Pizza Dough – The Best Pizza Crust (VIDEO)
This is hands down the best pizza dough! It makes a New York-style pizza crust that is a thin crust pizza in the center with beautifully puffed 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!
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Why We Love This 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 crust also makes throwing a pizza party stress-free and everyone will be super impressed by your pizza making skills.
The #1 Secret to the Best Pizza Dough:
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. This process makes the dough much easier to work with and forms the coveted texture, rise, and bubbles at the edges.
The #2 Secret to the Perfect Crust:
Do not use too much yeast! Many of the quick pizza doughs out there use way too much yeast which makes the crust doughy and makes 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.
The Takeaway: use less yeast and let the dough rest.
How to Make Pizza Dough Video Tutorial:
Watch the pizza dough video tutorial once and you will be a pro in no time. Here is a quick overview of the process for easy reference:
- Mix together water, salt and honey. Sprinkle with yeast and set aside 5 min then stir.
- Pour water mixture over your flour and stir to combine with a spatula then knead by hand 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 that book fold, and turning the dough between each fold, makes the gluten threads stronger and traps carbon dioxide created by the yeast to help form those beautiful bubbles in the dough.
How to Form and Bake Pizza Crust:
- Remove 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, dust lightly with flour.
- Gently press dough down in the center with 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 sauce or red sauce then 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 Making 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 on in the oven
- Pizza Cutter – the easiest way to slice a pizza
- Instant Read Thermometer – to check water temperature
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.
Note: We haven’t tried making a gluten-free version or any other flour, so let me know if you experiment.
What to Serve with Pizza:
Once you have your pizza making skills down, you will want to throw a pizza party. Pizza pairs really well with these easy sides.
- Avocado Ranch – because everyone loves a great dipping sauce
- Caesar Salad – a fresh green salad with light homemade dressing
- Avocado Corn Salad – so vibrant and satisfying
- Cobb Salad – beautiful and delicious
- Instant Pot Corn on the Cob – the juiciest way to cook corn
Pizza Dough Recipe - The Best Pizza Crust!
This is hands down the best pizza dough! It makes a New York-style pizza crust that is a thin crust pizza in the center with beautifully puffed edges. You'll love chewing on the crust - it's crisp, chewy and so satisfying.
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:
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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.
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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.
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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:
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Recipe Notes
*Use a high-quality flour. We used organic all-purpose flour.
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
This is the best pizza crust I’ve ever had! Who needs take-out when you can make pizza like this so inexpensive. The white pizza sauce is awesome too! Thank you!
I’m happy that you loved this pizza dough! You can now make your own pizza at home anytime you crave it. Thank you for sharing your good experience with us, Lisa.
Can you use 00 flour instead
Does the amount by weight change
Hi Michael, I haven’t tested that so I can’t give you exact details on that substitution with 00 flour.
Wonderful video! This dough is so easy and takes no time at all. Had fun making dough with my daughter and even though we didn’t leave it in the refrigerator overnight, we did leave it in for a couple of hours. Then we formed the pizza and we all put our own toppings on it. Our pizza turned out DELICIOUS… thin and crusty, just the way we like it. We have moved and I could not find our stone so baked it on a cookie sheet with parchment. I can’t wait to try the crust on our stone. Will try your sauces on our next pizza night.
Fantastic! That makes me happy too, thank you for sharing your experience making this recipe, Cindy. We appreciate your great feedback!
Natasha,
I am going to try your pizza recipe after failing at three other recipes and carefully measuring . I notice you said you use organic all purpose flour, can you tell me the name brand, I am desperate to succeed. Thank you
Hi Susan, I buy that flour at Costco and it is produced by Central Milling Company.
Hi! I would love to do this but I only have INSTANT DRY YEAST on hand! What would the measurement be? Thank you ☺️
Hi there, I have only tested this with regular yeast and not instant so I can’t speak to the process changes if you are substituting that ingredient without testing it through myself. My guess would be to keep the process the same.
Yes. I use instant yeast all the time. Keep an eye on it as it may rise faster than you think especially if it’s in a warm area.
