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!

The Best homemade pizza dough baked with cheese topping

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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.

Soft and airy center of an overnight pizza dough crust

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.

Ingredients for making pizza dough with water, flour, yeast, salt and honey

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.

Baked Pizza sliced on a pizza peel

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:

Overnight Pizza Dough Recipe

4.97 from 721 votes
Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe baked with cheese topping
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.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 day
Total Time: 1 day 10 minutes

Ingredients 

Servings: 8 people (makes 2, 10-12 inch crusts)

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

*Use a high-quality flour. We used organic all-purpose flour, but “00” Flour or Bread flour also works well. You can dust the pizza peel with whichever flour you use to make your pizza or use Semolina flour.

Nutrition Per Serving

193kcal Calories41g Carbs5g Protein1g Fat1g Saturated Fat439mg Sodium56mg Potassium1g Fiber1g Sugar8mg Calcium2mg Iron
Nutrition Facts
Overnight Pizza Dough Recipe
Amount per Serving
Calories
193
% Daily Value*
Fat
 
1
g
2
%
Saturated Fat
 
1
g
6
%
Sodium
 
439
mg
19
%
Potassium
 
56
mg
2
%
Carbohydrates
 
41
g
14
%
Fiber
 
1
g
4
%
Sugar
 
1
g
1
%
Protein
 
5
g
10
%
Calcium
 
8
mg
1
%
Iron
 
2
mg
11
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American, Italian
Keyword: best pizza dough, overnight pizza dough, pizza dough
Skill Level: Easy/Medium
Cost to Make: $
Calories: 193
Natasha's Kitchen Cookbook
4.97 from 721 votes (355 ratings without comment)

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Recipe Rating




Comments

  • Denise
    February 3, 2025

    Natasha..I’m making the pizza dough now. How many grams of flour do you use? My dough was initially very dry and did not look like the one you made in your video. I added some more water water. Suggestions, please? Thank you!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      February 3, 2025

      Hi Denise, if you click “metric” in the recipe card, you will see the gram measurements. It’s likely the proportions of wet to dry ingredients were off.

      Reply

      • Denise
        February 4, 2025

        Thanks! I will try next time.

        Also, have you tried the pizza recipe with gluten free 00 or bread flour? My pizzas are not cooked. Probably the gluten free flour. Thanks. I want to get this right!

        Reply

        • Natasha's Kitchen
          February 4, 2025

          Hi Denise, I hope you love my pizza recipe! I have not tried this with gluten free to advise. I really don’t have much experience with GF flour. Please let us know how it turns out if you try.

          Reply

  • Jeff
    February 1, 2025

    I love this pizza dough! I have found that many of the recipes from Natasha are great.
    I think that letting this dough develop overnight makes it special compared to all the “quick” dough recipes. It’s probably the best pizza recipe I have found.

    Reply

    • NatashasKitchen.com
      February 1, 2025

      Hi Jeff! That’s quite the compliment, thank you so much!

      Reply

  • Lynn
    February 1, 2025

    Hi I am going to try your recipe today and make the pizza tomorrow. Do you think this will yield 2 pizzas? We always make one the kids will like and one more “adult” for us.

    Reply

    • NatashasKitchen.com
      February 1, 2025

      Hi Lynn! This recipe makes 2, 10-12 inch crusts.

      Reply

  • Deb N
    January 27, 2025

    i love this recipe. I fogot to fold it before putting in the fridge this time, but it still turned out great. Thank you so much for sharing.

    Reply

  • donna m
    January 27, 2025

    Natasha never steers me wrong. I got a new pizza oven for Christmas and was looking for the best dough recipe out there. Came to Natasha’s Kitchen because I always have good results using her recipes. Well, she’s still batting 1000! I would’ve thought my pizza came from a professional pizzeria. Great flavor, chewy and crispy. I’m going to make another pie tonight trying the white sauce. THANK YOU, Natasha!

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      January 27, 2025

      You’re so welcome, Donna! A new pizza oven sounds exciting! I hope you make really good use of it. We love ours!

