This is hands down the best pizza dough! It makes a New York-style pizza with a thin crust in the center and beautifully puffed on the edges. You will love this crust – it’s crisp, chewy and so satisfying. Make this and you will never want a store-bought crust again. And, you’ll be known for your pizza!
Unlike our Quick and Easy Pizza Dough (which is great if you’re in a hurry), this is an Overnight pizza dough. You can only get this kind of pizzeria-quality crust by letting it rest in the refrigerator and slowly rise overnight. It’s also easier than you think. Watch the video tutorial, and you’ll be a pro in no time!
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The Best Pizza Dough
This is a make-ahead pizza dough recipe that just gets better with time and it keeps really well refrigerated for at least a week. Here’s more good news: our classic red pizza sauce and creamy white pizza sauce also keep really well in the fridge so you can fire up a pizza whenever the craving strikes. An overnight pizza dough also makes throwing a pizza party stress-free and everyone will be super impressed by your pizza-making skills. P.S. This overnight pizza dough is also great for homemade Stromboli or even Calzones (i.e. pizza pockets).
Pizza Dough Video Tutorial
Watch the pizza dough video tutorial once and you will be a pro in no time.
The Secret to the Best Pizza Crust
Since most pizza dough recipes have the same ingredients: flour, salt, water, yeast – it’s the process that makes all the difference. This pizza dough seriously tastes like it came out of a high-end pizzeria and in fact, most New York pizza doughs are fermented for at least 24 hours.
The pizza bosses of the world know the secret to an incredible dough is to let it rest and give it time to rise in the slow/ cold fermentation step. This process makes the dough much easier to work with and forms the coveted texture, rise, and bubbles at the edges.
What is the Best Flour for Pizza Dough?
You don’t need any fancy flours to develop a gorgeous crust. We used organic all-purpose flour for making pizza. Bread flour will work equally well if that is what you have on hand and it will give you a slightly chewier crust. You can substitute bread flour for all-purpose flour in equal parts.
If you want to make a more Neopolitan-style pizza, a “00” Flour is a great choice as well.
You can dust the pizza peel with the flour you are using to make the dough, or dust with semolina flour if you have it on hand. It’s what the pros use for easier transfer from the pizza peel to the oven.
Pro Tip:
Do not use too much yeast! Most ‘quick’ pizza doughs use way too much yeast which makes the crust doughy and causes the center of the pizza rise while baking. If you use too much yeast, you will never achieve that thin crisp crust in the center.
How to Make Overnight Pizza Dough
- Mix together water, salt and honey. Sprinkle with yeast and set aside 5 min then stir.
- Pour the water mixture over your flour and stir to combine with a spatula, then knead by hand for 2 minutes. Cover and let rise 4-5 hours at room temperature.
- Transfer dough onto a floured surface and divide in half. Fold each piece of dough 8 times (rotating book fold) and form a ball. Transfer to an oiled bowl, cover, and refrigerate overnight or up to 7 days. Your dough is done.
Why Fold the Pizza Dough?
Folding the dough balls 8 times with the ‘book fold’ and turning the dough between each fold strengthens the gluten threads and traps carbon dioxide created by the yeast, which helps form those beautiful bubbles in the dough.
How to Form and Bake Pizza Crust
- Remove the dough from the fridge 1 hour before using then preheat the oven with a pizza stone in the center to 550˚F.
- When the oven is preheated, place room-temperature dough onto a floured surface and dust lightly with flour.
- Gently press the dough down in the center with your fingertips, then place the dough over the back of your knuckles with both hands together and roll over your knuckles, rotating around the dough as you go, keeping a 1″ thicker border. Place 10-12″ diameter crust onto a floured pizza peel.
- Add white pizza sauce or red pizza sauce, cheese, and toppings. Give the pizza a shake over your pizza peel to make sure it’s not sticking then immediately slide it from your pizza peel onto the preheated pizza stone and bake at 550˚F for 8-10 minutes.
Tools for Homemade Pizza
The right tools will make the pizza dough making the process even easier. It will also make you look like a pizza ninja to transfer your pizza from a pizza peel onto your hot pizza stone.
