Making Pizza Dough is easy, inexpensive and so delicious for thin or thick crust pizza, or calzones. Use this recipe in a pizza oven, baking in a regular oven, air fryer pizza dough, or cooking pizza on the grill!
Why we love this Pizza Dough:
- Easy – Takes just a few minutes to knead in my Bosch mixer (or by hand!) and then let it rise. The little bit of effort is so worth it. I also love this Wheat Pizza Dough recipe.
- Versatile – we use this dough to make all of our pizza recipes, whether we’re cooking them in our Ooni pizza oven, using a pizza stone (or a pizza steel is what I have) for oven baked pizza, or making grilled pizza.
- Perfect texture and flavor – I make homemade pizza for my family almost weekly and I have had my share of trial and error; I can confidently say THIS IS THE RECIPE!
How to Make Pizza Dough:
Mix Dough: Stir yeast with warm water and a pinch of sugar and set aside for 5 minutes, to proof. (It should get foamy on top, which means it’s active. If not, then the yeast may be old). Add to a mixing bowl with remaining water, salt, vinegar, and olive oil. Gradually add the flour as you knead the dough on a medium-low speed for about 7 minutes.
Rise: Transfer the dough to a greased bowl, cover with a dry kitchen towel and allow to rise for about an hour, or until about double in size. Divide the dough into 2-3 equal portions (makes about two 14” or three 9” pizzas).
Roll into Circle: Spray your work surface lightly with cooking spray, or dust lightly with flour. Use a rolling pin or your hands to roll and stretch the dough to your desired size.
Sprinkle a little cornmeal and flour on a pizza peel and place the rolled out dough on top. The cornmeal will help the dough slide onto a pizza stone, the grill, or into a pizza oven. (If you don’t have a pizza peel, you can place the pizza crust on a piece of parchment paper to lift and set it onto your hot pizza stone or baking tray.
Pro Tips:
- Pre-Bake Dough, if cooking pizza in the oven. If you’re baking the pizza in the oven, whether on a pizza stone or not, I always pre-bake the dough for 4-5 minutes before adding toppings, to make sure the pizza dough cooks crisp on the outside and soft and airy in the middle. Once you add the Pizza Sauce and toppings, return it to the oven to finish baking.
- The Flour! I call for bread flour, but all-purpose flour works perfectly well for this recipe. If you’d like to use whole wheat flour, check out my Wheat Pizza Crust Recipe!
- Flavor the dough, if you’d like: This is a great basic pizza dough recipe, but you can spice it up to make it more flavorful by adding a few dashes of garlic powder, dried basil, and oregano.
Make Ahead And Freezing Instructions:
To Make Ahead: mix the dough, place in a large greased bowl with a tight lid and refrigerate for several hours, or even overnight. Remove from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature so it’s easy to roll out. You could also roll-out and pre-bake the dough, add toppings and store in the fridge for a take-and-bake style pizza.
To Freeze: once the dough is mixed, wrap it in plastic wrap and place it in a freezer safe container to freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to thaw, place it in a greased bowl, covered, in the fridge until completely thaw (about 24 hours). Allow to come to room temperature so it’s easy to roll out. You could also freeze the pre-baked dough, with or without toppings.
Use the dough for any of these Pizza Recipes:
- Calzones
- Pepperoni Pizza
- Grilled Pizza
- Cheeseburger Pizza
- Pesto Veggie Pizza
- Chicken Alfredo Pizza
- BBQ Chicken Pizza
- Air Fryer Pizza
- Thai Chicken Pizza
- White Pizza
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Recipe
Pizza Dough
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
- 3 3/4-4 cups bread flour (all-purpose flour would also work)
Instructions
- Combine Ingredients: In a large bowl of a stand mixer combine ½ cup of the warm water with the sugar and yeast. Stir to dissolve the yeast and let rest for 5 minutes. It should foam on the top. Add the remaining 1 cup of warm water, olive oil, salt and vinegar.
