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
Your pizza dough is absolutely incredible! It’s a fail proof recipe !!
My family loves it ❤️
It is so great to hear that. Thank you for sharing and for the excellent review.
Hi Natasha,
I tried this pizza recipe and it’s absolutely amazing!! We love your blog. I am wondering if this recipe would be good even without a pizza stone.
Thank you,
Serena
Hi Serena! Thank you for the review. I am happy you loved this recipe. Yes, that would be just fine. One of my other readers shared that she uses just a regular pan and loves this dough.
Hi! First time making pizza dough by scratch! My dough was not sticky when hand kneeding…I plan to use it anyway, but might make another batch just in case. Do you know what might have gone wrong?
Thanks!
Hi Katrina, I recommend ensuring you didn’t use too much flour. 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.
Hello, Natasha! Thank you so much for sharing such delicious recipes with us!
It’s a fantastic recipe. I attempted it the same way you did, following every instruction you mentioned. I tried this recipe in my wood-fired oven. It turned out fantastic. It was fantastic. It is my second visit to your website, and you always have the best recipes. I am a huge fan of your cooking. Thanks!
Thank you for following the instruction as it is, I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Hi Natasha, I love your pizza dough unfortunately I had trouble with my last batch of dough. When rolling it over my knuckles the dough “dropped” seeming too heavy and causing holes in the dough and making it difficult to get a circle. Also the edge wasn’t “airy” – was the dough too moist? Any tips on how to correct this problem? Many thanks.
Hi Joy, make sure to let the dough rest for a bit at room temperature after refrigeration, per the instructions. This helps the dough to soften up and be easier to handle.
I’ve made the pizza crust, and now it’s in the fridge awaiting for the weekend to come so we can finally try out first homemade pizza from scratch. My question is, should I have kept the pizza dough in smaller bowls while leaving in the fridge? They are becoming quite the size and they seem to be expanding each day. Lol
Hi Susan, you need a little room for expansion but they should not expand much in the fridge unless too much yeast was added. I’m not sure if that is the case or not, but that’s one possibility.
Great recipe. Perfect amount makes four 9 inch crusts. I make 9 inch pizzas for a couple reasons. #1 fits most toaster ovens. No need to heat up big oven. #2 Easier to roll out than one large size. #3 Kid friendly feeds two kids. I bought 9 inch aluminum reusable pizza pans on Amazon for $3. Also I made the dough in bread machine and let it do the work. The BEST thing about your recipe is the secret of aging the dough. I didn’t know. It makes a huge difference on flavor and texture. After three days in fridge dough develops a slight sour smell and adds wonderful flavor like hint of beer. I guess from the alcohol being made during fermentation. And excellent texture. Just like you say like fancy pizzerias. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for sharing your fantastic feedback, Luke! I’m happy you loved it!
Oh and sorry I dumbed down your recipe by using bread machine. But I’m not into hand kneading. Too lazy. Machine version worked fine for me. Crust bubbled nicely and tastes fancy. Again, aging is the key secret I didn’t know even longer than 24 hrs. I went three days. Thanks again.
No worries at all, as long as you loved the end result!
No need to publish this unless you choose to. Your mission should you choose to accept: Find out and share the secret of how those fancy pizza joints get that nice stretchy cheese. I can’t do it. Is it the cheese or the cooking method? Thanks again
Hi Luke, it is usually because of the cheese. Thanks for the nice idea and suggestion!
Luke, if you are using pre-shredded cheese, that might be why you don’t get the stretchyness from it. There is something added to pre-shredded cheese that keeps it from clumping that affects the way it reacts in melting. Shred from a block and see if that helps. If it doesn’t, try a different brand/kind and shred it yourself. Good luck!
hi Luke, how long did you bake and at what temperature for the 9″ size and with the aluminum pans?
Your crust looks delicious!
Can you tell me how I can make “cheesey bread” with this recipe? My grandchildren love it without toppings. I want to make both ways.
Hi Teresa, I have not made this into cheesy bread but I am sure this dough will work just fine for any cheesy bread method or recipe you use.
Wow, Natasha!
