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
Heyy is it compulsory to refrigerate the dough overnight?? Or can I just let it rest for 5 hrs??
Hi Salma, this dough really does need the overnight cold fermentation process to rise properly since it doesn’t have a ton of yeast in it. This is what differentiates it from a quick dough, but it’s well worth the wait.
Best pizza dough out there. My roommate keeps eating most of my pizza because of this recipe. Like a good bread, soft and airy inside while just crispy on the outside. Very much recommended!
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Robert! Time to make extra for next time!
I have never commented on a recipe before but have to on this one! It was so easy and I ended up with two perfect crusts. It was so fun to make and have it turn out so well!
That’s so great, Nichole! I’m so glad you had fun with this one!
Absolutely delicious. I made my pizza half with your white sauce and half with red sauce using a recipe we love, and it was great. Unfortunately, my pizza was not quite round, nonetheless, it was great. Thank you for sharing your fabulous recipes. Love you and may you and your family be blessed.
That’s totally fine, practice makes perfect. I’m glad you loved it! Thank you for your kind words and I wish your family the same too.
I’ve tried this dough recipe once before and my wife and nids are like, “Why do we order pizza?” This is our new go-to for homemade pizza. Question, does the dough need to be refrigerated before you use it or can it go from the book folding to the shaping and into the oven?
Again, thanks for the awesome recipes. I’ve tried several and I have yet to find any of these difficult or -heavens forbid- disappointing.
That is the best when kids love what we parents make. That’s so great!
I tried this dough out for the first time yesterday and absolutely loved it. Much easier to make than what I was doing before, and the way the crust puffed up had my whole family raving. We cook our pizzas in our super hot wood fired oven and this works perfectly. This is now going to be my standard go to recipie
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Gary! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
For some reason, my dough is not sticky like yours. Should I add more water?
Hi Snetha, I recommend making sure to measure flour correctly so the dough doesn’t end up too tough. Be sure to measure by fluffing the flour first with a spoon then spoon it into a dry ingredient measuring cup and scrape off the top. If you push your measuring cup into a flour bin, you will get up to 25% too much flour. Also, do not tap the flour down in the measuring cup.
I had the exact same problem and I’m pretty sure I measured it all correctly. The dough even became quite stiff to the point my arms were hurting after kneading
Hi thanks for this amazingly wonderful recipe. First time it turned out perfect but for the second time I doubled the recipe…. and dough did not rise nor it is bubbly. I don’t know where I went wrong. Can you please suggest how can I correct it.
Hi Iram! I’m so glad it worked out the first time. It’s hard to say what went wrong when it was doubled. When doubling, make sure each ingredient is doubled, including the yeast, and double the steps and processes with more ingredients. I hope it turns out for you!
I have used 00 flour several times for this recipe and it turns out great. My only problem is that I cannot put the pizza directly on my steel peel. No matter how much I flour the peel,the pizza sticks. I have to put it on parchment paper which I pull out after 3 minutes. Any suggestions of what to do if you’ve already made the pizza on the peel and then it sticks?
Hi Monica, I’m glad to hear it works with 00 flour! I have never experienced this with 00 flour before, so I’m not sure what could have caused that. It could be the kind of flour you’re using, causing it to be more sticky. You may try to knead in additional flour until smooth and silky to the touch and the dough no longer sticks to your hand. Let rest and rise in a warm wet environment. Repeat if needed. You may then let the dough rest overnight before shaping and baking.
Dear Monica. When you take the dough out of the frigde to form a pizza dip the dough first in semolina flour on both sides. Hope it will helps you.
I made this pizza yesterday. Toppings were red sauce,cheese,black olives, frozen fresh mushrooms, pepperoni. It was very tough and a little doughy under the cheese. I had trouble with the knuckles step. Any other way to do it other than the knuckles to stretch the dough. I didn’t have bubbles either. The taste was very good though. I’m not giving up but please tell me what I did wrong. Thank you. Love the sauce
Hi Carolyn, I am always happy to help troubleshoot. You might check to make sure your yeast is not expired and still active. Be sure it doubles in size while rising and if it’s not rising, the yeast is probably not working correctly. Also, make sure to measure flour correctly so the dough doesn’t end up too tough. Lastly, make sure to let it rest at room temperature before using the dough to bake the pizzas. I highly recommend watching the video tutorial to see where things may have gone wrong.
Can I use my Kitchen Aid mixer with dough attachment?
Hi Dawn, a stand mixer isn’t necessary and I find I have more control doing this by hand.
Can bread flour or 00flour be substituted for All Purpose flour?
Hi Gina, I haven’t tested that so I can’t give you exact details on that substitution with 00 flour.
I always use bread flour with this recipe. I find it chewier and easier to shape with the knuckles.
Made the dough yesterday for dinner tonight…amazing! It was a hit. Chewy, crispy thin Crust pizzas!
Hi Gillian, we’re so glad you enjoyed this recipe! Thanks for your good comments and feedback.
Simply wow! Will never buy pizza again. Easy. Delicious. Could not be better. I have a question on my ingredients though. I used cooked sausage, raw onion, raw mushrooms and fresh basil. When we cut into it after resting for 5 minutes the center was quite watery. Flavor was still fabulous, but any ideas on where all the moisture came from? I love your recipes, Natasha!
Thank you for that great review, Paige! Make sure you’re using a low moisture cheese. My favorite cheese brand is Galbani for low moisture part-skim mozzarella.
We made this tonight ! Kids gave it 2 thumbs up! pizza came out perfect ..love your recipies thanks.
That is the best when kids love what we moms make. That’s so great!
Hi Natasha. My 7 year old son and I think you are the cutest and we love your recipe tutorials.
Can I use instant yeast in this recipe? Do I just add this to the dry ingredients?
Hi Charlene, 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.
OMG!!!
Can I marry you😀😀
That is the best pizza ever!
THANK YOU
Haha! It sure sounds like you have a new favorite!
What if you don’t have a pizza stone? Can you use a round pan and if so what temperature? I thank you..love all your recipes 😍
Hi Janet, please see the first prep step: “Place a pizza stone or inverted baking sheet onto the center rack of the oven and preheat to 550˚F.” It works great without a pizza stone.
its my go to recipe I did it multiple times with your red sauce and its amazing.
but I want to ask if I can freeze the dough??
I’m so happy you’re enjoying it Engy! You sure can! See our latest recipe post HERE on how to freeze pizza dough!
Could you substitute sugar for the honey?
Hi Alicen, it can be substituted with 1 tsp of sugar.