry yeast. Let stand 5-10 minutes or until the mixture is foamy on top and smells like beer.
- Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 5 cups of all purpose or bread flour, and 2 teapoons of coarse kosher salt into the mixing bowl and mix at low speed with the dough hook until the dough comes together in a ball.
- Continue mixing in the mixer for 5-6 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. The dough is ready when it bounces back after being poked.
- Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, and toss it to coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it aside to rise until doubled in size, this usually takes between 30-60 minutes, depending on the temperature in your kitchen.
- if you’ve got a baking stone or baking steel, place it into the oven and preheat to 475f while the dough rises. This allows the oven to fully come to temperature before baking and will result in better pizza.
- Once fully risen, punch down the dough, and turn onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 4 even portions if baking thin crust pizza, or 2 portions for thicker pizza crust.
- Working with one portion at a time, gently flatten with your fingers or roll out the dough with a rolling pin until it reaches your desired size and shape. If the dough is sticking to the work surface, add more flour underneath. We really don’t want sticky dough!
- if using a baking stone or steel, lightly dust a pizza peel with cornmeal, and slide the dough onto the peel. Once the dough is on the pizza peel, you’ve got a short period of time before it begins sticking, so it’s imperative to work quickly. It helps to jiggle the pizza dough every so often while it’s on the peel. If you’re baking on a baking sheet, lightly dust the baking sheet with cornmeal, and slide the pizza onto the baking sheet.
- Add the sauce and toppings to the dough and transfer to the oven.
- Bake the pizza in the preheated oven for 10-13 minutes for thin crust and up to 20 minutes for thicker crust pizza.
- Remove your pizza from the oven and allow it to cool slightly before slicing and serving.
Notes
Batch:
This easy pizza dough recipe makes enough for 4-6 thin-crust pizzas, depending on the desired size – and 2 – 3 thicker crust pizzas.Storage:
Store your unbaked pizza dough in a sealed plastic bag for up to 24 hours.How to freeze homemade pizza dough:
Simply allow it to rise, then punch down, separate into 4 equal sized balls. Wrap each ball in plastic wrap then slide the wrapped balls into a freeze ziplock bag or airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months.How to thaw frozen pizza dough
To thaw, place the dough in the fridge and allow it to rest in the fridge for 8-12 hours. Then warm up the dough by resting it at room temperature for 30-60 minutes before you’re ready to roll out and bake.variations + substitutions
- Whole wheat pizza dough: substitute up to 2 cups of all purpose flour with whole wheat flour.
- Herb’d pizza dough: add some oregano, parsley, rosemary, garlic powder, onion powder, or whatever you feel like to the dough while adding the flour.
- Calzone: this dough bakes up beautiful calzones too!
- Bread sticks: Roll out the dough in a thick layer, slice into strips and brush with garlic butter.
Recommended Equipment + Ingredients
Nutrition
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Always love trying out new recipes when it comes to pizza crust, searching for that perfect recipe! Might have to stop searching now as I have repeated this for 3 pizza nights! Love that this recipe comes together so quick without lacking in flavor/texture! Thanks for the recipe!
I’m interested in trying this recipe! Been looking for recipes that use Canadian flour! Rather than freezing the dough, have you ever parbaked the crusts?
Hey Renee, I have! It works just as well, I do prefer to freeze the dough though – parbaked crusts are a little more delicate in the freezer.