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
The max temp of my oven is just 430F, what should I do?
Hi Angus, You can try it at 430 you may need to bake it longer however.
I’ve used my grandmothers pizza dough recipe for years but this one is our new favorite! Better than restaurant pizza!
Wow! Thank you so much for sharing that wonderful review with me! I’m happy you found a new favorite on my blog
Thanks Natasha! This is the best tasting crust I’ve ever made! I won’t waste my time trying anyone else’s recipe!
That’s so awesome! I’m really happy to know that, thank you for sharing your great feedback with us!
I made your pizza dough! I’ve been looking for a good pizza dough. Love this one! It’s perfectly chewy. It’s now my go to crust. Didn’t even have a chance to take any pics. It disappeared. Thanks, Natasha!
You are very welcome, Johanna! I’m glad you enjoyed this recipe and loved it.
Excellent dough recipe and my first time using a pizza stone.
A quick question – after letting the dough rise for 5 hours, I put the two balls in lightly oiled bowls, sealed them and put them in the fridge for 24 hours. When I took them put I discovered that they had doubled or trebled in size. What did I do wrong?
HI Joe, it sounds like maybe you used more yeast than what was called for? Or did you possibly use rapid-rise yeast? Being refrigerated, they should rise very slowly with cold fermentation.
I absolutely love this recipe! I have tried so many and they just don’t compare. As the dough gets better with age, I usually make it on a Sunday to have for dinner during the week. So easy!
I also usually double it and make one Sicilian and two traditional pizzas. YUM!!
Thank you!
So great to hear that this is your go-to recipe, Devon! Thanks for sharing that with us.
Hi Natasha,
Love your recipes, can I make the pizza crust in my breadmaker, and would I have to alter the amount of liquid.
Hi Bessie, I have always done this dough by hand so I can’t speak to that. If you experiment, please let me know how it goes.
Hi, can Instant yeast be used?
Hi Ellen, I haven’t tried this with instant yeast so I’m not sure how that will affect the rise in the fridge, but other readers have reported trying it and following the same method.
Hi! I’ve made this pizza today but I feel I didn’t knead it enough . Can I knead it again after putting it in the fridge, and before putting it in the oven? Thanks!
HI Eleasha, it’s best not to knead it again since it will disturb and remove the bubbles in the dough that have built up overnight.
So my dough won’t be sloppy or anything ? Or will it break ?
Hi Eleasha, if made according to the recipe, it should not have any issues, but I would not knead again.
While we like the taste of the dough I had trouble using my fist to stretch out the dough. I’ve never done it that way before and found I was getting holes in some places. I followed the recipe but wasn’t able to get all the flour in and still I may have used to much. It wasn’t very sticky. I had to pinch the dough together where the holes were. I have the other half still in the fridge for another lunch.
Hi Rosanna, it sounds like maybe too much flour. Make sure your measuring flour correctly – it is critical to getting the proportion of wet to dry ingredients correctly.
This is an excellent recipe! We are sure enjoying it. I was wondering if you can double this recipe?
Hi Janet, yes, this recipe can be doubled.
I made this & it was amazing. The dough was crisp, lovely texture a winner.
I froze some & was so disappointed. It was nothing like the “fresh” version. I followed the directions dough was tough, hard to fit into the pan – a failure.
Hi Debbie, you might look up some online tutorials for thawing the dough correctly before letting it rest at room temperature. If it doesn’t go through the process of complete thawing and resting before baking, it won’t rise properly.
I’m allergic to honey, can I skip it?
Hello Amy, it can be substituted with 1 tsp of sugar.
Can I use rapid rise yeast??
Hi, I have only tested this with regular yeast and not instant or rapid rise yeast so I can’t speak to the process changes if you are substituting that ingredient without testing it through myself. My guess would be to keep the process the same.
Hi! I made the dough on Friday. One puffed really nice in the fridge overnight the other didn’t. Why do you think this is and can I still use it? Thanks
Hi Diane, I’m not sure why that would be if it came from the same batch of dough – was one piece larger and just appeared to puff more? The rising should be minimal in the fridge. You might leave the one that didn’t rise out on the counter for a bit and see if it rises some to make sure the yeast is working correctly before using it for pizza.
I am a lifelong bread baker and have never been able to find a good pizza crust recipe. Until now. This is excellent! My search is over. Look no further, bakers!
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite, Linda!
Hello, can we freeze the dough for later use? If so, for how long and how to use a frozen dough? TIA!
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.
Good day maam! After I proof it, how many days can I store it?
Hi Beryl, We love it best enjoyed within 3-5 days. You are welcome to freeze this dough if you need it to store longer, 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.
Super easy! Great results and definitely a do over.
Thanks for your good feedback, Lynn.
This is truly a great dough and now is my go-to for pizza dough. The instructions are wonderfully detailed which help make it easy. I even bought the pizza kit recommended, love that spatula especially! Thank you, Natasha. Love your recipes.
That’s great to hear, Peggy! Thank you for sharing that with us.
This is the very best pizza dough I’ve ever made, used the white sauce recipe with pieces of chicken breast, saute onions and yellow peppers, delicious!
That is awesome! Thanks so much for your wonderful comments and review, Edna.
Hello Natasha! I’m a big fan of your recipes! I’ve made lots of ‘em and usually pull it off 😅. This time it didn’t go so well :(. My dough didn’t rise much, it felt very moist and when I baked it also didn’t rise much, very tough. It had a good overall flavor but the consistency was off. What might’ve happened? I live in the Caribbean, maybe too much humidity for these measurements? Would love to nail it next time!
HI Isselle, I would highly recommend reviewing our post on how to measure ingredients and also double check that your yeast is still active and not expired. This does rise slowly so the overnight cold fermentation in the fridge is very important – make sure not to rush the process. I hope that helps.