→ 
Simple, 4-Ingredient Homemade Pizza Dough
By Alexandra Stafford
—
Last Updated: 11/04/2025
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
Made with 4 ingredients — flour, water, salt, and yeast — this simple, no-knead pizza dough recipe can be ready start to finish in 3 hours. It produces a pizza with a ballooned edge and crisp but pliable crust. You can use the dough the same day you mix it or store it in the fridge for up to 5 days (or freeze it!). 🍕🍕
Let’s get straight to it. This is a 4-ingredient, high-hydration, no-knead dough. It is the simplest of the simple homemade pizza recipes and, in my opinion, the tastiest, too. If you have time to prep your dough a few days in advance, you’ll be setting yourself up for serious pizza bliss (read on to learn why) but know that you can make excellent pizza, start to finish, in 3 hours.
The first step to making excellent pizza at home is to get comfortable working with high-hydration pizza doughs. Here’s why:
Why High-Hydration Pizza Dough is Best For a Home Oven
High-hydration doughs, such as this overnight focaccia, are doughs made with a high proportion of water relative to the flour. This high proportion of water creates a pizza crust that stays crisp but moist during the cooking process with beautiful air pockets throughout.
How? Understand this relationship, understand everything:
The lower the oven temperature, the higher the dough hydration. And conversely: The higher the oven temperature, the lower the dough hydration.
A great way to understand this concept is to look at the makeup of a classic Neapolitan-style pizza dough. Neapolitan-style pizza is characterized by a blistered and ballooned outer edge with a soft, thin (and sometimes wet) center. Contrary to what you might expect, Neapolitan-style pizza dough is on the lower end of the hydration spectrum: 60 to 65%.
The reason Neapolitan pizzas emerge light and airy with nearly wet centers is because they cook in 60 to 90 seconds in 900ºF ovens. In this short period of time, very little water evaporates from the dough, which allows it to retain its moisture.
When you bake pizza in a home oven, which can only get up to 550ºF, the baking time is longer, during which time a lot of water will evaporate. If you were to bake a 65% hydration Neapolitan pizza dough in your home oven, you will be left with a dry, tough crust due to all of the moisture loss during the long bake.
So, in sum: to prevent your crust from being dry and tough in a home oven, it needs more water from the start.
Working With High Hydration Dough
Working with high-hydration dough can be tricky, and the best way to deal with it is to handle it gently. During the shaping process — the point at which you are stretching your ball of dough into a 10- to 12-inch round — take care to use a light touch. When you handle the dough minimally, you preserve the bubbles created during the rising. See these bubbles? …
Those bubbles become these ballooned textures throughout the dough:
4 Tips for Making Excellent Pizza at Home
1. Use good, unbleached, and unbromated flour. King Arthur bread or all-purpose flour is my favorite.
What is the difference between bread and all-purpose flour? Mostly the protein content. KAF bread flour has a higher protein content (12.7% protein) than the all-purpose flour (11.7% protein). A dough made with bread flour as opposed to all-purpose flour will absorb slightly more liquid and will therefore be slightly stiffer. If you live in a humid environment and often find your dough to be too wet, using bread flour may help.
What about Tipo 00 Flour? Tipo 00 flour is the flour required in the production of D.O.C. Neapolitan pizza. Contrary to popular belief, the “00” is not an indicator of protein content. It refers, rather, to the fineness of the milling, “00” being the finest grade in the Italian classification system. It is known for the extensible gluten structure it creates in pizza dough. When you use Tipo 00 flour, you may find your dough to be much wetter than when you use bread flour, so you may need to adjust the recipe slightly: use less water or more flour.
While I love using tipo 00 flour (Petra 5063 being my favorite) in my outdoor oven, today I find I get better results — better oven spring and browning — in my home oven when I use bread flour or all-purpose flour, namely KAF, whose flour contains a small amount of malt, which helps with browning.
2. Don’t be afraid of salt.
Salt is important in pizza dough not only for flavor but also for strengthening gluten and controlling fermentation. My preference is Diamond Crystal kosher salt or Baleine fine sea salt, both of which dissolve quickly.
