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
I tried this recipe & it turned out excellent !! I followed your recipe exactly, except for kneading a few minutes longer & I also had some 00 flour handy so I used that. I was a little bit hesitant at first after reading some of the comments but I know all your recipes are always tried & true so, I forged full steam ahead & everyone LOVED this pizza!! We will be making it again along with the red sauce this time! Thank you for the recipe!
Aww, you’re very welcome, Marilee! Thank you for the feeeback. So glad it was a hit!
When I first started making this recipe, the dough balls would puff up in my containers in the fridge, but now they don’t? I am not sure what I am doing differently, maybe they didn’t double enough? What do you think?
Hi Nexus, was anything possibly changed in your process? Is your fridge running colder than normal?
Delicious crust that was easy to work with!
Loved this so much and your red sauce recipe. The dough ended up being too stretchy and thin but still tasted great. I followed the recipe and measured my water and flour. I did also keep in the fridge for a couple days before baking. Would like to try again and figure out why it got too thin. Should I reduce the water? Thank you so much!
HI JB, did you use a different type of flour? The protein in the flour can affect how much flour is needed. Also if you are in a humid area, I would reduce the water.
Love, love love this crust. Thanks for this awesome recipe.
Wonderful recipe! It has become a staple in our house!
So happy to hear that, Kyle!
Hi! When I tried this recipe the first time it was way too much flour, even though I followed the recipe. I tried once again but with half a cup less and it worked. Did I do something wrong the first time around that might have affected the dough, making it super hard and not sticky at all?
Hi Annabelle, it may be how you’re measuring the 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.
Simple and yet it just works. I did a big pizza party for the family – inviting children and grandchildren and some in-laws to come. Everyone loved the pizza and the dough was a very manageable process for me. Well done!
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Clint!
Can I make any of these pizza dough recipes in a bread machine, if so, which do you prefer.
If in the bread machine, after it completes it’s cycle, do I let the dough rise a second time, if so how long. Any suggestions would be helpful.
Hi Joe! I haven’t tested this in a bread maker, but one of my viewers left a comment stating they had excellent results using this recipe and letting the bread maker do the work.
Would it be possible to add the weight of the flour in grams.
Hi Julie! Yes- click on “metric” in the recipe card for the conversion.
Can these be stored in a gallon zip lock bag in fridge? Or do they need more room to expand overnight?
This is the most life changing crust recipe of all time! Thank you!!
Thanks, Mary! You can store the pizza dough in a gallon zip lock bag in the fridge but make sure to leave enough space in the bag for the dough to expand as it rises.
Hi Natasha, thanks for sharing your recipe. I’ve tried a couple of times doing this dough, but somehow the dough is too thick and it won’t stretch as it should, keeps retracting. I’m definitely doing something wrong. I still baked the pizza and favor was good, like I said too thick. Any suggestions?
Hi Maria, I’m sorry to hear that. The first thing that comes to mind with a thick dough is either too much flour or the yeast may be expired. Check out our post on how to measure flour which will help with consistent results.
What if your oven only goes up to 500 degrees?
Hi Valerie. That is fine, you’ll just bake it a few minutes longer. Keep an eye on it in the oven.
Yes, It is the best! The key is ferment cold for 24 hours, small amount of yeast, let rise when ready to use. It’s perfection! Many recipes use too much yeast, and rush using it. The overnight cold ferment is the only way to go! A++
Do you object to the use of white cornmeal on the peel to help with the dough sliding onto the stone?
Hi James! Since the stone (or pan) is preheated, we do not oil or put cornmeal down but you can if you’d like.
I’m not very good at using a pizza stone so I like to use a pizza pan or a cast iron skillet. Does this recipe work without a stone?
Hi Vinnie, yes, a pizza pan will work. A pizza stone gives it an even and overall crisp crust. Several of my readers have used a baking pan successfully to make this too.
How come you dont use oil in this recipe?
Hi Megan, we use oil to coat the bowl, but otherwise the recipe does not need it. I hope you love it.
When I refrigerate the dough it rises more in the container. Yours looks like it it still a ball. Is this normal?
Hi Mary Ann! It’s normal for the dough to rise in the refrigerator. Just make sure to bring it to room temperature before shaping and baking for the best results. Hope you enjoy it!
Hello. We used this recipe for pizzas, and my family loved our pizzas. I am wondering, have you tried using cold fermented dough recipe for bread sticks? Just wondering because I like this recipe for a quick weekday dinner.
Great to hear that! I have not tested that to advise though. If you do an experiment, we’d love to know how it goes!
Can’t wait to try this! Can I use instant yeast instead?
Hi Victoria, 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.