      Reply

  • Claudia
    January 25, 2025

    Amazing recipe. The pizza comes out perfect 👌.

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      January 25, 2025

      I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Claudia!

      Reply

      • Ally
        January 27, 2025

        Hi Natasha! I love your recipes and I am looking forward to trying this one! I was wondering, can I use instant yeast instead of active? I have SAF instant yeast I use for my yeast rolls, and it makes the dough rise quicker with much more fluff.

        Reply

        • Natasha's Kitchen
          January 28, 2025

          I have not personally tried using instant yeast but I think you can substitute instant yeast for active dry yeast using the same amount by just mixing it with the dry ingredients. Let us know how it goes!

          Reply

  • Dianna
    January 17, 2025

    This is the first Natasha’s Kitchen recipe I tried. I make it routinely, I follow the directions exactly and it turns out perfect every time. The best pizza ever. Thank you Natasha!

    Reply

  • Kay
    January 9, 2025

    For those of us who prefer to measure flour by weight, can you add the grams equivalent to 3 1/3 cups? thank you.

    Reply

    • NatashasKitchen.com
      January 9, 2025

      Hi Kay! Click on the “metric” button in the recipe card for the conversions.

      Reply

      • Kate
        January 22, 2025

        Can you confirm whether it is 420g for flour? If you measure out 3 1/3 cups, I get it weighing 590g.

        Reply

        • NatashasKitchen.com
          January 23, 2025

          Hi Kate! Yes, 420g is correct. 1 cup of flour weighs 120g. Likely what happened is that your flour is packed down into your measuring cup causing it to weigh more. I have a tutorial on How to Measure Ingredients (Wet and Dry)here that will be helpful.

          Reply

  • Melinda
    January 8, 2025

    Hi, we’ve used your overnight pizza dough recipe many times and love it! I just watched the video for your “quick” pizza dough and I am asking why you use parchment paper for this dough but not the overnight dough? Look forward to hearing back.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      January 9, 2025

      Hi Melinda, the quick and easy pizza dough recipe makes a larger pizza which is easier to transfer with parchment paper. If you are a total pro at transferring and have a large enough pizza peel, you could totally do it without the parchment paper.

      Reply

  • Karyn
    January 7, 2025

    I’m looking for a good pizza to make. Can I use gluten free flour? If so, do I use the same amount?

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      January 7, 2025

      Hi Karyn, I hope you love my pizza recipe! I have not tried this with gluten free to advise. I really don’t have much experience with GF flour. Please let us know how it turns out if you try.

      Reply

  • Debbie
    December 30, 2024

    Love this dough recipe!! Can I freeze one of the rounds?

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      December 30, 2024

      Hi Debbie, you can find my freezing instructions under the. “Can I Freeze Pizza Dough?” section of the recipe post.

      Reply

  • Manny
    December 19, 2024

    Could I use instant yeast the same amount 1/2tsp as that is what I have at home?

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      December 19, 2024

      I have not personally tried using instant yeast but I think you can substitute instant yeast for active dry yeast using the same amount by just mixing it with the dry ingredients. Let us know how it goes!

      Reply

  • Cynthia
    December 12, 2024

    Used triple 0 flour as always, but the fermentation is what made all the difference.

    Reply

  • Caroline
    December 10, 2024

    This is a great recipe. I have used 6 grain flour before, but adding a little less than called for, and it turns out perfectly! Well worth the wait.

    Reply

  • Marina
    December 7, 2024

    Its the second time I use this recipe for a pizza dough and it turns out as a hard ball.. :/ I’ve double checked what i did wrong, everything seems to follow the recipe. Looks like the recipe flour cups need to be adjusted or a note added that strict measuring required in grams! 😀

    Reply

    • Natasha
      December 9, 2024

      Hi Marina, it’s important to measure flour correctly and it does sound like too much flour is used. Here is the post on how to measure correctly that I linked in the post above. You can do this without a scale. It’s important because pushing the measuring cup into the flour bin can result in 25% too much flour.

      Reply

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