How Much Salt to Use: The rule of thumb with pizza dough is that the weight of the salt should be 2 to 3% the weight of the flour. For this recipe that is 10 to 15 grams. I use 15 grams of salt, and I do not find the dough to be too salty.
Flaky sea salt for finishing. I sprinkle every pizza I bake with Maldon Sea Salt just before it sliding it into the oven.
3. Invest in a Baking Steel.
The single best and easiest/most affordable step you can take to make better pizza at home is to invest in a Baking Steel. In short, steel is a more conductive cooking surface than stone. This means heat transfers more quickly from steel to food than it does from stone to food. Why is this important for pizza? Serious Eats’ Kenji J Lopez Alt offers this explanation:
“How does the baking surface affect hole structure? Well those crust holes develop when air and water vapor trapped inside the dough matrix suddenly expand upon heating in a phenomenon known as oven spring. The faster you can transfer energy to the dough, the bigger those glorious bubbles will be, and the airier and more delicate the crust.”
4. If time permits, make your dough several days in advance.
Why? Because: during a long, slow, cold fermentation, enzymes in both the flour and the yeast will break down the starches in the flour into simple sugars, which will contribute both to flavor and to browning. Moreover, during this time in the fridge, the dough will relax, making it easier to stretch into rounds on baking day.
PS: Simple Sourdough Pizza Crust Recipe
How to Make Pizza Dough, Step by Step
Whisk together flour, salt, and instant yeast (SAF is my preference):
Add water, and …
… mix to form a sticky dough ball:
Let rise in a warm spot till nearly doubled, about 1.5 hours.
Turn out onto a floured work surface.
Divide into four portions and …
… ball up, using as much flour as needed.
If you are baking pizza immediately, let the dough rest for another hour before shaping. Otherwise, transfer the balls to storage containers and stick them in the fridge. These Kevjes Dough Storage Vessels have become my favorite:
When it’s time to bake, transfer the dough rounds to a lidded vessel such as a DoughMate or a 9×13-inch baking dish covered with plastic wrap (to prevent the dough from drying out), and let the rounds sit for about an hour at room temperature.
When the dough has proofed, gently stretch it into an 11-inch round, using lightly floured hands:
Transfer the round to a peel lined with parchment paper.
Get your toppings ready. For a classic Margherita pizza, you’ll need tomato sauce, mozzarella, and fresh basil.
Spread about 2 ounces of tomato sauce over your dough.
Top with about 3 ounces of mozzarella. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.
Bake on a preheated Baking Steel at 550ºF for 5 to 6 minutes. Shower with fresh basil out of the oven.
The beauty of the Baking Steel + high hydration dough: oven spring.
Troubleshooting
Why is my pizza dough too wet?
It is possible that given your environment and the type of flour you are using, you are using too much water relative to the amount of flour. The fix is simple: reduce the amount of water. Ideally, you are measuring with a scale, so you can ensure you are measuring accurately and making meaningful adjustments. Try holding back 50 grams of water and seeing if that helps.
That said, please read above about the importance of using a high-hydration pizza dough in a home oven. If your dough, upon being mixed, is unable to form a sticky dough ball, you likely need to reduce the water. Reference the video for dough texture.
Why is my pizza dough soggy?
There are several culprits here:
- too much sauce, cheese, and/or toppings
- oven not hot enough
- too short of a baking time
Solutions:
- Invest in a Baking Steel. Read why above.
- Try laying the cheese on top of the dough; then the sauce. The cheese might provide some insulation from the sauce, thereby preventing the dough from getting soggy.
- Consider employing a parbake: bake your pizza “naked” for one minute; then continue baking for 4 to 5 minutes more once topped.
- Try using semolina on your peel.
- Before stretching your dough ball into a round, slick it lightly in a bit of olive oil.
- Use a lighter hand when topping.
