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!
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
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
We don’t have a pizza steel anymore….would this dough work in a jelly roll pan?
Hi Kristy! Several of my readers have reported making this successfully in a regular pan so it should be fine.
Hey, has anyone replaced the honey with sugar and it worked out? I have a 11 month old so can’t make this with honey yet
It worked amazing! I made it for dinner that night so I didn’t refrigerate it, but it turned out great! Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Kelly! I’m glad it worked out for you. Thanks for sharing.
I’ve been making my own pizza dough for years. Your recipe has taken my pizzas to a new level. My boys love this crust!!!
Thank you for the great recipe and instructions.
Hi Scott! You’re very welcome! I’m so glad you loved this recipe.
So grateful for you, Natasha, and all your amazing recipes. I’m on my third time making this pizza crust. It’s become impossible to justify the cost of a store bought crust. I have a jumbo amount of instant yeast on hand, and it’s worked perfectly fine. I haven’t mastered the technique yet for shaping the crust, but that doesn’t matter at all. Still tastes amazing.
Isn’t it so great that we can make something so tasty & cheaper right out of our homes?! I’m happy you loved this recipe, Wendy!
Very clear instructions! My wife’s Italian tutor spoke of “folding” the dough eight times, and I could never grasp exactly what he meant until I saw your video. We just finished our first pizza made by using your method. It was great! Many Thanks!!!
I’m so glad this video was helpful, Jim! Thank you so much for sharing that with me!
Hi Natasha, will this dough freeze well? Can it go from fridge to freezer before being baked? If you can freeze the dough, how long will keep for in the freezer? Thanks
Hi Vicki! Yes, it can be. See my blog on how to freeze pizza dough HERE for instructions.
Hey! I didn’t realize this needed a day to rise! Ahhhh! What will happen if I bake it after the four hour rise period without the overnight refrigeration?
This dough really needs the overnight cold fermentation process to rise properly since it doesn’t have a ton of yeast. This is what differentiates it from a quick dough recipe such as my individual pizza recipewhich uses more yeast.
J’ai essayé plusieurs recettes et celle-ci est la meilleure, merci .
You’re welcome, happy to know that you’re enjoying our recipes!
My dough was not very sticky when I kneaded it prior to letting it rise 4-5 hours. It was a little sticky and all stuck together but hands definitely didn’t stick to the dough. I used 3 1/3 cups of all purpose flour and the exact measurements of wet ingredients. Will this still turn out ok?
Hi Alyssa, without being there, it’s hard to gauge what the dough is like. I recommend checking out our post on how to measure ingredients and definitely follow the exact proportions in the recipe until you feel confident to venture out and experiment.
Hi Natashia, my pizza dough was not at all sticky and I used your exact measurements.
Hi Pat, without being there, it’s hard to gauge what the dough is like. I recommend checking out our post on how to measure ingredients and definitely follow the exact proportions in the recipe until you feel confident to venture out and experiment.
Hi Natasha
I adjusted the recipe by %50 hopping to get 2 15” pizza. I get about 13-13.5 inch? I added 3/4 teaspoon yeast. The dough more than doubled in the first phase. It also doubled after 18 hours in the fridge. The crust still comes out awesome and tastes great. But should the dough rise that much after being in the fridge for 18 hours?
Hi Farrah, it should rise quickly like that. Make sure to adjust the whole recipe properly. Here are the measurements that should be with 3/4 tsp of yeast. Also make sure you are using the correct type of yeast.
1.88 cups warm water, 105-110˚F
0.75 tsp active dry yeast
1.5 tsp honey
0.75 Tbsp fine sea salt
5 cups all-purpose flour,
Thanks very much. I think that’s how I got the adjustment to the measurements. But I do not see that any more.
Can I replace honey with sugar one to one measurement? Allergic to honey.
Hi Farrah, you can click Jump to recipe then click Servings. I haven’t tested that but I think that will work. Let us know how it goes if you test that out.
Hi Natasha,
Your pizza recipe is out of this world. However I have two questions
1- what adjustments to make to the measurements for 2-15” pizza
2- what size containers to store the individual dough balls in. My current one is a Pyrex 8.5” W and 4” H. Too big?
Thank you very much – Farrah
Hi Farrah, If you click on the serving size, you can adjust the size of the recipe up or down and it will adjust the list of ingredients. That is probably a little larger than necessary but it won’t hurt the dough to have a larger container.
Is it okay if the dough rises a bit in the fridge? Mine did.
Yes that’s alright. Let us know how it goes, we’d love to hear!
Hi Natasha,
I just put together this dough to di its first rise for 4-5 hours. I read some reviews and see none for making a deep dish.
My husband found your recipe and wants me to try it. We di ricotta the mozzarella cheese on the bottom covered with toppings then sauce in top. Any suggestions? Pre bake crust at all? We have a very well seasoned pizza pan we will bake in 14 inch. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Angela
Hi Angela, I haven’t tried this to make a deep dish specifically to advise. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
I do not have a pizza stone. They’re a little expensive. I do have a metal pizza pan I’ve never used. What are your thoughts?
Love your channel and your wit!
Hi Carla! Several of my readers have reported making this successfully in a regular pan. I’m glad you love my recipes. 🙂
This is the perfect pizza crust! I’ve tried lots of recipes but this is the best and it freezes well. Thanks for sharing Natasha
Wonderful to hear, Kathy! Thanks for sharing.
This is good to know, that you just use All Purpose . I will try this next time. I always use the 00. if it works out that will be great! Thanks Judy
Hi Judy! Let us know how it turns out! 🙂
I’ve been using the recipe with KAF bread flour and it’s down right perfect.
Glad to hear that! 🙂
I can’t wait to try this recipe! Can the recipe be doubled?
Hi Cindy, I have made a double batch before without issues. I doubled all ingredients. I preferred to keep them in the smaller bowls, it was easier to separate them beforehand.
The best recipe I’ve tried in many years! A keeper. I appreciate the detail and skill in your recipes, Natasha. Thank you so much!
I’m so glad to hear that. Thank you!
hi Natasha, quick question. why the discrepancy on your Flour to Dry Yeast ratios in this recipe versus your individual pizza recipe doughs. One has 1/2 TSP of Yeast for 3 1/3 flour… the other 1 TBSP for only 2 cups of flour. Shouldn’t the ratio be the same?
Hi John! This dough really needs the overnight cold fermentation process to rise properly since it doesn’t have a ton of yeast. This is what differentiates it from a quick dough recipe such as my individual pizza recipe which uses more yeast.