Pizza Dough recipe – best ever homemade pizza! Recipe

The RecipeTin Eats’ pizza dough recipe has landed! A straightforward pizza crust that makes an distinctive do-it-yourself pizza – puffy crust with a chewy, flavourful crumb inside. Sufficient construction to choose up, however not skinny and stiff like a cracker.

5 minutes kneaded by hand or 40 seconds flat utilizing a meals processor. Prime with something your coronary heart needs – see our Pizza Sauce and favorite pizza toppings! No yeast? No worries – use my Secret No Yeast Pizza Dough.

That is the RecipeTin Eats’ household pizza dough recipe. It’s a uncommon factor when your complete RTE household agrees on one thing to do with meals. So once I let you know that all of us agree that is the very best pizza crust recipe, which means one thing!

It makes a do-it-yourself pizza crust such as you get out of your favorite wooden fired Italian pizza place. Puffy edges which can be barely crispy on the skin, however chewy and moist like Artisan bread on the within.

The bottom will get crispy sufficient so every slice has simply sufficient construction to choose it up with one hand, relatively than being a sloppy mess. Nevertheless it nonetheless has that slight bend on the tip, so the bottom of the crust will not be dry and stiff like a cracker, nor paper skinny.

See? Prawn pizza proof! (Recipe right here)

1. Make dough & Rise 1 – make the dough, Rise #1 for 1 – 2 hours;

2. Balls & Rise 2 – type 3 balls, then do Rise #2 for 1 hour;

3. Prime & bake – Stretch out to make pizza crust, unfold with sauce, toppings of selection, bake 10 minutes!

Helpful tip: The dough may be made forward as much as 5 days. And it could sit round for hours as soon as the person pizza balls are shaped. So don’t fret about getting the timing precisely proper!

Right here’s what you must make pizza dough:

• Yeast – on the spot / fast rise yeast is what I exploit as a result of it makes the dough rise sooner and eliminates the necessity to dissolve yeast in water. Nevertheless, the recipe consists of instructions for lively dry yeast too (ie odd yeast powder);

• Bread – Whereas plain/all function  flour will work simply superb, the very best flour for pizza dough is bread flour or pizza flour that are excessive protein flours. It makes the crust chewier and creates huge holes similar to you get out of your favorite Italian pizza outlets – see photograph under. I wouldn’t make a particular journey to get bread flour simply to make pizzas. However in case you are menu planning, then search it out!

• Sugar – helps the dough rise and brown the crust;

• Salt – no one likes a bland, flavourless pizza crust!

• Heat water – yeast loves heat so it helps the dough rise sooner;

• Olive oil – required to maintain the crust tender and moist inside when making pizza in dwelling ovens. Conventional Neapolitan-style Italian pizza dough doesn’t have oil, however that’s as a result of pizzas prepare dinner in just some minutes in fiercely sizzling pizza ovens that attain 400°C/750°F. Dwelling ovens will max out at about 275°C/530°F or much less = longer to bake = crust dries out except we use oil.

It. Is. EASY! And so many choices:

• Hand knead – 5 minutes

• Standmixer – 3 minutes

• Meals processor – 40 seconds (sure, actually!)

1. Combine flour, yeast, salt and sugar, then combine in water and oil;

2. It’s going to come collectively right into a tough dough that leaves the bowl fairly clear;

3. Scrape out onto a floured work floor and convey it collectively right into a ball; then

4. Knead for five minutes utilizing your hand or 3 minutes in a stand mixer (see subsequent part for meals processor).

That is what the dough seems like earlier than and after kneading. It doesn’t should be utterly clean like some bread doughs.

After years of hand kneading, I’ve found in latest weeks that it may be made in a meals processor in lower than a minute. Finish result’s precisely the identical!

The trick is to pour the water in step by step whereas the motor is working, then simply blitz for 30 seconds to develop the gluten (as an alternative of 5 minutes of hand kneading). Except you’ve gotten a really giant meals processor, the dough won’t flip right into a neat ball contained in the meals processor – and that’s superb, it’s nonetheless kneaded.

Additionally, the dough pulls away from the sides and blade so the meals processor is straightforward to wash, which makes this technique much more interesting!

After the dough has been kneaded utilizing your technique of selection, it’s time to let it rise.

1. Drizzle the identical bowl with olive oil, then put the dough in;

2. Cowl with cling wrap and rise 1 hour in heat place. As soon as the dough has risen, use instantly or refrigerate as much as 5 days for even higher flavour!

If you happen to refrigerated your dough, take the bowl out of the fridge then instantly proceed with these steps beginning with chilly dough.