PS: If you’re looking for more pizza-making guidance, check out my New York Times bestselling cookbook, Pizza Night, which includes 52 pizza and 52 salad recipes, one pair for every week of the year, as well as five simple desserts 🍕🍕🍕
Simple, 4-Ingredient Homemade Pizza Dough
- Total Time: 2 hours 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 pizzas 1x
Description
Made with 4 ingredients — flour, water, salt, and yeast — this simple, no-knead pizza dough recipe is a snap to throw together, and you can use the dough the same day you mix it or store it in the fridge for up to 5 days (or freeze it!). If you love pizza with a ballooned edge and crisp but pliable crust, this pizza dough recipe is for you.
**Attention Pizza Fans: My new cookbook, Pizza Night, is here.**
NOTES:
- This recipe yields 4 rounds of dough. The recipe can be halved but know that the dough can be refrigerated for up to five days. I refrigerate individual rounds of dough in Kevjes dough storage containers.
- The dough can be frozen, too. After the first rise and after you transfer the portioned rounds to quart containers, this is your opportunity to freeze. Transfer the quart containers to the freezer for as long as 3 months. To thaw, remove a container (or more) and let thaw in the refrigerator for 1 day or thaw at room temperature for 4 to 8 hours. Then, proceed with the recipe.
Ingredients & Tools
- Measure Accurately: As always, for best results use a scale to measure. I love this Ooni scale for its precision, especially when measuring smaller quantities of salt and yeast.
- Peel: This is my favorite.
- Parchment: These rounds are so handy for making the transition from the peel to the Baking steel or pizza stone.
- Yeast: SAF Instant Yeast is my favorite. If you need to use active dry yeast instead of instant, sprinkle it over the lukewarm water and let it stand for about 10 minutes or until it gets foamy before adding to the other ingredients.
- Warm place to rise: Here’s a trick for making the perfect warm spot for the dough to rise. Turn the oven on and let it preheat for 1 minute; then shut it off. The temperature will be between 80° F and 100° F. you should be able to place your hand on the oven grates without burning them.
- Flour: You can use bread flour and all-purpose flour here but if you live in a humid environment, I would consider using bread flour if you can get your hands on it. If you are in Canada or the UK, also consider using bread flour or consider holding back some of the water (see next paragraph). Reference the video for how the texture of the dough should look; then add water back as needed.
- Water: I find the sweet spot for me to be about 418 grams of water, which is roughly an 82% hydration dough. That said: If you live in a humid environment, if you live abroad, if you are using all-purpose flour or Tipo 00 flour, if you dislike handling wet doughs, consider starting with 400 grams of water, which will lower the hydration to 77%. If the dough feels dry, add water as needed to get it to the right consistency (reference the video).
- Salt: The rule of thumb with pizza dough is that the weight of the salt should be 2 to 3% the weight of the flour. For this recipe that is 10 to 15 grams. I tend to use 12 to 15 grams of salt, and I do not find the dough to be too salty, but I have a high salt tolerance. Use an amount appropriate to your tastes and preferences. Finally, I always use Diamond Crystal kosher salt, but you can use fine sea salt or whatever salt you like.
- Toppings: In the notes below the recipe, find the toppings for a classic Margherita pizza and for a kale, parmesan, and crème fraîche pizza. See above for 6 other favorite pizza recipes.
- Timeline: Make it Tonight: Plan on 3 hours start to finish from when you mix your dough to when you turn out a freshly baked pizza. Make it Tomorrow (and beyond): Method 1: Mix your dough today, let it rise for 1.5 hours (roughly). Portion it into 4 balls; then transfer to the fridge for up to 5 days. When using dough you’ve stored in the refrigerator, remove it one hour prior to baking.
Ingredients
Please Read All Notes Above Before Proceeding
- 4 cups (512 g) bread flour or all-purpose flour, plus more for assembly
- 3 to 4 teaspoons (10 to 15 g) kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon (4 g) instant yeast
- 1.75 to 2 cups (400 to 454 g) lukewarm water
Instructions
- Make the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and instant yeast. Add the water. Using a rubber spatula, mix until the water is absorbed and the ingredients form a sticky dough ball. Pour a drop or two of oil over the top and rub with your hands to coat. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel or plastic wrap and set aside in a warm spot to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in bulk. (Note: Optional Step: If time permits, 30 minutes after you cover the bowl, perform one set of stretches and folds: grab an edge of the dough using a wet hand and stretch it up and in. Repeat this 8 to 10 times, grabbing a different edge each time. By the end, the dough should transform from shaggy in texture to smooth and cohesive. I find performing a set of stretches and folds gives my dough more strength and ultimately more lightness.)
