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
Lots of recipes call for baking the crust before putting the toppings on to make a crisper crust. Could you do that for this recipe?
Hi April, there is no need to blind bake this crust and it comes out perfectly without that. If you want to test it out though, I bet it could work, blind baked pizza crusts tend to be more dry pizzas.
Hi, thanks for the recipe! I did the first step yesterday, both dough balls will sit in the refrigerator for 3 days. I opened the refrigerator this morning and saw that the dough balls are HUGE. Each ball looks like two pizzas per dough balls instead of one per pizza per dough ball. Just curious about your input, thanks!
Hi Danny, it sounds like you have a very active dough! That’s great! You can use it as is. I hope you love this recipe.
Yep, active yeast indeed. It turned out just fine after 3 days in the fridge. Very delicious. Thanks for the reply!
Promised everybody pizza inadvertently grabbed the wrong recipe. Started making it then realized it was overnight. Continued recipe and told everyone pizza night delayed.
Next night made the pizza wow it was amazing won’t use the other recipe again. So easy so good.
Watched both videos.
I’m so happy everyone loved it, Peter! Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
I follow the recipe to a tee and it comes out too wet and sticky
Hi Dennis, The dough should be slightly sticky, but it shouldn’t be that difficult to work with. See step 3 for tips to help. Also, be sure you are measuring your ingredients correctly, by viewing our tutorial, how to measure ingredients to ensure you’re using the correct amount of flour.
What is the equivalent of the serving size? Is it one slice?
Hi Caro! Yes, that’s correct.
Great recipe…second time making it I .just got a pizza oven…so practicing for a pizza party ..you are now my go to ..your tips…. your videos make it so doable? Did I spell it right?
I am originally from the New Your City area, and they are proud of their pizza. This is almost spot on. Texture is perfect. The only exception is that the crust is a bit crispier than most NYC pizza in which you have to fold it in half in order to eat it. Using a pizza stone at 500 degrees, the crust is such that you can pick up a slice and it won’t flop. You can start at the tip and work your way to the crust. It’s a dough that takes time, but worth the wait.
This pizza dough recipe is perfect! Simple steps, great texture, and delicious results. My go-to for homemade pizza nights!
Thank you! I’m glad you love it!
You tell your followers to measure correctly, I think that’s ambiguous. Wouldn’t it be easier to give the weight measurement, that way it’s more standardized, there less of a chance to make a mistake and it’s more consistent. I use this recipe a lot, like you said it’s a good Pizza dough, and every time I come back to the recipe I always think the same thought Why don’t you just give me the measurement? Anyway, thank you Natasha
Hello David! If you click Jump to recipe to go to the recipe card, you can then click Metric to see the ingredients in grams. Hope that helps.
Hi Natasha,
I came across your recipe for pizza dough yesterday and am very anxious to try it. I’ve tried different recipes over the years and always ready to try new ones. I’ve noticed that some recipes use olive oil in the dough and others don’t and I don’t recall ever noticing a difference. I am curious why you don’t use olive oil. If you have time to respond I’d really like your opinion. I just came across a recipe that uses 1/3 cup which seems like an awful lot. Oh, my husband’s father’s family also came to the U.S. from the Ukraine by way of Canada in the 1930’s and settled in Oregon. My husband has since recently passed and we sure did love making homemade pizza together, especially on the gas grill, the crisper the better.
HI Essie, it really depends on the texture you are looking for and style of pizza you want. Traditional Neapolitan pizza dough typically does not include oil to help create a texture that is chewy and crisp.
Hello Natasha,
Can I use instant dry yeast instead to make the dough?
didn’t notice that it has expired and can’t find in the nearby supermarket.
I always made this fantastic recipe with Active dry yeast. Thanks
Hi Anabelle! I always make this with active dry yeast because it seems to keep better for longer, but that should work fine and there would be no need to wait 5 minutes. You could mix the instant yeast right into the flour before adding the liquids. Please let me know how it turns out if you experiment with it.
OMG another winner you just never give reciepes that are duds. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication I really appreciate it.
Thank you so much, Valerie!
I would like to freeze the dough. How should I do that
Hi Linda. See the section above titled, “Can I Freeze Pizza Dough?” I linked my instructions to freezing pizza dough, click on the red font words for the link.
Hi Natasha,
Can I use a tsp of sugar if I don’t have any honey?
Hi Ozzy! Yes, the honey in the recipe can be substituted with 1 tsp of sugar.
Thanks Natasha! I made this today and it turned out great.
That’s wonderful!
Best pizza dough recipe I’ve made. Thanks for sharing
I’m so happy you found a new favorite on my blog, Barbara! You’re so welcome!
Natasha, your recipe had me in happy tears. I’m currently living in a foreign country, where a CPK doesn’t exist, and the pizza here is all thick, like the square pizzas they serve in elementary school.
I crave my old CPK pizzas SO much, and stumbled across your pizza dough recipe. Aside from adding more honey, and less salt, we followed everything else to a T. We made it, and I legit had happy tears; I am now able to make a better than CPK pizza, thanks so much to you!! My cravings have been happily satisfied, and I can’t wait to make this again. It was so easy, so soft, chewy, crispy. Both my husband and I ate every last crunchy crumb haha. Thank you for this lifesaver, I was going to have to swear off of pizza till I got back to the USA. You saved me!! 😂 Cheers!!
You are so welcome, Kalie!
Hi Natasha! How long should I cook it for if my (European) oven only goes up to 250° Celsius (I think it’s about 480° Fahrenheit?) ? I tried you recipe yesterday, it was very easy to follow and it was delicious with the white pizza sauce, however the dough didn’t brown quite well because of the low oven I guess. I added some minutes to the baking time until the cheese was melting and bubbling, but then the crust turned out to be to crunchy. But even like that it was still very good 🙂
Hi Yonchi! I’m glad you’ve loved it. Every oven bakes differently so I can’t say exactly and since your oven doesn’t go quite as high, you will need to keep an eye on it and bake until it is fully cooked through.
Consider getting a pizza stone it really helps the pizza crust cook nicely
To avoid mistakes when measuring flour in cups would it not be easier if you provided the metric measurements?
Hi Dijana! Click on the “metric” button in the recipe card did the conversions.
Best
ABSOLUTELY the best pizza dough. The crust is perfect! It’s worth putting it in the refrigerator overnight.