Foolproof Pizza Dough
This foolproof pizza dough has only five ingredients and turns out perfect every single time! It’s ready in less than thirty minutes, and makes for a perfect chewy and crisp crust.
There’s nothing better on a laid-back Friday night than a hot and cheesy homemade pizza! We’ve been making homemade pizza on Fridays for years now, and my kids look forward to it every week. This pizza dough is so quick and easy to make (you don’t even need a mixer!) and it always comes out great. I’ve shared this recipe with dozens of friends at this point, and once they try it, they’re all converted. It really is the best! We usually go pretty simple with our toppings, and make either cheese or pepperoni pizza, but the sky is the limit. Some of my favorite pizzas I’ve made are this chicken bacon ranch pizza, this chicken and veggie pizza, and this tostada pizza.
The recipe below makes enough dough for one pizza, but lately I’ve been quadrupling the recipe and freezing the extra dough for later. I’ve been surprised to find that I actually like the texture of the dough more after it has been frozen. It’s pretty fantastic fresh, of course, but it gets a little chewier and crisper after it has been frozen. Either way, it makes a great pizza!
Foolproof Pizza Dough
Print Recipe
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup warm water
- 1/2 tablespoon yeast
- 1/2 tablespoon sugar
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the water, yeast, and sugar. Let sit five minutes, or until bubbly. Add the flour and salt, and mix until a dough forms. Knead gently, adding more flour as needed, to form a soft dough. Cover and let rest 15 minutes. At this point, you can either proceed with baking the dough immediately (directions below), or refrigerate the dough for up to 24 hours. The dough can also be frozen in a plastic bag (leaving room for the dough to expand) for up to six months*.
- To bake the dough, preheat the oven to 500 with a baking stone or overturned cookie sheet inside. Spread the dough out to form a large circle. Top with desired pizza toppings. Place on preheated baking stone or cookie sheet, and bake 8-9 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted and bubbly.
- * To thaw from frozen, place the dough in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight to thaw. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking.
I usually buy bagged dough at the store but ran short tonight. So I pinterest'd pizza dough and clicked your recipe first….and I am soooo glad I did! This is one of the best recipes I've made in a long time. My husband, kids and I all agreed that we will never go back to store bought! Super simple, on hand ingredients and fast. The crust was crisp but still tender and fluffy!
Thank you SO much for this amazing recipe!
I make it all the time, too! I'm glad you liked it.
I'm excited to try this but what if you only have the packets of yeast?
A packet of yeast is 2 1/4 teaspoons, so you could just open the packet and measure out 1 1/2 teaspoons.
I don’t get it, first she said 1/2 Tablespoons and now she’s telling you 1 1/2 teaspoons, so which is it???
There are three teaspoons in a tablespoon, so 1 1/2 teaspoons = 1/2 tablespoon.
I have to agree with Heather!! I just made this crust last night and honestly its the best I've come across on Pinterest! Sometimes with other recipes I've found that they come out to be a super thick crust. This one is perfect! Not too thick. Not too thin. The recipe was enough to make about a 12 inch pizza. I will definitely be saving this to use every time I make pizza! 🙂
I was looking for a pizza recipe for tonight actually! I'm wondering how big of a pizza this dough makes. Would it be enough for two personal pizzas? 🙂
Yes, 2 six-inch personal pizzas. Have fun!
We've made this recipe 3 or 4 times now and it's turned out pretty well every time. The crust is chewy and delicious, a perfect vehicle for lots of flavours. It's so easy and not time consuming at all, although I'm not a novice to yeast dough at all, I love the simplicity. We usually make one, let it rise in a separate bowl then start on another. I will say though that we always need at least 2 cups of flour, I'm not sure why you have such a small measurement in your recipe.
Sorry, but how in the world do you move a topped dough onto a hot pan. It was an absolute mess at our house. Did I miss something?
I only preheat the oven. But assemble the pizza on a cold pizza pan. Turns out yummy.
I was just searching comments for this exact question! Thank you, but sadly I don't see an answer to your question 🙁
I have made this pizza 4 times in the last week since finding the recipe. I built the pizza on a cold sheet pan and put that in the oven when ready to cook – turned out just fine for me.
I usually assemble the pizza on a piece of parchment paper sprinkled with cornmeal, then transfer it (with the parchment) onto the baking stone using a pizza peel or a cutting board.
Really liked the recipe,I think I should try it.thank you
Do you use bread flour or all-purpose flour
Hi Alicia. I am also wondering what kind of flour is being used in your recipe? All purpose white or whole wheat flour? I have read that whole wheat flour is often used for breads and pizza dough. This looks like a great recipe to try, but can you tell us what type of flour you used?
We have used aluminum foil for assembly then we just slide it onto the hot pizza pan! The dough gets a great crust and hasn't stuck even though we don't use flour or cornmeal. It works great and makes for very easy clean up!
Do you use instant or active yeast? Thanks!
I would like to know as well. But I often like to mix whole wheat with all purpose flour…
Maybe try just laying the dough on the hot pan and than add the toppings. That's how I like to do it.
Use parchment paper. I use it to launch my pizza into outdoor pizza oven and it works every time.