- Pizza Peels (a set of 2 makes the process easier).
- Flexible Food Scraper – to scrape the dough out of bowls and cut the dough in half
- Round Pizza Stone – to bake your pizza in the oven
- Pizza Cutter – the easiest way to slice a pizza
- Instant Read Thermometer – to check water temperature
Pro Tip:
If you are looking for fresh pizza topping inspiration, you’ll love the Tuscan Pizza we shared in Natasha’s Kitchen Cookbook (it uses this same overnight pizza dough recipe)!
Can I Freeze Pizza Dough?
Yes! It’s very easy to freeze this dough, and once it’s thawed, it tastes just as good as freshly made. See our tutorial for How to Freeze Pizza Dough.
What to Serve with Pizza
Once you have mastered your pizza-making skills, you will want to throw a pizza party. Once you throw a pizza party, you’ll need sides to go with it. These are all great options:
- Avocado Ranch or Homemade Ranch Dressing
- Caesar Salad – a fresh and crisp green salad
- Avocado Corn Salad – so vibrant and satisfying
- Cobb Salad – beautiful and delicious
- Garden Salad – A restaurant-style side salad
- Instant Pot Corn on the Cob – the juiciest way to cook corn
Overnight Pizza Dough Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups warm water, 105-110˚F
- 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
- 1 tsp honey
- 1/2 Tbsp fine sea salt
- 3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour, (measured correctly) plus more to dust*
Instructions
How to Make Pizza Dough:
- In a small bowl, stir together water, honey, and salt then sprinkle the top with 1/2 tsp yeast and let sit 5 minutes then stir.
- Measure 3 1/3 cups flour in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the center. Pour yeast mixture into the center then stir with a firm spatula until the dough comes together. Knead by hand 2 minutes (dough will be sticky). Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature 4-5 hours or until doubled in size.
- Transfer dough to a floured surface, turn to coat lightly in flour so it isn’t sticky then divide in half. Fold each piece of dough in half 8 times, gently pulling the sides over the center like closing a book, turning the dough each time and repeating for 8 folds. Form a ball in your hands and transfer each piece of dough to a lightly oiled bowl seam-side-down, cover and refrigerate overnight (18 hours) or up to 1 week.
How to Form a Pizza Crust:
- PREP: Remove the dough 1 hour before using to let it relax and come to room temperature. Before forming the pizza crust, fully preheat your oven so pizza can be baked right away. Place a pizza stone or inverted baking sheet onto the center rack of the oven and preheat to 550˚F. Also, lightly flour a pizza peel and prep toppings.
- When dough is about room temperature and oven is preheated, transfer 1 piece of dough to a floured surface, turning to lightly coat in flour. Pat the center of the dough gently with fingertips. DO NOT pop any bubbles present.
- Lift the dough over both knuckles and roll your knuckles under the center of the dough, working outward as you rotate the dough along your knuckles and leaving a thicker crust at the edge. Continue working the dough until a 10-12” pizza has formed. It will shrink slightly so make it a little bigger than you think. Place the dough down on a lightly floured pizza peel. Give the pizza peel a little shake to make sure the pizza slides over it and is not sticking.
- Spread on desired pizza sauce and toppings. Give the pizza another jolt to make sure it slides on the pizza peel (you don’t want it to stick while transferring it into the oven). Slide pizza onto the preheated pizza stone and bake at 550˚F for 8-10 minutes or until crust is golden brown and some of the larger bubbles on the crust are lightly scorched to ensure a crisp crust.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
“I love your recipes, they’re truly amazing! Sending warm greetings from Kosovo
Thank you so much, Linda!
Finally a recipe I’m totally happy with! Works great! This one is a keeper.