- Prepare the oven: If you are baking the pizzas right away (as opposed to refrigerating the dough for another day), place a Baking Steel or pizza stone in top third of oven and preheat oven to its hottest setting, 550°F. Be sure the Baking Steel heats for at least 45 minutes once the oven temperature reaches 550ºF.
- Ball up the dough: Cover a work surface or cutting board liberally with flour — the dough is very wet, so don’t hesitate to use flour as needed. Turn the dough out onto your floured surface and use a bench scraper to divide the dough into 4 equal portions. With floured hands, roll each portion into a ball, using the pinkie edges of your hands to pinch the dough underneath each ball. If you are not baking the pizza the same day, transfer each round of dough to a storage container (see notes above), cover, and store in the fridge. (At this point, if you plan on freezing the dough, transfer the vessels to the freezer for up to 3 months. See notes above for thawing.) If you are baking right away, let the balls sit on their tucked-in edges for 30 to 60 minutes without touching in a lidded, lightly floured vessel such as a DoughMate or a 9×13-inch pan covered with plastic wrap.
- Proof the dough: If using refrigerated dough, pull out a pizza round (or as many as you wish) from the fridge 60 to 90 minutes before you plan on baking. Transfer the rounds to a lidded, lightly floured vessel such as a DoughMate or a 9×13-inch pan covered with plastic wrap.
- Make the pizzas: Handling the dough as minimally as possible, shape the dough into a 10″–12″ round. If the dough has proofed sufficiently, you should be able to pick it up and stretch it very easily using the back of your hands. Lay a sheet of parchment paper on a pizza peel, and pour a few drops of oil into the center of it. (Note: the oil is optional. It’s especially helpful if you find shaping dough using the backs of your hands tricky.) Transfer the dough round to the parchment-lined baking peel.
- Top pizza as desired or to make the Margherita pizza: spread 2 ounces of tomato sauce over your pizza dough. Top with 3 ounces of mozzarella. Drizzle with olive oil. Season with a pinch of flaky sea salt. Shimmy the pizza, parchment paper and all into the oven. To make the kale and crème fraîche pizza: Place the kale in a small bowl, drizzle lightly with olive oil, season with sea salt, and toss with your hands till the kale is coated in oil and salt. Spoon crème fraîche over the dough leaving a 1/2-inch border or so—I use 1 to 2 tablespoons per pizza. Sprinkle with the garlic and a handful of the grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Top with the kale.
- Bake the pizza: Shimmy the pizza, parchment paper and all into the oven. Bake the pizza until the top is blistered, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board. Shower basil over the pizza Margherita. Cut and serve. Discard parchment paper.
Notes
Margherita Pizza:
- 2 ounces tomato sauce, such as this one
- 3 ounces fresh mozzarella (if using buffalo mozzarella, drain before using)
- olive oil
- flaky sea salt
- fresh basil
Kale & Creme Fraiche Pizza:
- extra-virgin olive oil
- a couple handfuls of baby kale
- 1 to 2 cloves garlic
- Sea salt, such as Maldon
- 2 tablespoons crème fraîche
- grated Parmigiano Reggiano, about 1/4 to 1/3 cup
- Prep Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Pizza
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American, Italian
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
824 Comments on “Simple, 4-Ingredient Homemade Pizza Dough”
Alexandra, This pizza dough recipe, like ALL of your no-knead dough recipes, was phenomenal! I made one pizza right away, another one the next day, and froze two containers of dough for a future time! In that super hot conventional oven, and a pizza stone – you get pizza as good as a brick oven pizza – well at least almost! I made a traditional pepperoni, but can’t wait to try your delectable ideas here, as soon as I can restock my refrigerator!
