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
Crust was great, though I made it too thin in the middle. Thanks for the recipe. I need more practice!! Red sauce, sautéed mushrooms, pepperoni, onions and cheese! Yummm!
That’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful feedback!
Hi Natasha! I’ve ran into an issue with the dough. I use fresh, good quality Canadian all purpose flour and I measured exactly right. BUT I noticed that once I kneaded my dough, it looked way drier than yours and once it cooled for 5 hours in the fridge it seemed kind of tough and was a bit difficult to fold 8 times. Should I measure in grams next time or just use less flour??
Hi Zori, this post on measuring should help with that. The most likely culprit is too much flour. When measuring flour, be sure to use dry ingredient measuring cups (that can be leveled at the top) and spoon the flour into the measuring cup and scrape off the top. If you scoop the measuring cup into the flour bin, you can get up to 25% too much flour which would affect how the dough turns out.
Can i use a cookie sheet instead of a pizza stone?
Hi Jan, we prefer the stone but that may work!
Hi Natasha, I love your site, thank you. Could I ask when you refer to all purpose flour, what do you mean? In the UK we have self raising flour which has had baking powder added at source, and then we have plain flour for pastries etc. which should I use please for the pizza and donuts. Thank you so much xx
Hi Carol, when I refer to all-purpose flour, I am referring to plain flour which as no leavening in it.
Thank you Natasha. It is a great pleasure that you send me, this Pizza Recipe. I appreciate this much. Good luck and god bless.
Always,
Minerva
You’re welcome!
This looks delicious. Prepared the dough and waiting to use it. The recipe says 1/2 tablespoon … is this correct? I thought it was too much so used 1/2 teaspoon instead. Thank you.
Hi Hedy, the recipe is correct – it should be 1/2 tsp of active dry yeast and 1/2 Tbsp (or 1 1/2 tsp of sea salt).
I love this recipe! It’s perfect and awesome.
Hai Natasha,
I am a fan of yours from Indonesia, i’ve been making your tres leches cake for my daughter’s birthday & for my own birthday & my family loves it…i’m always excited everytime your new videos is out..
I tried to make this pizza dough recipe yesterday, but my dough is so sticky & it doesn’t want to hold its shape..i follow the metric measurement, the only different is i’m using instant yeast & the temperature at my place is 31°C at the moment..can you please tell me what could possibly wrong with my dough, coz i really really love to see the look of your pizza..
Hi Puci, thank you for sharing your great review and happy birthday to your daughter! It sounds like somehow the liquid and dry ingredient proportions were off. If you click on the “metric” button you can see the metric measurements which is 295.74 ml warm water and 420 grams of all-purpose flour. If those weights and measures were the same, it could be potentially due to using a different kind of flour and since various flours have different gluten and protein consistency, it may just need a little more flour until it looks like the texture when I am kneading the dough (and it was very sticky). The room temperature wouldn’t harm the dough but help it rise. Also, when I first turned the dough out onto the floured surface, I had to dust it with flour or it would have been very sticky to the touch and difficult to handle.
Looks uh-mazing!!!
Yes, it is indeed amazing, I hope you can try this soon!
Hi. Can you use whole wheat pastry flour instead?
Hi Cat, without testing that, I’m not sure what the substitution would be or how it would affect the rise and texture of the dough.
Do you always measure your flour as opposed to weighing it? I’m a big fan of KA flour but can’t for the life of me get a cup of it to weigh 4.25 oz as they suggest. I’m usually closer to the 5oz that CI uses for the weight of a cup of AP flour, but
I always yield to the person whose recipe it is. I would really like to know how much you are using for the weight of a cup of flour since I prefer to weigh ingredients when baking.
thanks
Bill
Hi Bill, if you click on “Metric” in the recipe card, you will see the weights in grams for comparison. For this recipe, we used 420 grams.
Can you make it with whole wheat pastry flour?
Hello Cee, I haven’t tried that yet to advise. Please let us know how it goes if you decide to do it as an experiment.
Well we tried the dough yesterday and this morning it’s somewhat of a disaster. Just sllightly risen over what it was when we put it in the fridge last night. First time in over 70 years of cooking with mama we’ve had yeast gone bad. We proofed the yeast this morning to see where the problem arose and sure enough the yeast wasn’t viable. We’ll try the recipe again tonight and get back to you. Grampa Joe
Hi, it happens unfortunately but I’m glad you figured it out! It helps to keep the yeast in a dark airtight container in the refrigerator. I have had a large bag last for several years that way. Also, did the dough rise and double in the first rise as it should have? It normally won’t rise much in the refrigerator overnight during the cold ferment.
I used pizza flour on Friday when I made pizza. Have ever used pizza flour?
Hi Diane, we always stick with all-purpose flour, but let me know if you experiment and if you needed any changes in the quantity. I’m sure that would help someone else who might have the same question. Thank you!
Natasha, will it bake the same way using a regular metal pizza pan?
We prefer it on the stone but that should work also Julie!
Can I make this on a perforated metal pizza pan if I don’t have a stone?
We prefer it on the stone but that should work also Mary Beth.
Hi Natasha – Is it really OK to put salt when proofing the yeast? Most recipes say not to…
Thanks!
Hi Violet, it is absolutely ok. If you feel more comfortable, you can add the salt to the flour but 5 minutes later, it’s all combined together. It works great with the process we are using.
PS – I am trying it anyways, as I totally trust your recipes and have always had good results!!
The best of the best delicious pizza. Great. hits on your YouTube channel.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I tried the pizza dough recipe, it was awesome. I just used pre-made sauce, it was good too. After reading all the great reviews on your sauces, I’ll surely have to try them too! Thanks Natasha for the recipe!
You’re welcome! I’m happy you enjoyed that.
Yay! Gonna try this one.
I got into pizza making about 3 years ago.
Bought it all:
Stone, peel, rocker blades to cut pizza, round cutting board where a special wood is used for food safety (only use it for pizza to cut and easy to place on table for grabbing that yummy pizza, just like the one you have in the background of the video except lighter color), dough splitters or whatever they are called.
I tried a recipe for sauce and it is awesome, but gonna try your red sauce and the white sauce.
Thanks for the share Natasha!
Virtual Hugs for you, ((((((Natasha))))))
Mo
You’re welcome Mo! I hope you really love this recipe! Thank you for sharing that with us!
Hi Natasha,
Firstly I just want to say I have tried many of your recipes and they are always fantastic. Can’t wait to try this one! Just a quick question, I know pizza is best cooked in a super hot oven, but my oven only reaches 446f. Do I just cook the pizza for longer or will it not work out as well because I can’t get the temperature to 550? Thanks
Hi Melissa, you can give it a go at that temperature. Hotter is better. It will require more time at a lower temp. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
Hi Natasha,
The pizza stone in your oven rested on a metal rack with handles. Did your stone come with the rack or is it sold separately? The stone you listed on Amazon did not have the rack.
I LOVE your recipes and look forward to your posts. Will make dough today and pizza tomorrow!
Hi Cheryl, the stone that we use is one that came with our oven and I don’t think it is available for purchase separately from the oven, but a rack is not necessary and we typically just let the stone cool down inside the oven as the oven cools.