Absolutely PERFECT! My husband says this is the best pizza dough I’ve ever made, and I’ve tried a lot! Now I’m excited about trying your white sauce! Thanks for sharing all the tips. This is a definite keeper 🙂
That’s so wonderful! Thanks to you both for your great comments and review of this recipe. I appreciate you sharing your experience with us!
I love the recipe and will let you know how it turns out when I bake the pizza tomorrow.
Your videos are so popular and I wonder if you wouldn’t mind suggesting something else aside from plastic wrap to cover the rising dough, a damp tea towel for example. It might help reduce single use plastic in the homes of some of your viewers. According to many sources it is really harmful for the environment. Thanks :-))
I hope you love this recipe, Elliot! Thank you so much for sharing that suggestion!
Best pizza ever! Made it for the first time and used white sauce! My husband and I have never had pizza this good! I’ve been making pizza for almost 40 years and nothing compares to this one!
That is so heartwarming. Thank you for sharing that with us, Lynn. I hope that you and your husband will love every recipe that you try from my site!
Your recipe calls for 3 1/3 cups of flour. I did just that. The video says 420 gr of flour. I didn’t watch the video. So, 3 1/3 cups of flour makes dough impossible to work with. You may want to specify in recipe properly how much flour to use.
Hi Margaret, we used 3 1/3 cup flour for this recipe which by the metric conversion translates to 420 grams of flour. Did you let it rise per the recipe? I’m more than happy to troubleshoot.
Can you use this as crusty bread as well?
Hi Megah, I haven’t tried making it that way yet but I imagine that would work. Please share with us how it goes if you try it!
Hi Natasha,
I’m dying to make this pizza, but before I do, I wanted to know,
Can I freeze the pizza once it is assembeld? (Without the sauce of course ..) Will the dough freeze well?
Hello Avital, yes you can freeze the dough. Freezing will work fine and this is the process that worked for me. To Freeze Pizza Dough: 1. Let the dough do it’s cold ferment overnight before freezing. 2. Lightly coat the dough with oil and transfer to a resealable freezer-safe zip bag and squeeze out the excess air then freeze up to 3 months. 3. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator then transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rest on the counter and come to room temperature 1 hour before shaping.
Easy, taste and texture are amazing. I make this on Sunday and have it in the fridge ready to go for a quick week day meal that feels like a weekend effort. Thx
Isn’t it so great! I’m happy you both enjoyed this recipe!
Thanks for such a wonderful pizza recipe. Made it today a second time. First time I made it it came out perfect. This time everything seemed to be going perfect. Thin center and raised edges and good bubbles but it was so tough that I couldn’t bite it off and chew it. Baked them at 500 both times. It was tough chewy. What do you think went wrong? Thanks. Any help would be appreciated.
Hi Elyse, I wonder if maybe too much flour was used. Make sure to measure flour correctly and also use the same kind of flour.
Hello Natasha! I’ve tried other recipes from you and they are amazing so when I wanted to make pizza I went here! My dough did not get sticky though. It is wrapped up now and I’m wondering before I keep going, Should I start over? Any idea what went wrong? Followed measurements so I’m not sure.
Hi Laura, if it was too firm, it’s probably due to using too much flour. Check out our post on how we measure ingredients for baking. Also, be sure to use the same type of flour as some flours have varying protein and gluten content which would require different amounts.
Best pizza dough ever.
Pizza dough was great but I have a quick question. Can you use your mixer with the dough hook to initially mix the dough or is it better to do it by hand?
Hi Kevin, I found it’s safer to do it by hand since there’s less risk of over-mixing. I hope you totally love this dough!
Hello i have a question at what temp and how long would you recommend baking the pizza if my oven doesn’t even go up to 500?
Hi Salinas, you will have to crank up the oven to the highest temperature and then just keep an eye on the pizza and gauge doneness based on visual cues. I would still work with that if that is the temperature that was available. I hope you love the pizza recipe!
Hi Natasha, can I add pepperoni to the pizza? If so, do I need to cook it longer.
Love all your recipes. Happy New Year.
Hi Monica, of course, you can!
I followed instructions exactly but my dough was way to sticky and then when I put in fridge overnight it raised so much that it busted through cling film!
I did carry on with it and managed to make a very rustic shape base, that tasted nice but there were no real air bubbles.
