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,
what would you suggest if i do not have a pizza stone?
I’m very excited to try 🙂
thank you!
Hi Mary, this will work great on a pan. A few readers mentioned they made it on a pan with excellent results.
Hey Natasha can I use bread flour instead of AP flour?
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.
My oven only goes up to about 480 – will this be enough? Many thanks!
Hi Kimberly! That will work. It may take a little longer.
I enjoy your down to earth recipes. The videos are direct, simple to follow and entertaining. Keep up the good work.
Thank you for that wonderful compliment! I’m so glad you’re enjoying our videos!
This recipe is excellent I’ve made it a few times now using your white sauce recipe. The problem I keep having even after making sure I’ve used plenty of flour on pizza peel and shaking it around is by the time I go to slide it off onto pizza stone I have problems with it sticking. Any suggestions?
Hi Mark, I like to give the pizza peel a little shake just before it goes into the oven to make sure the pizza slides over it and is not sticking. Also, make sure not to use too much sauce and overfill with toppings and do not assemble the pizza until it is ready to be baked. I found that if it sits for too long with the weight of the toppings and sauce, it is more likely to stick.
No reason to look any further for the perfect pizza recipe! (including your homemade sauces, both are excellent)Thank you Natasha for the easy to follow instructions and for all of the great tips. For those of you that love your pizza loaded like I do, but don’t want to risk your pizza sticking to the peel or wind up with a soggy bottom crust I do 3 things: make 3 smaller pizzas instead of 2, bake your pizza with only the meat of your choice and sliced olives and lastly, broil your moist topping (onions, mushrooms, bell peppers) to top your pizza with when it comes out of the oven.
Thank you so much for sharing those wonderful tips with us, Beverly!
I don’t think my yeast fermented well. After about 6 hours my dough has risen but I don’t think it’s sufficient. Would you recommend starting again or leaving it longer. It’s also not very warm in the room it is.
I tried the finger test. It did not puff up again and stayed out.
Hi Liyana, it could take longer if the room temperature is cool and that is ok, just let it rest until doubled in size before refrigerating.
Thanks I let it rest in a warmer room little longer. Didn’t change and the dent I made earlier stayed as is, so I refrigerated it. Will test it today, if it doesn’t work will restart with a new yeast.
That sounds like a great plan – I wonder if the yeast might be dead or expired?
I am curious if the 1/2tsp is enough. Most recipes call for 2-3tsps.
Hi Amity, this isn’t a quick dough. The quick doughs call for more but they do compromise in quality and texture.
Have you ever made breadsticks with your pizza dough? I have heard of that done.
Hi Nola, I haven’t tested that but here is what one of our readers wrote: “I’ve tried many recipes over the years, this is hands down the best! I was a little skeptical st only 1/2 tsp of yeast but worked great. Also made breadsticks with the white sauce and cheese, and used the homemade pizza sauce for a dip, very good” I hope that helps.
Good lord this was absolutely delicious! Your white and red sauce were just perfect too! Crust came out crisp and bubbly! My fam said it was the best they ever had. Do you suggest to refrigerate overnight before baking? Or can I bake the same day it’s made?
I’m happy that you and your family loved it! Thanks for your good feedback, Angela. I recommend refrigerating overnight (18 hours) or up to 1 week.
Thank you!!!! I’m loving all your recipes!!
I have a question. I froze the dough and when I took it out I found it very sticky. I tried to flour my hands which worked for 20 seconds until it was worked in and then it got very sticky again. Is this because the dough was frozen? I used your instructions from the comments to freeze it.
Hi Janine, did you make sure to thaw fully overnight in the refrigerator and then bring it back to room temperature for an hour before forming? You will need to dust the dough and hands the same way with a little flour to work it into a round.
What is the purpose of the honey? Is it to feed the yeast instead of sugar? Could pure maple syrup be a substitute?
Thank you, looks so delicious!
Not sure about the fist motion! Hope I can do that!
God bless!
Hi Susan, that’s exactly right. It feeds the yeast. I haven’t tried maple syrup, but sugar works well.
Natasha,
So, it’s Friday night & I decide to make homemade pizza. I find your video and decide to make it while I watch you. All is well til I come to the part of letting it rise 4-5 hrs! Then I was further surprised to find the dough was to go in the fridge overnight! I needed it now.
