Easy Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe

This is the best pizza dough recipe ever. It's easy to make with 5 ingredients and doesn't need to rise - which means you can have a fresh hot homemade pizza on the table in 30 minutes.

I got my very first job when I was 14, answering phones at our favorite local pizza place in the suburbs of Chicago.

Working there caused me to have incredibly high pizza standards. I grew up and moved away from Chicago to a state that does not have great pizza, so we always make our own.

We make this easy pizza dough recipe (paired with this homemade pizza sauce) at least once a week. Truly great pizza requires an outstanding crust. And that is what you get with this homemade pizza dough.

This recipe is easy to make because the dough doesn't have to rise, although rising is an option. Which means you can have fresh, hot, homemade pizza on the table in 30 minutes flat!

Homemade Pizza Dough: Ingredients & Substitutions 

• All-purpose flour. You can use a 1:1 gluten-free all-purpose baking flour to make this pizza dough gluten-free. If you're looking for a whole wheat pizza dough recipe, this one is the best.
• Sugar. honey works very well in place of sugar.
• Olive oil. Any neutral tasting oil works perfectly in this recipe, I suggest olive oil, avocado oil or canola oil.
• Toppings: The unanimous pizza topping of choice for my family is pepperoni. My hubby prefers turkey pepperoni. But you can top your dough with anything. My personal favorite is a little drizzle of balsamic vinegar, spinach, green peppers and goat cheese!

Note: The crust is vegan, so you can make delicious dairy-free/vegan pizzas using this recipe, and save yourself lots of money buying vegan options at the store.

How to make Easy Homemade Pizza Dough

Since we make this easy homemade pizza dough recipe weekly, I have many tips and tricks to ensure it turns out perfectly every time. So we'll walk through the process step by step, and don't forget to watch the video.

Note: you can mix this pizza dough by hand or use a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook.

Preheat a Pizza Stone

If you have a pizza stone - I highly recommend using it to bake your homemade pizzas. You can also preheat a baking sheet.

We love baking our pizzas on a stone because it crisps the bottom perfectly. Put the pizza stone in the oven and let it preheat with the oven. For the best results, let the stone preheat at 500 degrees F for at least 10 minutes before baking the pizza.

Proof the yeast 

To make this pizza dough recipe, begin by proofing the yeast, which means mixing together water, sugar and yeast and letting it sit until it becomes foamy and bubbly (about 5 minutes). It's important that you use warm, but not hot water. Ideally around 105 degrees F.

If the water is too warm it will kill the yeast and it won't proof (become nice and foamy and activated). You can use a thermometer to measure the temperature, but it should be warm to the touch but not feel hot.

Make homemade pizza sauce

While the yeast is proofing, take 5 minutes and make this homemade sauce to use on your homemade pizza dough. It truly is the best.

Make the pizza dough

Once the yeast is proofed, add the olive oil and stir to combine.

Then add 2 cups of flour and salt and stir to combine. 

The dough will start to form a sticky ball, add more flour as needed until the dough is only very slightly tacky and smooth.

Knead the dough

Once the dough is only slightly sticky, transfer it to a floured surface and knead for about 3-5 minutes, or until a smooth ball forms. If necessary, add 1 Tablespoon of flour at a time until it's smooth and not sticky.

I make this recipe by hand, but it can easily be made and kneaded in a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook. It's so fast and simple that I prefer to save some dishes and not pull out my mixer for this one.

Optional - Let the dough rise

If you have more than 30 minutes, you can let this dough rise for 10 minutes or up to it doubling in size (90 minutes)

Letting the pizza dough rise results in a softer, more tender crust but rising is not necessary for a great pizza.

Roll out the pizza dough 

Once the dough is smooth and elastic, form it into your desired shape. We usually make a circular pizza because that is the shape of our pizza stone. However we have made them in fun shapes too, including a football for the Super Bowl and a heart for Valentine's day.

Roll it out on a well-floured surface until it's about ½" thick.

Transfer the rolled-out dough to a piece of parchment paper before you begin adding pizza sauce and toppings.

Add Sauce & Toppings

Once the dough is rolled out and on a piece of parchment paper, slather on the sauce.

Then, add your desired toppings

Tip: Add a little cheese before the toppings. This was a trick I learned working at a Chicago pizza restaurant.

Starting with a very thin layer of cheese, then adding the toppings, then finishing with another layer of cheese helps keep the toppings in place when the pizza is cut.

Bake

Once the pizza is assembled, transfer it to the preheated stone in the oven using a pizza peel. If you don't have a pizza peel, you can use a flat baking sheet to transfer the pizza to the oven.

Bake the pizza on the preheated pizza stone for 12-15 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and the crust is golden brown.

Tip: Watch the pizza carefully. The pizza goes from almost done to too brown fairly quickly. So be careful!

Then, use the pizza peel to remove the pizza from the oven and place it on a wire cooling rack to cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting.

Serve

We use these pizza scissors to cut our pizzas and it's so easy!

I love serving homemade pizza with a huge salad (especially this burrata salad) when we have guests over for dinner.

You can also make the crust into small personal pizzas and let guests make their own pizzas with a variety of toppings, which is really fun.

To make ahead:

You can make this pizza dough in advance. Mix it together and form a ball, then place it in a bowl and tightly cover it with plastic wrap and a damp towel. Store it in the refrigerator until ready to use (up to overnight).

How to Freeze Pizza Dough

You an freeze this homemade pizza dough in a few ways:

1. Form it into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze in an airtight container or plastic bag.
2. Pre-bake the crust for 5 minutes without toppings. Let it cool, wrap it tightly with plastic wrap and foil and freeze. To use, let it thaw, add toppings and bake according to the recipe.
3. Freeze a fully assembled pizza before baking. You can make your own frozen pizzas by making this pizza dough, topping it with sauce and toppings and flash-freezing it on a baking sheet. One it's hardened, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and foil and freeze for up to 2 months. Let thaw and bake.

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