1. Scrape dough out of bowl;

2. Form right into a log, knocking out all of the air, and lower into 3 equal items;

3. Tuck the perimeters of the dough beneath, money-bag fashion;

4. This stretches the dough on one facet so you’ve gotten a clean floor;

5. Place on a tray, then cowl with a moist tea towel;

6. Rise for 1 hour in a heat place till nearly doubled in dimension. In case your dough was within the fridge, this may take 3 – 4 hours (as a result of the dough wants to return to room temperature first earlier than it’s going to begin to rise).

After the balls have risen, you may go away them sitting round like that for as much as 5 hours in a cooler room (so that they don’t proceed rising – in the event that they rise approach an excessive amount of eg 3x or extra, it gained’t rise within the oven). Simply make certain to maintain coated with a moist tea towel so that they don’t dry out.

There’s some ways to stretch dough to make the pizza base and so they all work simply superb, simply keep in mind these 2 golden guidelines:

1. Don’t deal with the sides so that you don’t knock the air out = genuine puffy edges

2. Use a lightweight contact – when you flatten the dough to loss of life you’ll find yourself with a dry, tremendous crisp crust. Pizza dough needs to be stretched, pulled and pushed outwards versus flattening down like when rolling out pie crusts.

Don’t stress about forming good bases. Patch tears with additional dough. Wonky and bumpy = hidden as soon as baked. Rustic = genuine!

 I usually use this straightforward stretch-on-counter technique:

1. Use fingers to flatten puffy dough dome and stretch it out barely. I by no means press down or pinch the sides;

2. When you flatten along with your fingers / palm, then begin utilizing your arms to stretch and pull the dough to make it bigger, rotating as you go, till it’s nearly about 25cm / 10″ extensive;

3. Drag onto pizza pan, then proceed to form, pulling proper to the sting of the pan.

Listed below are our Pizza Sauce recipes. We’ve three variations:

1. Cooked down pizza sauce utilizing canned tomato, simmered to prepare dinner out water and thicken, then cooled previous to utilizing.

2. Nearly-instant pizza sauce made utilizing tomato paste. I exploit this one probably the most as a result of there’s a slight tang that cuts by the richness of the toppings, with salt and sugar added for steadiness. Plus, it takes seconds to make!

3. An “in-between” pizza sauce that positive factors freshness from passata, successful of tomato paste for some depth, however with out the trouble of any cooking.

Supreme and different pizzas with salty meat toppings are instance of the kind of pizzas which can be preferrred to make utilizing the Prompt Pizza Sauce as a result of the slight sourness from the tomato paste balances out the sturdy flavoured toppings.

See the RecipeTin Eats Pizza Toppings menu for recipes for our favorite pizzas.

You’ll be able to high pizzas with something your coronary heart needs, however the important thing factor to recollect is that this: LESS IS MORE!

Pizza bases like this will not be constructed for totally loading with toppings. It weighs down the dough, prevents the crust from rising, the centre of the pizza finally ends up soggy and will probably be sloppy if you decide it up.

I’m the largest offender of being grasping with toppings – and I at all times remorse it. So this lecture is de facto for me!

Helpful tip: use freshly shredded cheese relatively than retailer purchased which is lower thicker so it’s heavier, so that you want extra to cowl the pizza which weighs the crust down.

Pizza stone > pizza pan with holes > baking sheet.

I exploit a pizza pan with holes in it 99% of the time for sheer comfort. The holes lets the warmth have direct contact with many of the base which makes it crisper than utilizing a standard baking tray, and it’s much less fussy to make use of than a baking stone.

If you happen to use a baking stone, you must assemble the pizza on a paddle, then slide it onto the preheated stone. (See recipe notes for instructions)

Professional tip: search for pizza pans with additional giant holes. Holes = crispier base!

If you happen to use a knife and fork to eat pizza, I’m afraid we are able to’t be associates…. 😂

Fingers all the way in which. You gained’t have grease working down your elbows as a result of they’re do-it-yourself so we use a fraction of the oil of Dominos and Pizza Hut. Which, to my logic, means we are able to have MORE with LESS GUILT.

The pizza bases may be par-baked then stashed within the freezer for helpful pizza-on-demand! Simply stretch out the pizza bases per this recipe, and bake for simply 2 minutes at 275°C/530°F (all oven sorts), or as excessive as your oven will go if it gained’t go that prime.

