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! 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!