I’ve never had much luck using yeast but I thought I’d give this one a try because it looked simply amazing. We just finished dinner using one dough as a buffalo chicken pizza and the other one was a garlic white chicken pizza (also used your white sauce recipe – YUM!). The dough was the perfect combo of crispy/chewy! I love all the bubbles that came from the overnight cold fermentation. This is now my only pizza dough recipe and no more using canned pizza dough from the grocery store. I have slightly more confidence using yeast now, too! Oh, and I don’t have a pizza stone and used a large sheet pan for both pizza’s and they were still aaaaamazing!
Thanks for making me look like a real chef in the kitchen!
I’m so happy you gave this a try, Patty! Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
Super easy. I thought I followed to a T, but as in my last comment I used instant yeast, and I remembered I used 00 flour. Maybe that why it wasn’t sticky as shown in the video. I’m making this for me and my husband for Super Bowl.
I don’t know what I did wrong. I had instant yeast, so maybe that was it. The dough was not sticky at all as shown and stated. I’m making pizza tomorrow so wish me luck!
Hi Patricia, I haven’t tried this with instant yeast, so I’m not sure how that will affect the rise in the fridge, but that is likely the culprit with your outcome.
Hi Natasha! Update: I made ur pizza recipe and it tasted great but the crust (not under the sauce) was doughy and I don’t know why? I measured the flour correctly with a scale too
Hi Ashley, ensure there were no substitutions to the ingredients or the process. Especially yeast – don’t use too much yeast! Many of the quick pizza doughs out there use way too much yeast, making the crust doughy and making the pizza’s center rise while baking.
Yes I made no substitutes and I used the correct amount of yeast. Did I not knead enough?
It’s hard to say without being there. I recommend reading through the recipe and watching the video again to ensure there wasn’t a missed step.
Will give it 100 stars if I could. Husband said, “better keep this recipe, this is really good”. I have tried many other pizza recipes and this one is the only one that truly I enjoyed making and eating. Many thanks, your recipes bring me happiness.
Wow! That’s amazing! Thank you for your thoughtful review, Gladys! I’m so happy to hear you both enjoy this – that brings me so much happiness!
I am in the process of making this pizza dough and can’t wait to try it. My oven has a “proof” setting. Can you tell me anything about using this function for this recipe?
Hi Jane, I haven’t tried it with the oven-proof setting to advise. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
Hi Natasha! What can you use instead if you don’t have a pizza stone?
Hi Ashley, it’s best on a pizza stone, but a regular pan will work great also.
Do you have a tip on how to transfer the pizza to the hot pizza stone if you do not have a pizza peel?
HI Julia, I would put it on parchment paper in that case and slide it off the back of a baking sheet.
Do you mean that you put the pizza on the parchment on the stone at 550? Thx!
Hi Melody, Use parchment paper to slide the pizza onto the stone if you do not have a pizza peel. I would not leave the parchment paper on the stone. Most parchment paper cannot handle the heat.
I use parchment paper right in the oven with out any problem
After years of trying to perfect my pizza dough, this recipe nails it! Turns out I was using too much yeast and not allowing fermentation! This is a keeper!
Yay, love it! Thanks a lot for your good comments and feedback, Julie. I’m so glad that you found your new go-to recipe!
Homemade pizza dough.
Natasha, when pizza dough is stretched and it shrinks back, is the dough ready? Does it need more kneading? I put dough in the fridge overnight and it more than doubled in size? took it out for several hours to become room temp and kneaded it again but only briefly. Please help. JOHN Z.
Hi John, you should not have to knead the dough after you take it out of the fridge or you will deflate it and lose all those nice bubbles that the dough has created. I suggest watching the video tutorial to see the process from start to finish. It sounds like it could also be too much flour added if you are seeing it shrink back too much. Be sure to measure the flour correctly since too much will make the dough difficult to work with.
Ugh can’t wait to make this!!! Looks exactly like bomb authentic restaurant pizza. Yum
I hope you love it, Danielle!
Natasha,
This is the best pizza dough that I have ever done…we use it regularly and quite often on the same day, and it still works perfectly. It goes super in our pizza oven and we love doing lamb, olive and feta pizzas and also Tandoori chicken, topped with yoghurt sauce after it’s cooked. An amazing recipe. Thanks so much
Sounds perfect, good to know that this is now your go-to recipe!