The pizza bases might be pale and simply cooked by within the centre which is what you need. Take away from sizzling trays onto cooling racks, then wrap in cling wrap and freeze. (Or refrigerate solely in a single day)

To make use of, thaw (about 2 hours on counter, or half a day in fridge), high, then bake 10 minutes at temp per recipe.

Word: Freezing immediately is vital to preserving the bases contemporary, it’s going to preserve for a number of months and be contemporary as soon as thawed so long as it’s correctly wrapped or higher but, additionally in an hermetic container. If you happen to refrigerate, it’s superb the following day however noticeably drier the day after that.

If you happen to’ve obtained leftovers, the microwave is at all times there for emergencies – although it’s going to imply a comfortable crust. The easiest way is to make use of a coated skillet – this makes the crust crisp once more while additionally reheating the highest. The opposite approach is roofed on a baking tray within the oven.

And naturally, there’s chilly pizza, eaten straight from the fridge. I’m not a chilly pizza gal, however I gained’t decide. As a result of I actually imagine to my very core that nobody ought to let you know how it’s best to or shouldn’t take your pizza. Do as you please! – Johnsat x

Pizza Dough recipe – best ever homemade pizza! Recipe

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Serves: 3 Prep Time: 30 minutes Cooking Time: 30 minutes 30 minutes

Nutrition facts: 116 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 1 voted )

Ingredients

• 600g (4 cups) bread flour or pizza flour (or plain/all purpose) (Note 1)
• 2 tsp (6g) rapid rise or instant yeast (Note 2)
• 2.5 tsp (15g) salt , kosher / cooking salt (Note 3)
• 4 tsp (20g) white sugar
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 330 ml (1 1/3 cups) warm tap water (330g, Note 4)
• 1 tbsp Extra Flour
• 2 tsp Extra Olive Oil
• 130g / 1 1/3 cups mozzarella cheese, freshly grated per pizza, (Note 8)
• 1/4 cup pizza sauce per pizza
• Toppings of choice
• 600g (4 cups) bread flour , or plain/all purpose (Note 1)
• 2 tsp (6g) rapid rise or instant yeast (Note 2)
• 2 tsp (12g) salt , kosher / cooking salt (Note 3)
• 4 tsp (20g) white sugar
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 375 ml (1 1/2 cups) warm tap water (375g, Note 4)
• 2 tsp Extra Olive Oil

Instructions

1. Mix dry: Place flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon.
2. Add wet: Make a well in the centre. Pour in oil and water. Mix to bring together so it comes away from the side of the bowl.
3. Knead 5 minutes: Sprinkle work surface with 1/2 the Extra Flour. Scrape dough out of bowl. Bring together into a ball then knead for 5 minutes until pretty smooth (see video for Before v After, Note 5). Shape dough into a ball.
4. Drizzle large bowl with Extra Olive Oil (can use same bowl).
5. Place dough in, turn over and rub top with oil.
6. Cover with cling wrap, then put in a warm place for 1 – 2 hours until it doubles in size. (Rise #1)
7. After rising, refrigerate bowl with dough for up to 5 days (do not punch down). Flavour gets better with time. (Note 7)
8. Scrape dough out of bowl on work surface lightly dusted with flour. Shape into log, fully deflating dough in the process.
9. Cut into 3 equal portions (330g / 11.6 oz each) – one for each pizza base.
10. For each dough portion, shape into a ball, tuck the sides under, money-bag style, so you have a smooth surface.
11. Place balls, smooth side up, on a large tray – 5cm / 2" from edge of tray, 10cm / 4" from each other.
12. Sprinkle balls with a touch of flour and lightly rub to coat surface (so they don't stick to tea towel). Cover balls with lightly damp tea towel. Alternatively, cover loosely with a sheet of baking paper then seal tray with cling wrap, ensuring the dough balls have plenty of space to rise under the cling wrap.
13. Leave in warm place 1 hour until almost double in size. (If fridge-cold, this will take 3 – 4 hours).
14. Preheat oven to 275°C / 530°F, or as high as it will go. Put shelf in top third of oven.
15. Sprinkle work surface with 1/2 tbsp flour. Place one dough ball on top.
16. Without touching the edges, use finger tips and back of fingers to deflate dough gently and spread out into a 20cm/8" round. Then use your fingers and palms to stretch the dough, working around the circle, until it's almost the size of a 30cm / 12" pizza pan.
17. Drag onto the pizza pan (or paddle if cooking on pizza stone, Note 8). Then finish stretching it to fill the pan. Neaten up the shape so it's as perfectly round and uniform as possible – the shape you have now is the shape it will bake to! Leave 1 cm / 1/3" of the edge untouched as much as possible (for puffy crusts!).
18. Spread with 1/4 cup pizza sauce, 130g / 1 1/3 cups freshly grated mozzarella, then toppings of choice (see Topping recipes here).
19. Bake 10 minutes, rotating at 4 minutes and checking at 8 minutes, until cheese is melted and has some golden spots.
20. Cut into wedges, serve immediately!!
21. Repeat process for remaining balls to make two more pizzas.
22.  Fit food processor with dough blade, if you have one.
23. Place flour, yeast, sugar and salt in large food processor (8 cups/2L+). Pulse twice.
24. With motor on low, pour oil in quickly. Then pour water in slowly over 10 seconds.
25. Continue blitzing for 30 seconds – dough will come together, but won’t be a neat ball (that’s ok).
26. Take dough out and shape into a ball.
27. Follow recipe above for Rise #1, shaping, cooking etc – this dough is exactly the same as the above dough.