So great to hear this, Nancy! And can I tell you: I don’t think anything is better than a traditional pepperoni … I make it for the kids, but my husband and I love it all the more. There’s a reason that combination exists. So glad this worked out. And yay for freezing pizza dough!
I have tried many pizza dough recipes in search for the perfect one…this is it!! This is a fantastic dough, I have never gotten so many compliments on my pizza! Thank you so much for sharing
Wonderful to hear this, Zoe!! 🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕 Thanks for writing,
made this tonight and it was absolutely delicious! i don’t have a baking steel so had to use a pizza sheet at 450 – didn’t get the blistered crust but so good still!
all your bread recipes are fantastic!!
Wonderful to hear this Christine! Thanks so much, too 😍😍😍
This recipe and Alexandra’s tips and comments are spot on. So easy, and consistently delicious. I’ve been making pizza at home a long time and this recipe rocked my world.
So happy to hear this, Joslyn! 🍕🍕🍕🍕
Looks amazing!
I cook at max temp (about 480°F) 10-12 minutes on the top shelf of the oven with a pre-heated pizza stone but i cant seem to get the top to brown (the crust is always pale)
Should i be using the grill option at the end to get the charred effect and the nice crust colouring ? Do you have any tips? 🙂
It’s worth a shot, Cristina! Truly, there is only so much you can do, especially when you are limited to the power of your oven. I think your grilling option is a great idea. Sometimes people add a teensy bit of sugar or honey to the dough purely because it can help with the browning. For this recipe, I would use no more than a teaspoon or two … and keep an eye on the dough if you do, because it may rise faster.
Does your oven go higher than 480F?
AMAZING!! I’ve been looking for years and years for the perfect dough recipe. And THIS.IS.IT! Best crust ever! And every time it gets better (practice… wet dough, you have to get to know it and get comfortable with it)
And kale on pizza; a winner!
Love!
Wonderful to hear this, Eveline! And you are absolutely right: working with a wet dough takes practice, but it makes all the difference. And yay for KALE 🎉🎉🎉🎉
I weighed my ingredients according to the recipe but my dough was really wet. It did not form a ball and hold together at all it was more of a blob that didn’t hold together. I am at 6,000 feet above sea level so I added about 1/4 cup of flour but it sill didn’t come together as a ball. Am I supposed to knead it or something?
Hi Staci! Sorry to hear this. You do not need to knead it. If you are willing to give the recipe another go, I would reduce the water. Start with 420 grams or so; then add it slowly if the mixture seems dry. The dough definitely is wet, but it shouldn’t be a blob.
What kind of flour are you using?
I’m struggling with the dough when going by weight. 512 grams of flour and 456 grams of water means an 89% hydration dough? Like another user, my dough was far too wet using these weights. I added flour until it became a sticky dough.
Hi Anna! If you find the dough to be too wet, you absolutely can cut back the water a bit. Also know that you should use as much flour as necessary during the shaping process to make the dough easier to handle.
Did you end up baking the pizza? If so how did it turn out?
I am partial to very high hydration doughs for pizza … it’s what makes those beautiful air pockets throughout the dough.
This is such an awesome recipe for the dough , I used 00 flour and baking steel it made all the difference
Wonderful to hear this, Manju! I love 00 flour … such amazing texture.
Thank you for the recipes. What is the best way to bake your pie in the oven if you do not have a stone but just a pizza pan?
Hi Christine! I would follow the instructions on this post: How to Make Skillet Pizza — use the method as a guide and adjust it to work with the size pan you are using.
This has consistently been my go to pizza dough recipe. It is easy and yields an amazing flavourful dough. It tends to be on the wetter side but as the helpful tips mentioned, flouring enough to prevent sticking helps a lot. Plus “don’t be scared to work with high hydration doughs”.
My oven goes up to a max of 240˚C only. So I adjust the recipe a bit, for a longer cooking time, by adding 10-15g of olive oil and 1tsp sugar to get a browner crust because a charred effect is out of question.
Turns up amazing like a lot of your recipes. Thank you for this recipe.