Hi, I highly recommend watching the video tutorial to see where things started to look different. If the timings were correct without any changes in ingredients, it sounds like there was too much yeast added since it should not rise much during the cold fermentation process.
Could this dough be made in a bread machine?
Hi Stephanie, I haven’t tested this in a bread machine to advise. If you happen to experiment, please let me know how you like that.
I made it in my bread machine and it turned out great. I didn’t refrigerate it either cause I was making it for dinner and didn’t realize the dough had to be chilled overnight. It still turned out the best pizza I’ve ever made. Highly recommend this recipe!
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review
Does cold weather affect the proofing process
Hi, yes that would affect it – warmer temperatures would make it proof faster and vice versa.
Hi! Would 00 flour be considered high quality flour?
Is the pizza crust supposed to takes like bread?
Hi Gaby, it will be bread-like and taste like bread if too much yeast is used. I wouldn’t say this recipe tastes like bread. Maybe slightly like a really amazing French Baguette.
Hi Natasha what kind of pizza stone do you use. Can I make this without a pizza stone? I made it in my cast iron skillet and it was good but not as good as yours looks 🙂
Hi Marika, we prefer the pizza stone, it can be found linked to the recipe, and you can find it HERE. Others used a pizza pan and had reported some great results.
Hi Natasha! Thank you so much for this delicious pizza dough recipe. This is now my go to recipe. I’m just wondering, can I prebaked this dough? If so, how do you suggest I do that? I’m planning on giving a few pizza dough to my sis in law so she can have a ready stock whenever she craves for pizza.
Thank you!
Hi Cris, I haven’t tested it that way, but it could work. Let me know if you experiment.
Hi Natasha
I was wondering if this recipe would still be as delicious if I wanted to make the crust like a deep dish? My grandma wants deep dish pizza for her bday and I’m nervous to try another recipe since this one is so good.
Hi Candice, I haven’t tried this as a deep-dish pizza so I’m not sure how it would work out, but if you experiment, please let me know how it goes.
We have used this recipe many times and love the crust. It has great texture and tastes delicious.
I have noticed almost every time I do it that while the dough is in the cold ferment stage it often rises/expands so much that it is popping the lids off of my containers. When watching your video, it seems like yours does not rise that much in fridge. Do you think I should try cutting the yeast back to 1/4 tsp?
I did re-watch the video and noticed that my folding techniques was probably a little more aggressive, not sure if that would cause the problem or not.
Thanks for a great recipe!
Hi Nick, it could also be due to leaving it at room temperature for longer which will cause it to rise more, or maybe your room temperature is warmer where the dough is rising. You could try cutting back the yeast – it wouldn’t hurt the recipe and many chefs use 1/4 tsp, it just normally takes longer for the fermentation process, but it sounds like you won’t have that issue.
Love this recipe! Was wondering if I could freeze some after the first proof before cooking? Looking to prep some so I always have some on hand.
Have you tried this?
Thanks!
Hi Lisa, Yes you can freeze the dough. Freezing will work fine and this is the process that worked for me. To Freeze Pizza Dough: 1. Let the dough do it’s cold ferment overnight before freezing. 2. Lightly coat the dough with oil and transfer to a resealable freezer-safe zip bag and squeeze out the excess air then freeze up to 3 months. 3. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator then transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rest on the counter and come to room temperature 1 hour before shaping.
My oven only goes to 500 degrees, can you please tell me whats the best way to bake the pizza (how long)? Thanks!
HI Marlina, my guess is that it might be more like 10-12 minutes, but it’s best to rely on visual cues. I hope you love the pizza dough recipe.
This pizza dough is Ah-making !!! Perfect results every time. Edges turn out crusty and airy inside. Since I’m a big fan of a sourdough bread, I’ve decided to try experimenting with a sourdough starter. I’ve reduced yeast to about 1/4 of tsp (or less) and added about 50-60 grams of mature sourdough started (levin), followed through rest of the recipe and I got unbelievably delicious pizza. Next time I’ll try completely omitting the yeast and increasing amount of sourdough starter. Hoping for good results.
Ah-mazing !!!! 😊
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Yana! I’m so glad that’s working out with the starter!