Notes

1. Flour – bread flour / pizza flour has higher protein and creates a slightly better chewy crust with some big holes aka Wood fired pizzeria style. But I wouldn’t make a special trip for it – all purpose / plain flour works just fine!
2. Yeast – use yeast labelled “instant” or “rapid rise”. If you can only find normal yeast (can be labelled “active dry yeast”) then dissolve yeast with the sugar in the warm water (no need to let it foam, use all the water). Mix the flour and salt in a bowl, make well. Pour in yeast mixture and oil. Proceed with recipe as written.
Fresh yeast – I have not made this with fresh yeast, but using the standard conversion, you will need 15.5g / 0.55 ounces of fresh yeast. Crumble into warm water with sugar and follow above directions for active dry yeast.
3. Salt – reduce to 1 1/2 tsp if using table salt (finer grains = less volume for same amount of salt)
4. Water temp – if it’s so scorching hot you wouldn’t bathe in it, it will kill the yeast. If it’s a lovely temp you could sit in for hours in a bubble bath, it’s the perfect temp.
5. Pizza dough doesn’t need to be as smooth as other breads. Dough should be soft and a bit sticky – not so sticky it gets stuck all over your hands, but JUST enough flour so it’s barely sticking to your hands. Softer dough = better pizza crust, tough dry dough = dry pizza!
6. Dough rising – time will vary depending on room temperature, humidity. Over 30°C, should rise in 1 hour. 25-27°C = 1.5 – 2 hrs.
If it’s not rising, move to somewhere warmer – will work fine even if it takes 5 hours to rise. Warm place ideas – run empty dryer, turn off then put bowl inside. Or oven at 30°C/86°F (no hotter, will kill yeast). Do not put in direct sunlight.
7. Fridge & flavour development: fridge = slows down yeast rising = time to let enzymes in the yeast to do their work, transforming starch into sugar which creates a more flavourful pizza crust. This dough is terrific cooked immediately once made, but gets even better with time. I usually make dough the day before, the cook the next day.
Note that the dough will likely deflate while stored in the fridge. This is not a problem! Just ensure you take the dough out ~3 hours before you plan to cook. Shape the individual balls while cold, then leave to rise in a warm place.
8. Cheese – always use freshly grated for pizza, not store bought pre-shredded which is chunkier (so you need more to cover = weighs down crust) and coated with anti caking agent (doesn’t melt as well). Just grate with standard box grater.
Mozzarella is the most commonly used. It melts well, gets nice golden spots, and has a fairly neutral flavour so you don’t have overly salty toppings when you add bacon, pepperoni etc.
To up the flavour, add a mix other cheeses with more flavour that melts well, such as Monterey Jack, Cheddar (don’t use too much, it’s greasy), fontina, gruyere, provolone, Swiss cheese.
Buffalo mozzarella is used for Margherita pizza, see recipe here.
Blue Cheese is used for Quattro Formaggio (4 Cheese Pizza) along with provolone, parmesan and mozzarella (and it’s fabulous! Recipe here)
9. Pizza stone – preheat stone in oven. Sprinkle wooden paddle very generously with semolina (or flour or cornmeal/polenta). Slide raw pizza base onto paddle, cover with toppings. Remove hot stone from oven, then slide pizza onto hot stone. Transfer to oven immediately, cook 6 to 7 minutes.
10. DOUGH STORAGE:
Dough in fridge up to 5 days – Plan ahead, do Rise #1 in a large container (or separate dough into 3 smaller containers for Rise #1). After you do Rise #1, remove cling wrap and cover with lid*, and put the puffed up dough in the bowl straight into the fridge with the cling wrap on (ie do not deflate it). It will probably rise a bit more in the fridge in the first 24 hrs, then it might deflate. Either way ok. 
Then remove cold dough from fridge and immediately proceed to “Form small balls, Rise #2″ steps. Will take 3 – 4 hrs for Rise #2 using fridge cold dough, doesn’t matter if it even takes 6 hrs (ie you left to rise, came back and realise it’s not rising, move to warmer place, as I have done!). Also see “Practical Timing” tip below.
* Do not use airtight lid for Rise #1, need some air escape. Cling wrap is best – I know it’s not environmentally friendly, but it is the most effective for Rise #1.