Wonderful to hear all of this! And great tips regarding olive oil + sugar to promote browning … so smart. Thank you!
I made these on my Big Green Egg (platesetter legs up, pizza stone on top of that, ran about 600 degrees). This dough is the one I have been looking for! After many that weren’t what I was looking for, this one is!
Wonderful to hear this, Jackie! I am dying for a big green egg … I hear they are amazing!
This dough is great however, the conversion of flour from cups to grams is wrong. I tried 512g and this was way too wet not just a tiny bit too wet which I know is common depending on flour brand. I looked up a conversion online and 4 cups should be 880g just in case this wasn’t right I then gradually added more flour until it was the dough looked right I did end up adding around 300-350g more flour until the dough looked and felt right. The pizzas turned out great but the conversion in your recipe needs amending
Hi Natasha! Thanks so much for writing. Sorry the dough gave you some trouble. It is definitely a wet, sticky dough. The standard I use is 1 cup all-purpose flour = 128 g.
HI! I want to make this recipe but was wondering if it would be okay to use half bread/half AP flour? Or should I just stick with either all bread or AP? I can’t find any 00 so have to sub something. Thanks!
Hi Chelsea! Yes, absolutely: you can use a mix of those flours or either one or the other.
If you make the dough with bread flour, the dough will be a little stiffer; if you use ap flour, it will be a little wetter — bread flour absorbs more water. If you are worried at all about handling a wet dough, I would recommend the bread flour.
Hi, Alexandra! My friends recommended your recipe as one of their favorites, and I am excited to try it out! I planning to make a bunch of pizzas to freeze as a tasty way to have quick food on lazy evenings and to preserve my awesome tomato harvest. In the past, I have par-baked crusts and then put on toppings and stuck the whole thing in the freezer- is that also what you would recommend with this recipe, or would you assemble the whole thing raw before freezing, or maybe some other solution? Also, I’m wondering what you think about using a flat cast iron griddle in place of a baking steel- I’d love to make due with what I have rather than go buy more stuff! Thanks so much for your help!
Hi Diana!
In the past, I have assembled the whole pizza and frozen it that way, but my suggestion would be to try both! I know people who generally like to par bake their dough, then top, then bake. I have to confess: I have never par baked a crust. I always stretch the dough, top, and bake.
So, I don’t feel strongly recommending one way or the other in regard to freezing. Just experiment, and note which is par baked and which is not (though it likely will be obvious visually), and see which you like better … then report back 🙂 I’d love to hear which method you prefer.
And re cast iron griddle — absolutely! I think the key with any baking surface for pizza is to get it screaming hot. So, if you can let it preheat for at least 45 minutes at your oven’s hottest setting, it should work beautifully.
Ali, I took your advice and ordered a Pizza Steel-that, along with your fabulous dough are game changers ! I tried this recipe with substitutions and it has become everyone’s favorite. I used the creme fraiche, Parmesan, thinly sliced pear and red onion -so good! Thanks for the inspiration!
Oh yay! Diane, it is so wonderful to hear all of this. I don’t know what I would do without my Baking Steel at this point. So glad you approve 🍕🍕🍕🍕
Sorry, I forgot to rate the recipe in my previous comment.
Thank you Diane 💕💕💕💕
I have made this pizza dough SO many times and it just didn’t feel right to continue without a raving review. My sister recommended this to me several months ago and there has been no looking back. I love how easy this process is, and how you don’t have to wait long for the dough to rise. So far I have only used sea salt and it turns out great each time. I preheat my pizza stone in 500-550 degree oven while I prep toppings (I don’t have a peel), and then I roll the dough out on parchment paper, sometimes dusting it with flour before rolling out (and using a generous amount of flour to roll out so that it doesn’t stick too much to the rolling pin). I carefully slide the pizza/parchment paper onto the hot pizza stone then place in the oven. It typically takes about 8 minutes to bake, and then I let it sit on the stone to crisp up a little more once removed from oven. Seriously, MAKE THIS. Sooooo good. Thank you!