With over 2000 great reviews this recipe certainly doesn’t need anymore. Yet I absolutely want to add mine to the list of five star reviews! I’ve never been really happy with the pizza crust recipes I have tried. Until I tried this one with the long cold fermentation. And wow, what a difference! I did use 00 flour in the recipe. Because I figured if I’m going to spend 24 hrs on a recipe I wanted to use the best ingredients. I don’t know if the flour made any difference or not but this recipe was absolutely perfect! It’s the texture I have been searching for! Fluffy, chewy, perfect! I was making some pizzas for an appetizer for a big family dinner Sunday and everyone loved this! One adult son said “Mom, this pizza is perfect! It’s the best crust I’ve ever had! Like better than any restaurant!” I’ve tried a lot of different pizza crust recipes that are made in a few hours but there’s just no comparison to this one. This is THE ONE you have been looking for! It’s certainly the recipe I’ve been looking for! I was a little worried because I had to take it out of the fridge at 17 hours instead of 18 hours. But I put it in a warm kitchen for an hour to come to room temp. And it just worked out beautifully. I won’t ever make any other pizza dough recipe than this one!! Next time I’ll try with regular AP flour as the King Arthur 2 lbs bag cost $10! And I’ll probably make a double batch to freeze a couple dough balls. Thanks Natasha!
Thank you so much for your wonderful words and feedback. It means a lot to me!
Can I split this recipe into 4 small dough balls for personal sized pizzas?
Hi Tiffany! Yes, you can. I hope you love the recipe!
Hi Natasha, this sounds like a great recipe! Would this also work if i added half of whole wheat flour and half all purpose flour? What adjustments would you recommend. Or would this not work at all?
Hi there! Yes, you can. You may need to adjust the hydration level, whole wheat absorbs more water.
Is it possible to use this dough recipe and make a calzone or would the air bubbles be an issue.
Thank you
Yes, this can be used for calzones too! I hope you love it!
Wondering if I can double the dough recipe and if yes would the rising time be the same?
Hello Diane! Yes, you can double the recipe. The rising time should be the same but please make sure that your bowl is big enough to accomodate the doubled recipe.
What do you do when stretching the dough to form the crust and it keeps breaking in the middle? Please advise.
Hi Jane! Did you wait the full 18hrs in the refrigerator? Also, make sure to let it sit out for at least a hour, cold dough tears easily.
Gently work from the center out and avoid over-thinning. Lastly, if you used too much flour and your dough isn’t hydrated enough, it will tear more easily.
Hi Natasha. Thank you for your message. Yes, I left in refrigerator for 2 days and it rose well. But still had problems with it tearing in middle. So in grams I used 400 grams of flour. That’s 3 1/3 cups. Is that accurate? Thank you again.😊
Hi Jane. It’s about 420g. You can click on the metric button at the top of the recipe card for the conversions. It sounds like it could be due to uneven thickness causing it to tear in the middle from being too thin. Sorry I can’t be more help, it’s hard to say without being there.
This is an amazing recipe. Perfect every time! How many personal size pizzas will this make? Should I divide the dough into four pieces for personal sizes?
Hi Susan! Yes, you can divide it into 4 to get personal sized pizza (about 5-6”).
Excellent pizza dough!!! I’ve made it several times and get comments from my friends and family that it is the very best pizza dough they ever had.
What if my oven doesn’t go to 550? I usually use my ninja foodi grill with this recipe but I’m planning on making several for a party so need to do more than 1 at a time. Thanks
Hi Amy! At lower temperatures, it would just take longer to bake.
When is the salt added, or does it even need to be in the recipe?
We add it in Step 1: “Step 1: Mix together water, salt and honey. Sprinkle with yeast and set aside 5 min then stir.” I hope that helps.
I just made another pizza with the dough that had been in the fridge for 5 days,,,, it was a test for me…. OMG!!! the crust was perfect!!! I’m over the moon with this recipe!!! Thank you so much!!!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Sue!
Can you leave it out to double for longer than 5 hours?
Hi there! You can leave pizza dough out to rise for longer than 5 hours just keep an eye on it and ensure it doesn’t rise too much.
Can you use without the fridge overnight part?
Hello! If you are in a hurry, you can use my Quick and Easy Pizza Dough recipe instead.
Just left a comment but forgot to leave star rating! This is my first time leaving a review but you my dear are totally worth it! Thank you again!!!