❤️ all your cooking videos and so easy to follow and thanks for sharing too. Have a blessed 2021 and more cooking videos too😊
Thank you so much and I wish you a blessed and amazing new year also!
Hello
I just made this dough and have a question for you. The recipe tells me to use 1/2 tsp of active dry yeast but in one of your reviews you tell a writer that it needs the overnight fermentation to come together better because of the high amount of yeast. Is this right because I only used a 1/2 tsp in my recipe. Is it going to work or do I start over. If I do have to start over what is the amount of yeast to be used.
Thank you
Hi Jason, it has a low amount of yeast compared to most quick pizza doughs so the cold fermentation in the refrigerator overnight is important. For best results, I recommend to follow the recipe without making substitutions or changes.
Ahhh!!! I messed up! Family tradition to make calzones for dinner on New Years Eve. I found your recipe yesterday, but only read through the 4-5 hours to rise and so didn’t start it until about 30 minutes ago. Now I’ve gotten through that step and see that I should have done this yesterday. Anyway to salvage this so that it could make decent calzones in 4-5 hours?!?
Hi Andy, the best way would be to use store-bought pizza dough which should speed up the process.
My oven only goes to 525 degrees. Is there a way to adapt this recipe to bake the dough at 525 degrees?
Hi Lynn, that will work! It may take slightly longer to bake, but I do recommend watching it closely.
What if you are short on time ?
Hi Kerry, it can be done in slightly less time, but the results will be better with the full time.
My oven only goes to 500. 😟 Can I still make this dough?
Hi Jenny, yes that will still work, you will just need to bake slightly longer.
Hi, I will be trying this recipe today. Needed to ask
– Does the pizza stone/cast iron pan goes in the center of the oven.
Gas oven or electric oven are better for baking this pizza.
Thank you
Hi Ritu, yes we bake in the center of the oven and our oven is an electric oven.
This crust SAVED our Christmas dinner! Recovering from shoulder surgery and can’t make our traditional dinner – family knows I love pizza so we did a pizza bar. This crust is AMAZING! And amazingly easy to make! New Christmas tradition has been started. ❤️
So perfect! I’m glad you and your family enjoyed your pizza!
Love the dough it took me a bit to beable to slid it off the peel….can the dough be frozen?
Trudy
Hello Trudy, I’m happy that you liked it. Yes you can freeze the dough. Freezing will work fine. To Freeze Pizza Dough: 1. Let the dough do it’s cold ferment overnight before freezing. 2. Lightly coat the dough with oil and transfer to a resealable freezer-safe zip bag and squeeze out the excess air then freeze up to 3 months. 3. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator then transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rest on the counter and come to room temperature 1 hour before shaping.
This is just the best pizza dough everything else pales in comparison. I really struggled getting it on and off the stone and a friend suggested using parchment paper. I put it on parchment paper on the peel and then transfer the whole thing into the oven on the pizza stone. After 5 minutes I remove the paper and it is effortless. Love love love this pizza and I am not the biggest pizza fan
That is awesome, Janine! I’m glad that you enjoyed the process of making this pizza dough. Thanks for sharing that with us!
Natasha Natasha!! love this pizza dough!! it’s just like the pizzeria, it’s amazing, never thought I would find a pizza dough recipe that is just so professional, I just made some for the second time last night, it is so easy, but yet seems like it would be a lot of work, it’s ten thumbs up from me!! I am almost certain you can, but asking anyway about freezing the dough, what are the directions for it? I would imagine you have to cover in plastic wrap, and store in a freezer bag, could you confirm, thank you!!
Hello Cindy, I’m glad you liked this recipe. Yes, you can freeze the dough. Freezing will work fine. To Freeze Pizza Dough: 1. Let the dough do it’s cold ferment overnight before freezing. 2. Lightly coat the dough with oil and transfer to a resealable freezer-safe zip bag and squeeze out the excess air then freeze up to 3 months. 3. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator then transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rest on the counter, and come to room temperature 1 hour before shaping.
I think I’ve just found my all-time pizza recipe! It’s so easy to make, and has such a thin inside, and a beautifully puffed up crust! I recommend using the white sauce, and mozzarella cheese, as it’s such a good combo! Lovely recipe!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!