- Knead Dough: Begin mixing on medium-low speed, gradually adding the flour a cup at a time, and knead the dough for about 7 minutes, or until it's smooth and elastic. You may not need all of the flour. The dough should be slightly sticky, but not so sticky that it really sticks to your fingertip when touched.
- Rise: Transfer dough to a greased bowl and cover with a dry towel or greased plastic wrap. Allow to rise for 1 to 1.5 hours, or until it has about doubled in volume.
- Roll out: Gently punch the dough down and place on a lightly greased or floured counter top. Divide dough into 2 or 3 equal pieces (makes about two 14'' or three 9'' pizzas). Roll and stretch the dough to desired size and thickness. Brush dough with olive oil.
Oven Method:
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (with a pizza stone inside, if you have one). Add cornmeal and flour to a pizza peel or use a pizza pan. Pick the top of the dough a few times with a fork and pre-bake the dough in the pizza pan, or slide onto a hot pizza stone to pre-bake for 3-4 minutes. Remove from oven and add pizza sauce and toppings. Return to oven and bake for 8-15 more minutes or until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbly.
Pizza Oven Method:
- Add cornmeal and flour to a pizza peel and place rolled out dough on top. Add toppings. Slide into preheated pizza oven and cook according to pizza oven instructions.
Air Fryer Method:
- Roll dough into small sizes that will fit in air fryer. Cook in air fryer for 1 minute (check after 30 seconds, to make sure it didn't fold over), then flip sides and cook 1 more minute. Repeat with remaining crusts. Add toppings. Cook at 370 for 1-3 minutes or until bubbly.
Grill Method:
- Preheat grill to medium-high. Roll out dough and place on a piece of parchment paper. Spread with oil, then gently flip the pizza onto the grill, oil side down, and peel the parchment paper off. Cover grill lid and cook for 2-3 or until grill marks on bottom. Flip the pizzas onto a plate and add sauce and toppings to cooked side. Reduce heat and slide pizzas back on frill to cook another 3-5 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
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Adapted from All recipes.
*I originally shared this recipe March 2013. Updated March 2020 and June 2023.
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This will definitely be my go to pizza dough recipe from now on! I made a batch with a girlfriend the first time and sent her home with some frozen, froze some for myself, and put the rest into the fridge (all as instructed per the post). The next day, I rolled it out really thin, put the sauce and toppings on, and baked at 450 for about 17 minutes. It was much larger than a 9″ pizza, but we wanted a very thin crust, which worked perfectly without the prebake step. I can’t wait to see how the frozen dough turns out, and then I’ll be making a double batch and freezing it for after our little bundle of joy arrives (currently 8 months pregnant!). Thank you for doing all the hard work and perfecting this recipe. I also enjoyed reading all of the comments since I was so excited to make the dough, which is where I learned that a really thin crust cane forgo the prebake step. I plan to look into your easy/one pan recipes to have on hand for quick dinners when the baby arrives. Thanks again!
Hands down the best pizza dough recipe I have ever made. I have been struggling to find a dough recipe that isn’t sweet. This one checks all the boxes that in my opinion makes a great pizza dough. Easy to make, easy to stretch out, bakes to a crispy, chewy crust. It will be a staple in our home.
Really easy. Very good. Works best if you leave it in the frig to rise next day. We make 2 pies.
This was my first time trying any kind of dough that needs to rise. It turned out wonderfully! The instructions were clear and easy to follow. I did have to leave my yeast/sugar/water a little longer until it foamed up, but the end result was great! I think next time I’d portion it into four portions instead of two and roll it out a little thinner.
Made steak cheese calzones with this dough…..freaking awesome..thank you
Do you still use cornmeal when cooking in your ooni. I use cornmeal when I was cooking in the stove, but I’ve found that in a pizza oven the cornmeal tends to catch fire.
We dust our pizza peel with a little flour and cornmeal, before sliding the pizza in our Ooni, and never have a problem.