Alternative – After Rise #1, form log, cut into 3 and form balls per recipe. Use one/two now, save the other by putting in fridge or freezer BEFORE doing Rise #2. When ready to use, take out of fridge (or thaw from freezer) and follow recipe for Rise #2. Dough rises a wee bit less which is why I prefer refrigerating straight after Rise #1 (ie pre cutting) but once baked it is barely noticeable (I only notice because I measured during testing!!)
Freezing dough – do Rise #1, shape into log and cut into 3 per recipe. Lightly coat ball with oil (or use oil spray), then freeze ziplock bags for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in fridge, then shape into ball and proceed with Rise #2 – it will take 3 to 4 hours because the dough is starting from fridge cold.
11. Reheating cooked pizza
Emergency – pizza on paper towels, microwave reheat. Soggy base, but does the job!
Stove – pizza in dry skillet over medium high heat, lid on to warm the top (3 – 5 minutes). Crispy base!
Oven – pizza on tray covered loosely with foil. 7 minutes at 180°C/350F. Crispy base!
12. Make ahead pizza bases only
Bake base only 2 minutes at 275°C/530°F (all oven types), or as high as your oven will go if it won’t go that high. Will be pale but just cooked in centre. Cool on cooling rack, then immediately wrap in cling wrap and freeze up to 3 months (even better, put in containers or large ziplock bags as well). To use, thaw, top and bake for 10 minutes at temp per recipe.
Can also refrigerate base overnight (wrap well to avoid drying out), but the day after the bases are a bit dry. Freezing is definitely best to preserve freshness.
HOMEMADE PIZZA TIPS
Forgiving dough – if you use weights listed, dough should be perfect. But if too sticky, just use more flour when kneading. Too dry, sprinkle with water. Takes hours longer to rise? That’s fine too. Rises way too quickly, not ready to cook? No worries, put it somewhere cold (fridge, bathroom) to slow/stop the rise.
Practical Timing – dough rising time can be temperamental depending on humidity, kitchen warmth etc. Best to start earlier in day, and get to Rise #2. Once Rise #2 has been done, the puffed up balls ready for stretching into pizza bases can sit around for up to 5 hours in a COOL room (to stop rising further). Just make sure you keep them covered with a damp tea towel (and dusted with flour so they don’t stick to tea towel) so they don’t dry out. Cling wrap on top would be extra insurance policy.
Uneven base – don’t fret about your base looking uneven or even if you tear a hole in it – just patch it up. Once cooked and the dough puffs up, everything evens out – and anyway, the “rustic” look is in! And with practice, you will get better stretching base out evenly.
Rolling pin not the best – it will knock the air out of the dough, and the crust will be crisper as it won’t rise as well.
Toppings (see here for recipes) – don’t load up too much and don’t use too many “wet” ingredients on the one pizza. Too much toppings = weighs down crust, makes centre soggy.
Pizza sauce – same as toppings, use less (I use 1/4 cup). 1/2 cup that some recipes call for is way too much – will make your pizza soggy.
FRESHLY GRATED mozzarella cheese – is best for max surface area coverage and best melt. Store bought grated cheese is bigger pieces, so you need more to get the same coverage = thicker layer of cheese = weighs down the crust.
Cook immediately once you stretch the pizza base, transfer to pizza pan, top & cook immediately. Don’t leave it sitting around even for 5 minutes, sweats underneath = soggy base.
Nutrition per slice of pizza (assuming pizza cut into 8), base only ie excludes pizza sauce and toppings.

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Sarah Miller

Hi, I’m Sarah Millar!
I’m a food blogger who loves creating quick and easy recipes that bring big flavor without the fuss. Cooking doesn’t have to be complicated — and I’m here to share simple, fast food ideas that anyone can make at home. When I’m not in the kitchen, you’ll usually find me tasting new dishes, exploring cafés, or coming up with fresh food hacks to make everyday meals more fun.

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