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
Hi Natasha!, can I use baking soda instead of yeast to make it faster?
Hi Yelena, unfortunately, that would not work well in this recipe.
Hey Natasha, thanks for the recipe! My fiancé and I made it last night and it turned out much better than we expected as first time pizza makers.
My question for you is regarding the pizza peel. Mine was brand new and after I washed it it started “shedding”, I’m not sure what else to call it – little bamboo pieces started coming off. Do you have any knowledge about this? Is it like the pizza stone and has special care instructions that we’re not included with mine?
Hi Rachel, it’s hard to say without knowing the brand or what the care instructions are. I would recommend looking up the manufacturer online to see if they have any care instructions online.
Natashas, you are by far my favorite. I share all your recipes and everyone loves them. Last night I tried you stuff cabbage which I have never made or even eaten before. It was a hit, I even shared them with my neighbors. Thank you for sharing all your wonderful recipes.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for the wonderful review!
Hello Natasha, please keep sending these videos, you are my favorite blogger thank you sooo much for this recipe it is so delicious THANKS, Zoe
Hi Zoe, okay will surely do. Thanks for your awesome feedback!
This is the BEST pizza that I ever ate!!! Thank you so much for it!!!
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
can this dough be frozen
Hi Annette, Thanks for your wonderful feedback. 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.
Natasha,
I’ve made this recipe many times and it is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Thank you so much for sharing this. I now want to try making it with gluten-free flour and I was wondering if you or anyone else in this community has tried to substitute for gluten-free and if so what are the right ratios? Thank you!
Hi Natalie, I have not tested this with gluten-free flour. I looked through the comments and didn’t see anyone commenting on that. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
I will!
OK. So I tried the exact same recipe with Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 gluten free flour. Results, so so…
1) The dough does not rise like it does with regular flour. I left it on the kitchen counter for 7 hours and then put it in the fridge for 24 hours. The ball did not change in size from what I initially created.
2) The dough is chunky and I rolled it out right onto the cooking tray because it would fall apart if I tried to lift it and move it. As a result the pizza turned out pretty flat.
3) It took 2 mins less in the oven at 550.
4) Tastes alright. Obviously the original recipe tastes wayyy better but if you really can’t have gluten try it out. It’s like flat bread.
I have always been intimidated when it comes to any kind of dough, but this was so fun and easy! I love that you can get creative with toppings and sauces. My favorite is Barbecue chicken pizza. I also made my own pizza seasoning that I sprinkled on top of the dough before adding the barbecue sauce. So delicious!
Wow, that sounds awesome! If you’re ready to share your recipe with us, please do so.
Can you freeze the dough after it’s been sitting in the fridge for a week? When should you use it by? How long would it take to defrost? Or can it stay in the fridge for longer than a week?
Hi KG, you are welcome to freeze this dough, you can let it ferment in the fridge after it thaws, but I would recommend using in within a couple of days for the best results. I haven’t tried storing it for more than two days so I can’t say a week will work.
Hi if my oven can’t reach 550 degrees F am I able to set it to 450 degrees F? 450 is the max for my oven
Hi Bob, I would just set it to the highest it goes and bake a little longer. Watch the visual cues for crust and topping doneness. I hope you love the pizza!
Hi Natasha!
I did the double portion and use Kitchen aid mixer. Low speed/dough attachment.
And the dough wasn’t as yours. It was harder and not sticky.
Is the mixer not work for this recipe, or I did something wrong?
Hi Anna, make sure to measure the flour the same way. A tough dough sounds like too much flour. I also always recommend following the same process and tools whenever possible before making adjustments.
pls how many small individual pizzas will this dough make? and can it be frozen?
Hi Annah, this recipe makes 2, 10-12 inch crusts. 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
Thank you very much for the great tutorial! Like to know what is the ideal temperature in the refrigerator when the dough is being fermented overnight? is it not suppose to rise much after 24 hours?
Hi NK, it won’t rise much in a cold environment during this slow fermenting period. Our refrigerator is between 35-39˚F.
Amazing!! Served it today for dinner and we absolutely loved it! Yes, it takes 24 hours but it’s worth it! – the dough is sooo good. I used a very hot iron pan so the heat will concentrate and it worked amazing.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us Agus!
I just made the dough. It is very sticky and after the first rise I had a hard time releasing it from the bowl. Trying to fold it was also difficult as it needed a lot of flour to stop it from sticking. Yours on the video definitely looked much smoother as you started folding. I realized on your video that you stated the weight of the flour but its not in your recipe ingredients. Looking forward to using the dough but next time I will weigh the flour.
Hi Halinka, we mentioned the weight for reference, we do have the metric conversion option on the towards the bottom of the post on the printable recipe card. I hope that helps.
Well, it was a disappointment in the end. I did not get the bubbles or the rise on the edges in the crust like yours. Like the other poster mine also rose in the fridge. Interestingly enough the more it sat on the counter the better the second piece turned out but still it fell flat for me and nothing like your video.
Hi Halina, because there is not a lot of yeast in this recipe, you want to make sure to let it ferment the full amount of time. Some room temperatures are cooler than others – it may just have needed slightly longer. Lastly, make sure you allow the dough to come to room temperature before forming and baking it. Also, did you make any changes in the recipe or type of yeast used?
Hello! If I am using a cast iron skillet instead of a pizza stone, should I preheat the cast iron I’m the oven?
Hi Amber, yes, you will want to preheat that.
Thanks to you Natasha we have pizza night every week now. They are so good that I no longer buy any pizza, I make them myself. I don’t have pizza stone, I just put a parchment paper on my oven rack, put my dough on it, and then slide my dough with a parchment paper on my oven tray with help of oven rack.
Sounds awesome! I’m so glad to hear that you and your family enjoy this pizza dough recipe.
Can we use whole wheat flour in stead of all purpose flour.
I haven’t tried wheat flour but I think it would make the dough tougher to just use whole wheat.
When i tried using whole wheat flour it was more difficult because whole wheat flour requires more liquid, so i suggest scaling down the amount of flour or doing part whole wheat and part ap flour or use bread flour. Hope this helps
We love this pizza dough recipe and make it often. We bake it in a cast iron skillet at 500 for 15 minutes. DELICIOUS
Yum! I bet the crust is fantastic on a cast-iron skillet! Thank you for sharing that with us!
Hello Natashas
What is the difference between bread yeast and active yeast
I also saw some for the bread, are these as good?
Thank’s
Hi, I haven’t worked with “bread yeast” but stick with active dry yeast. Here is some information on the different types of yeast that may be helpful to you.