Hands down the best pizza crust I have ever made. Having it again tonight. It’s a keeper. Followed the recipe exactly. Can’t wait to try your other recipes. Thank you!
That’s so great! I’m so glad you found a favorite on our blog!
We consider ourselves pizza aficionados having ate pizza every Friday for the last 25 years. For the last two years we have been buying pizza every week at a cost of $35. We have tried various pizza dough recipes over the years, but they have always failed so we revert to buying pizza. To top it off I have become gluten sensitive (not celiac) so I have been buying and trying gluten free recipes. Last night we tried your recipe in two separate batches. One with spelt flour and one with regular flour. I thought I would try and see how I would react to the spelt flour.
The spelt didn’t rise as much or create as much bubbles as the regular, but it was still very good. I might try a little more yeast next time. Perhaps I over handled it and squeezed the bubbles out. We never cooked at 550 F before so when we opened the oven a cloud of smoke poured out. All the oil had cooked out of our pizza stone. We put both pizzas in at the same time. Regular flour in the middle on the stone, spelt on the bottom rack on an aluminum pan with holes. My wife and I were watching like little kids because you could see the pizza cook right after we put it in the oven. The spelt crust is brown to begin with so it is difficult to see how much it is browning. It began to rise immediately. We were tempted to pull them at 6 minutes, but left them in until 8. Mine could have been cooked a little more but both were excellent. Next time we might do the full 10 minutes and move them a little bit. I was so envious because my wife’s turned out perfectly! Both were excellent and so far I have had NO reaction. We made with your red sauce and ham and pineapple. Next week we will try your white sauce (BTW hard to find in grocery store) with our mediterranean recipe. White sauce, sliced grape tomatoes, black and green olives, red onion, artichoke hearts and chopped spinach. Top it off with a mixture of mozzarella and feta cheese. The two day recipe makes it very quick to do on Friday night as most of the work is done. I will buy a pizza peel for next week. Thank you!
Hi Glenn! Thank you so much for sharing your review and feedback! I’m so glad this worked out! I look forward to hearing what toppings are your favorite on this pizza!
Hi Natasha. I baked my first pizza using your recipe yesterday. The dough was delicious. I did have an issue with the top of my pizza burning before the dough was completely cooked. I was using the pizza stone and had the oven at 550. The pizza was placed in the lower half of the oven. What could I be doing wrong? Thanks!
Hi Helena, I haven’t had that experience but it could be either the airflow in the oven or the calibration.
Although I have tried this recipe twice already, I am having a hard time getting my pizza crust to be thin in the center. It ends up being quite thick and dense both in the centre and edges (although still tastes good!). I am certain I am following the steps correctly, however there are technical concerns. Since I don’t have a pizza stone and worry about using a high temp on my oven, I baked it at 420 for 20 mins (5 mins prebaked the crust) on a dark sheet pan. I am wondering if anyone knows if it would be possible to achieve Natasha’s pizza using a dark sheet pan and lower temps (450 max)? Am I simply not flattening the centre of the dough enough when I make the crust? Any help would be appreciated as I try to figure this out! On a side note, I made the pizza with Natasha’s white sauce and everyone loved the sauce!
Hi Jan, make sure to let the dough rest at room temperature as directed which will make it much easier to stretch the dough and achieve that thin center before baking. If you let it rise and proof adequately and then bring it back to room temperature, the dough will be much easier to form and get that classic crust shape.
Thank you for this simple and great recipe! The crust was wonderful and surpassed any I’ve had locally.
Did I read that the dough can be frozen? If so, at what stage of the recipe can I put it in the freezer?
Hello Diane, thanks for your fantastic feedback. Yes, you can freeze the dough. Freezing will work fine. To Freeze Pizza Dough: 1. Let the dough do it’s cold ferment overnight before freezing. 2. Lightly coat the dough with oil and transfer to a resealable freezer-safe zip bag and squeeze out the excess air then freeze up to 3 months. 3. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator then transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rest on the counter, and come to room temperature 1 hour before shaping.
I just got done making mine and put it in the fridge so we can have it tomorrow.