Oh yay! Adrienne, it’s so nice to hear all of this. Thanks so much for taking the time to write and to share your method with others…. so helpful and encouraging 🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕
This is the best pizza dough! Will not need to use another pizza recipe anymore!!!! I used all purpose flour, halved the recipe, used oiled hands and bench scraper when diving the dough into dough balls, put in oiled ziplock bags in the fridge for 3 days, used baking steel, and baked a little longer. The result is amazing big pores in the dough, chewy exterior but airy but soft inside! Thank you so much, Alexandra!
Wonderful to hear this, Constance! Thanks so much for writing.
This dough was absolutely phenomenal. Just like the light, chewy dough at my favorite gourmet pizza spot. Thank you!
Yay! So happy to hear this 🙂 🙂 🙂
I love all of your recipes, Alexandra and this recipe was no exception! This is hands down the BEST pizza dough I’ve ever made. I’ve made a ton of pizza dough over the years – usually a sourdough if I have time to feed my starter but my family and I agree that this is better than the sourdough dough + miles better than any yeasted pizza dough I’ve tried. 10000/10!!!
Oh yay! Kendall! It is so wonderful to hear all of this 🙂 🙂 🙂 Thanks so much for writing 🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕
I’ve tried a few different pizza dough recipes and this one is the best I’ve had so far. The crust was light and crispy. I’ll definitely be using this one again.
Wonderful to hear this, Nick! Thanks so much for writing.
Hi, I’m trying your recipe right now. I want to make calzones instead of pizza today. I’ll use 1 ball and divide the dough in 2. What do you think? Will the dough hold up as calzones?
Thanks
Hi Marlene! Sorry for the delay here … how did it go? I worry the dough might be a little too wet for calzones. I might try cutting the water back a bit to make the dough more manageable if you want to use the dough for calzones.
Hello again….I made the calzones with this dough and my conclusion is this is a Pizza Dough.
They turned out great, but too tough. My husband said the dough tastes like a pretzel. I pressed out the dough with my finger and finished it with a rolling pin, as didn’t want air bubbles. I followed the recipe from the photos and realized after the dough was resting for 1 1/2 hours that I missed coating the dough with olive oil, so added the oil and let it rest a lille more. I’ll be making calzones with my other recipe from now on. Just can’t wait to make a pizza. Thanks for a great recipe.
Thanks for the update Marlene! If you are looking for more recipes to compare, I have had success making calzones using this recipe.
Thank you for the fabulous recipe. Can i make with the fresh yeast and how much ? Thank you
Hi Chanikan! Yes, the general rule is to multiply by 3. So this recipe calls for 1 teaspoon instant yeast, which is about 4 grams. So use 12 g of fresh yeast.
My new to go to pizza dough recipe! We all loved it. I didn’t have any parchment paper and just made them on reg pizza pans . Came out greater! The only problem I had was getting the dough to stay in place after I put the olive oil on the pans . Kept shrinking in which I used crisp in the past instead and that does help. Any suggestions? Baking at the 500 degrees is the ticket!
Wonderful to hear this, Mary! Regarding the shrinking, I find if I stretch it out, and it starts resisting, if I wait five minutes, the dough will relax, and I am able to stretch it out again. Also, a little oil goes a long way — sometimes 1/2 a teaspoon is enough, so you could try using less oil. Let me know if that helps!
Hey this pizza dough recipe is a game changer! Another great recipe! I am having a problem with my pizza undercarriage not browning enough. I took the dough out of the fridge, made a rough circle on top of the parchment, then let it rise for 60 minutes, stretched it a little further, and then topped with a modest amount of sauce and cheese for a new york style pizza. My oven was preheated at 550 for 1 hour. My stone is thick and in the middle rack. I am considering trying the stone on the bottom rack (my heating element and broiler are on the bottom) to crisp the bottom more and get a more golden brown color. I also added some sugar and oil into my dough and let it stay in the fridge for about 5 days. Is this long duration a problem? As well, I used bleached pillsbury bread flour. Might the bleached flour be the culprit? Thanks so much!
hi! I think the bleached flour definitely is the culprit!
5 days is quite long, but I have definitely used dough over 5-days old, so I don’t think that is the issue.