So, I made the dough; stuck it in the oven a few min to warm; took it out and added some flour & kneaded it. I cut it into 2 pieces & started the pizza parlor dough formation. It stretched out too much in the middle and there were holes in the dough. Added the 2nd half and more flour. Couldn’t do the pizza parlor thing so I rolled it out. Warmed my stone — but I didn’t have a pizza paddle. Put cornmeal on a flat cookie sheet. And, miraculously it “slid” onto the stone with 99% of the toppings intact! It smelled wonderful as it baked. I honestly thought I was in a pizzeria. About 15 min later I took it out. The bottom was browned perfectly. The crust was crisp and done perfectly.
The pizza was delicious! I will definitely try it again when I have the time to actually follow your recipe!
I’m so happy it worked out, Barb! I can’t wait for you to try it after resting it full time. It’s our favorite pizza recipe!
Its really easy to make and im only 10
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
So supper plz let me know thin pizza crust recipe
Great pizza dough, mine kept rising while in the fridge and didn’t really look like the ones you took out of the fridge, but followed through and it turned out great. Wondering if the individual balls can be frozen?
Hi Steve, 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 its 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 THE BEST CRUST IN THE WORLD and makes pizza perfect every single time! We don’t even order take out anymore! It takes a little extra planning with the 24 hours it suggests in the fridge- but it’s worth the wait. We’ve also made this in a pinch and didn’t let it sit overnight- or at all for that matter after it had risen and it was equally delicious. I make this for family gatherings and it’s always a crowd wower! Thank you so much for this incredible recipe! I wish I could share a photo of our beautiful pizza ☺️
Love your feedback! Thank you so much for your fantastic comments and review. We really appreciate you sharing this with us and I hope you and your family will every recipe that you will try for them, Karen.
Made your pizza tonight with the red pizza sauce and by the was was so easy and very delicious! My problem, my crust was tough, what do you think I could of done wrong? Going over it in my head I really feel I followed your every move. Thinking it over in my head the only thing I can come up with is that I didn’t have a pizza stone and needed to use a aluminum cookie sheet. Please enlighten me, I want to try it again.
Hi LaDonna, did you make sure to measure the ingredients correctly? A dense dough is usually due to adding too much flour or possibly the yeast was expired?
Best pizza dough ever.
Thank you , Natascha
Awesome! Thank you too for your great feedback, Gabriela.
When I told our adult children I was trying a new pizza dough, they almost staged a protest!😂 I don’t have a pizza stone. Can you recommend how I should proceed with regular metal pizza pans? Should the oven temp be the same? And cooking time? If this dough works for me, looks like a pizza stone is in my future 😉 I’ll keep you posted! Dough will be ready to use on February 1👍🏼
Hi Jackie! A pan will work great! I would follow the same steps! We look forward to your feedback.
I haven’t had much luck with pizza stones, they always seem to break. I found that unglazed quarry tile works just as good if not better. They can be found in the tile section of your home improvement center. Four 4”x4” tiles fit nicely together on the wire rack in the oven. Much less than buying a new stone.
I made your pizza dough, I just used homemade tomato sauce and pesto, homemade too, to cover. Delicious! I will make this pizza dough more often, it is very easy and tasty.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!
This was SO GOOD! I made your marinara and pizza dough yesterday to cook tonight. I made the recipe twice and ran out of flour so 1 batch had about half wheat flour. It was still so good. My kids patted their own pizzas so they didn’t have the beautiful bubbles but they loved it.
Great to hear that! Thanks for sharing that with us, Alissa.
Thanks for the recipe! I started and put the dough on my dining room table to rise for 4 hours and forgot about it (UGH! overnight at room temp)! Well, today it definitely rose at
least x2, maybe 3 times it’s size! So I then did the folding x8 and put it in the oiled bowl in fridge. Think it’s still OK? I’m gonna see!… crossing my fingers.
I think that will be okay but please share with us how it goes. I would love to hear your feedback, Jen.
Made the pizzas today and they were perfect!! Apparently 4 hours (or 24 hours) for the first rise is OK! (Phew!) And the crust was delicious!
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.