My first try was too wet so I threw it away and this one was so incredibly sticky and frustrating (I almost cried haha) but I let it rise and tried to maneuver and fold it how your video said.
I don’t know what I did wrong or if it’s supposed to be that sticky but I’m praying it turns out ok.
Hi Brooke, I recommend taking a look at our post on measuring. I’m wondering if the flour was not measured properly?
Have made this pizza dough three times this week we love it
Wow, looks like you just found your favorite pizza dough recipe!
Hi Natasha, Just want to double check is the recipe 1/2 tbsp of salt or 1/2 tsp? Thanks!
Hi Hazel, it is 1/2 Tbsp fine sea salt.
Super,super, super, super, super etc
My oven made it to 475 and l baked for 10mins. Thank you many blessings!!
You’re welcome, Hellen! I’m happy you enjoyed this!
Foolproof recipe, made this like a dozen times and perfect each time.
Hi Keerti, That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
Hi Natasha,
I have tried other pizza dough recipe that did not come out good. OMG, I found your recipe and what a great recipe; my pizza was a big hit, came out perfect & delicious. Also, I made it with your white pizza sauce recipe; great overall. It’s now my best favorite for homemade pizza. Thank you very much!
You’re welcome, Ann! I’m so glad you enjoyed that!
First time I dare to make pizza; we love this pizza! Very easy and delicious. Thank you for the recipe.
You’re most welcome, Susie. I hope this becomes your favorite pizza dough recipe.
Hi
Can pizza be frozen with all toppings?
Hi Nadine, yes it can be frozen. Place the pizza on a baking sheet and freeze until solid, for about 3 hours. Wrap the pizza in plastic wrap, and then place it in a freezer Ziploc bag (squeeze out the extra air).
Hi Natasha,
I am a devoted fan of many of your recipes so delicious and well taught.
One thing about my pizza stone, it at that high temp smokes and my fire alarm goes off. Ha!
Suggestions?
Hi Elizabeth, you might google how to clean a pizza stone – sometimes if there is food debris or oil on there when you preheat the stone, it can get smoky.
I’ve made this recipe and my family LOVED it. We live in NYC and this is pretty close to it! My mom was like we’re not ordering again lolol. My only thing is why don’t you add oil to the dough? My mom said that it’s not crunchy enough bc of the lack of fats in the dough and I was wondering if you know how much I should add.
Hi Naeela, we think this is a perfect balance but, if you happen to test this out with oil, I would love to know how you like that.
Hi Natasha, my daughter is diabetic and I need to count her carbs each meal for insulin, the nutritional facts state 41 grams. Is that per piece? 6 slices per pizza? Thanks! Can’t wait to try this tonight.
Hi Tamara, that would be per serving. This recipe makes 2, 10-12 inch crusts that serve 8 people between the two.
I don’t have a pizza peel or a pizza pan. I have only a cookie sheet. What can I do?
Hi Lynn, the cookie sheet would work, I would preheat the cookie sheet.
How do you transfer the pizza so easily to the oven? I made it tonight…simply ruined the pizza because I did not transfer it well at ALL. So sad because what was salvageable tasted good!
Hi Cassie, the right tools will help you do that and practice of course. I have this portion in the recipe Tools for Making Pizza. I hope that helps!
I have 00flour on hand. Can I use this for the crust?
Hi Kate, I haven’t tested that with 00 flour to advise. If you happen to experiment please let me know how you like that.
Hi Kate, I’ve made the dough using 00 flour, much better results than all purpose flour. Stretches so much easier too by just using your hands.
I’ll stick to 00! You won’t be disappointed.
can you use this dough to make calzones?
Hi Marge, yes, that will work. You can also use my Calzones Recipe here.
I can’t wait to try this! Do I she. To wait the full 24hours? Was hoping to make for my family tonight! TY!
Hi Marti, this dough really does need the overnight cold fermentation process to rise properly since it doesn’t have a ton of yeast in it. This is what differentiates it from a quick dough, but it’s well worth the wait.
Yay! I can’t wait we will have them tomorrow! A Friday night treat! I love all of your recipes! You are so talented! Thank you for sharing them with us!