Do play around with the spot in your oven that works best. Lowering to the bottom might work well. If you are really interested in upping your pizza game, you may want to invest in a Baking Steel. But do try unbleached flour first as well as a different spot in your oven.
Wow I can’t believe I never knew this about the bleached flour. I never knew it had a problem with browning. What other kind of problems can bleached flour cause? Are there any “Pros and Cons?” For example something that the bleached flour excels with, vs problems that it can present when using it? I have a few more bags of this left that I want to use up, but I am going to switch to unbleached! Lol.. thank you so much for the expert advice!
Hi! Yes, bleached flour definitely will not brown as well unfortunately. It also may have a slightly off/chemical flavor. I honestly never use bleached flour, so I can’t say with complete confidence, but I think it’s great for things like cakes and other light-textured pastries. I would google: “best recipes to use with bleached flour” and see what turns up. Good luck using it up!
Alexandra,
Can you tell me where you purchased your dough board, it’s dimensions and type of wood?
I’ve been searching for one but most seem rather small for making different types of pasta.
Thank you
Hi Beverly! The board is a hand-me down from my aunt, who probably got it from an antique store in VT. It’s 23-inches by 16 inches. Wish I had a source for you!
I made this pizza dough today and made two good size pizzas. I have been searching for years for the perfect crust and this one is a keeper! The crust was very good. Slightly chewy and flavorful. I may add a bit if sugar next time to get the crust to beautifully brown. My family loved it!
Wonderful to hear this, Cindy! Thanks so much for writing. Let me know if sugar helps with the browning. A recipe I used years ago called for honey … that might work, too 🙂
Hey Ali!
Do you think I could sub one cup of the flour for semolina without any peril?
I love that this dough is a higher hydration than the one I usually use but I do love the texture that semolina gives to the crust.
Definitely worth a shot, Prudence! I love semolina flour as well 🙂
I’m not sure what I did wrong, but this dough did not turn out well at all for me. It was rising nicely in the fridge (about 24 hours) and I did bring it to room temp before stretching, but it was so sticky that it did not stretch well and ended up with holes in it. I could not even use it, so can’t comment on the flavor. Total fail for me.
Debra, so sorry to hear this! Let’s figure out what happened. Questions:
1. Are you using a scale to measure?
2. What type of flour are you using?
3. Did you let the dough rise at room temperature first; then transfer to the fridge?
4. Did the texture of the dough look at all like the texture of the dough in the video?
Alexandra, I did not use a scale, just went with the cup measurements in the recipe. I used AP flour, unbleached Bob’s Red Mill. Yes, I did the room temperature rise (about 2 hr) before putting it in the fridge for 24 (it was probably a couple hours longer in the fridge). The dough looked good, but was just too sticky for me to work with. It seems after doing further research that maybe the amount of water was too high. I am seeing more like 60-65% hydration, but the ratio in this recipe was over 80% if my math is correct.
This is definitely a wet, sticky dough.
If you are willing to give it another go, I do think measuring with a scale — everything: the flour, water, salt, and yeast — makes a difference. I also think you could hold back 50 grams of the water or so to make the dough more manageable to work with.
Bob’s Red Mill is definitely a high-quality product. I always use King Arthur Flour, and I mention this only because the more I troubleshoot with people, the more I realize that flour from different brands yield different results.
One final question: did you divide it into 4 portions and ball up each portion before transferring it to the fridge?
I actually cut the recipe in half, made 2 balls and put one in the fridge and the other in the freezer. I’m thinking when I pull the frozen one out I will flour the outside generously and see if I can work with it. Thanks for the input!
Great! Yes, be generous with the flour. Would love to know how it turns out.
At what temperature do you preheat the oven for 1 minute to create a warm spot for the dough to rise?
Hi! I don’t set a temperature … if you have to, just set it to 350ºF. But remember: you’re just turning your oven on; then turning it off a minute later. You don’t want it to heat for a minute at 350ºF — that would be way too hot. After the minute of preheating, your oven likely will be around 100ºF or less… you’ll be able to put your hands on the grates without them burning.