My pleasure. I hope this recipe becomes your favorite!
Jumping the wagon here and wondering if I can just let it set for 13 hours instead of 18?
Hi, it can be done, but the results will be better with the full time.
Hi Natasha,
I am wondering if I can skip splitting the dough into 2 balls and proofing it in one ball, so that I can make one larger pizza in a rectangle baking sheet pan?
Hi Shanna, that should work to make 1 larger pizza.
This was amazing! First time I made it I followed the recipe totally. Second time, I swapped out 1 cup of the all purpose with sprouted whole-wheat flour. I expected it to need more water but it didn’t. It was just as crispy on the edges and chewy in the centre. I got so many compliments, with everyone asking for seconds. Where was this recipe all my life!!!
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review, Fatima!
Excellent! My new go to pizza dough. Please tell me if. This dough may be frozen after the refrigerator rise?
Hi Karen, yes you can freeze the dough. Freezing will work fine. To Freeze Pizza Dough: 1. Let the dough do it’s cold ferment overnight before freezing. 2. Lightly coat the dough with oil and transfer to a resealable freezer-safe zip bag and squeeze out the excess air then freeze up to 3 months. 3. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator then transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rest on the counter and come to room temperature 1 hour before shaping.
Can I use regular all purpose flour? Also, do you have a thin crust pizza dough that is crispy? My husband does not like a lot of bread, and it has to be crispy. He is a very picky person.
Hi Lesa, yes this one has a good crispy texture at the edge and is also chewy and all-around great. I hope you are both very impressed.
I was wondering. Can i freeze the other pizza dough for later. And what is the pest way?
Hi Steve, yes you can freeze the dough but I haven’t tried freezing the entire pizza. Freezing will work fine. To Freeze Pizza Dough: 1. Let the dough do it’s cold ferment overnight before freezing. 2. Lightly coat the dough with oil and transfer to a resealable freezer-safe zip bag and squeeze out the excess air then freeze up to 3 months. 3. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator then transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rest on the counter and come to room temperature 1 hour before shaping.
Hi Natasha! Amazing recipe! It came out so good. One question though, I divided the dough as you said and cooked one, then left the other in the fridge for a few days. It continued to proof. Is this bad? What should I do differently to prevent it from over proofing, pushing off the lid of the container, and drying out in certain spots due to exposure to the air in the fridge? Thanks in advance! 😊🧡
Hi Kristen, it can continue to proof very slowly in the refrigerator, but should not rise too much unless too much yeast was used. I keep the dough covered without opening the lid to ensure there are no dry spots. Also, make sure to oil the bowl. You can even turn the dough in the oiled boil to get it coated on all sides which can help a little.
Okay thank you!
Hi Natasha,
We absolutely love everything you make! My 12 year old and I have made lots of your recipes and all are winners in our house. We’ve made this pizza dough recipe a few times and its delicious. We want to get a little fancy and make calzones. Do you think we can use this dough recipe to make our calzones? 😃
Hi Jacqueline, yes, that will work. You can also use my Calzones Recipe here.
Great!! Thanks you Natasha!
The very best pizza dough I have yet to use! This will be my go to from now on.
First, I did follow recipe exactly except, I let the dough rise for 2 hours on top of my heated stove to allow the dough to rise quickly and then kneaded each roll per recipe. I used A pizza stone for one pizza and a cast iron skillet for the other, baked stone on top rack and cast iron on bottom at 450 20 minutes. Pulled both out and added cast iron to top rack for 5 minutes. My husband and 15 year old son absolutely LOVED this pizza dough.
Again, this will be my go to pizza dough recipe for now on.
Fantastic! I’m glad you enjoyed this pizza dough – this is also one of our favorites at home. We always make pizza at home everysince we came up with this recipe!
Hi Natasha, I was wondering if you can freeze your pizza dough and if so at what point would you place them in the freezer? Thanks so much!!This recipe is super easy and wonderdful!!!!
Hi Nichole, yes you can freeze the dough. Freezing will work fine. To Freeze Pizza Dough: 1. Let the dough do it’s cold ferment overnight before freezing. 2. Lightly coat the dough with oil and transfer to a resealable freezer-safe zip bag and squeeze out the excess air then freeze up to 3 months. 3. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator then transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rest on the counter and come to room temperature 1 hour before shaping.
We have a honey allergy. Is there a substitution?
Hi, Both honey and sugar work well; it feeds the yeast. I would use sugar in its place.
Again I tried and it is not sticky at all and still seems like too much flour. Help
Hi Susan, make sure to use the same kind of flour (all-purpose). Also, when you measure, make sure to spoon the flour into the measuring cup and then scrape off the top. if you push the measuring cup into the container, you can get 25% too much flour.
This dough is great! The video definitely helps. I probably would have failed without it. I’m usually too impatient for good pizza dough but then I hate the results of quick pizza dough. This recipe was easy. It just requires patience. Makes awesome breadsticks too! I shaped them and let them rest for a few minutes. Then brushed them with olive oil and sprinkled with a bit of garlic powder and parmesan cheese. Yum!
Thank you so much for sharing that awesome feedback with me, Melinda! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe!
I did 2 batches and both were not sticky at all. I used correct measurements for all. I’m so confused. What did I do wrong?
3.3 cups flour
1 1/4 cups of water
Hi Susan, I recommend watching our post on measuring dry ingredients just in case. Quick tip – make sure you are not scooping the flour straight into the measuring cup as it will give you 25% more flour than needed.
By far the best pizza dough this side of Italy🤗. We found it was not bitter like others for some reason and it was amazing that it grew so much with half the yeast. We did have one issue. The centre of the pizza was very soggy and not cooked whilst closer to the edge it was perfect. I’m thinking that the dough in the centre was too thin and not substantial enough to hold the liquids from the ingredients. Any tips on how to make a more uniform pizza.
Hi Orysia, that is possible! I do recommend an even bottom layer and not making it too thin. I also recommend reading through our tips and tricks and other reader comments.
The dough is soft and yummy the dough is like pizzahut pizza but I didn’t love the alferdo sauce but the dough was so nice
I’m glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Made this pizza with the red sauce she posted, mozzarella, and Romano cheese and HOLY COW! It’s phenomenal, inexpensive, and so easy to make. I don’t think I’ve ever had a pizza this good before, including the $30 ones from specialty pizza shops. This will be a regular dinner in our house for sure now and I can’t wait to try it with the white sauce.
Thank you for sharing that wonderful review with me Kris! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Oh my gosh, I left it out on the counter overnight! It was out for 13 hours. Do I have to toss it now?? Gahhh, I can’t believe I did that!
Hi Mindy, that is totally fine. I would continue with the recipe and just refrigerate it now.
Thank natasha for helping me😄😄😄
You’re welcome!
Okay natasha how can I stretch the dough in the pizza pan and if I stretch the in the pizza pan it might kill the bubbles on the pizza
Hi Malak, I highly recommend watching the video to see our process for gently stretching the dough without disturbing the bubbles.
Hi natasha I am going to use a pizza pan not pizza stone can you tell me how to stretch it in a pizza pan because I am worried that the bubbles might be killed in the pizza so any advice
Hi Malak. a pizza pan will still work great! Others used a pizza pan and had reported some great results. I would follow the same steps!
Hi natasha how can I stretch the pizza in a pizza pan not pizza stone because I am worried that I can kill the bubbles in the pizza any advice
Hi Malak, that should work too. Others used a pizza pan and had reported some great results.
Hi natasha I have a question when we are using instant yeast do we but it in the flour or in the water another question do we but the yeast in the fridge or in a warm place thanks natasha
Hi Malak, I have only tested this with regular yeast and not instant so I can’t speak to the process changes if you are substituting that ingredient without testing it through myself. My guess would be to keep the process the same.
I made the dough by following the directions perfectly, put in the fridge covered and today I’ve noticed they haven’t risen at all. Any tips?
Hello Jessie, sorry to hear that didn’t work. I have never experienced this before so I’m not sure what could have caused that. It could be the kind of flour you’re using. You may try to knead in additional flour until smooth and silky to the touch and dough no longer sticks to your hand. Let rest and rise in a warm wet environment. Repeat if needed. You may then let the dough rest overnight before shaping and baking.