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
Just made this pizza dough and am super happy of how easy it was to make ! I don’t have a pizza stone so I had to improvise and use my cast iron skillet . Didnt pre heat the skillet cause I wasn’t sure if you can preheat an iron skillet with nothing in it . So I put a little bit of olive oil in the pan , layed the dough in there and built the pizza from there …. It was incredible !!!
Can you list the ingredients in grams for a food scale???
Hi Sam, if fyou click Jump to recipe at the top of the post, it will take you to our printable recipe card where you can select the metric measurement option. I hope that helps.
Can I bake the pizza base partially and then add the cheese and topping when I want to serve the pizza?
That should work! You can partially bake (par-bake) the pizza base ahead of time and then add cheese/toppings later, and it’s a great way to prep ahead.
This has become our go-to when we’re hungry for a thin, crispy crust pie. I recall reading or hearing the perfect measure of mozz. Can I ask you to confirm that, please? Fourteen ounces seems right.
Glad to hear that it has become your go-to recipe! 12-14 ounces of mozzarella is perfect!
Hi Natasha, Have you tried making it with whole wheat flour? I was wondering if it would be too dense and not rise as much. I’m looking forward to making it.
Hi Roxanne! I have not tested whole wheat. You could experiment with it. Whole wheat tends to absorb more moisture so you may need to make adjustments as needed and use more water.
Hi Natasha… I love all your recipes. Could I possibly use this dough recipe for Stromboli?
Hi Dorann! Yes, that would be fine to use this for Stromboli.
Probably the best dough recipe out there!!! AndI have tried a lot!! Thank you Natasha!
Aww, thanks so much!
I have been searching for a homemade pizza dough for years. This IS IT!!! THANK YOU! I have already made it at least 8 times and every time it’s perfection. Thank you, thank you, thank you. The home made pizza sauce is also superb.
You’re so very welcome. I’m happy you found this recipe!
Natasha, I have made this several times and LOVE it! My question is if I make it in the morning and use it the same night if it only does a few hours in the fridge?
Hi Joy, This dough really needs the overnight cold fermentation process to rise properly since it doesn’t have a ton of yeast. You can try it for less time but it will likely not have the same result.
I have a square puzza stone. Should I try 5o shspw or roll mine into a square? Also when doing the folds my dough was quite sticky…?
Hi Ilana, I bet it could work to roll it into a square if you wanted that shape. 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.
Hi Natasha. Thank you! Life got in the way of the usual 72 hour ferment this week, so I found myself on Saturday morning in need of dough for Sunday Pizza Night. Natasha’s Kitchen to the rescue. I used high gluten bread flour because I find it to be a happy medium in a high temp pizza oven. The workability, texture, and browning of the dough was absolutely amazing. This is my new default recipe. I made extra that I’ll give another 48 hours in the fridge. Looking forward to trying that as well!
That’s wonderful, Kevin! Thank you so much for sharing that with us. I’m glad you found a new favorite.
Your recipe is amazing. For the first time, I was able to make pizzas like the ones we bought from Pizza Factory. I didn’t have a pizza stone, so I used a metal pizza pan. The crust turned out just perfect. Thank you. You are truly talented.
That’s so great to hear, Jackson! I’m so happy you found this recipe.
I have tried so many different pizza crust recipes and didn’t like any of them. I have never been able to get a thicker crust around the edge before this. This one is the best! It will be my go-to recipe from here on.
So happy to hear that, Christine!
Hey Natasha this looks tempting will surely make this 😊 just a question if we don’t have a pizza stone any alternate can we bake it in oven tray
Hello! Yes, you can bake your pizza on an oven tray if you don’t have a pizza stone. Enjoy!
Amazing! I doubted it would taste so good, but it does!! You literally want to eat it out of the blender!! Did not change one thing. 5 star yum!!
This may be a silly question but I thought that salt kills yeast?
Hi Rachel. Salt can slow fermentation down, but this is not a quick dough recipe. We use less yeast and it requires a longer (slower) fermentation in the refrigerator. I hope you love the recipe.
Hi Natasha,
Thank you very much for the best pizza dough recipe , I tried it several times and each time it turned out great.Do you have any suggestions on how to use whole whaet flour in this recipe?
Thanks alot
Hi Tanaz. It should work with whole wheat too, but tends to be more dense. You may need to use slightly more water or less flour since whole what absorbs more.
Just made double. Dough was dry so I added quite a bit more water. A bit concerned…
Hi Ilana! Flour is often measured incorrectly. The most accurate way to measure is with a food scale. If you don’t have one, you can follow my tutorial here on How to Measure Ingredients. It can also be your climate, if you live in a very dry climate you may need to use slight more water.
This is a fantastic recipe. Best pizza crust I have ever made, and I am old!
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
Hi, Natasha! Will it last for 3 days in the fridge if I keep it in an airtight container?
Hi Maria! You can refrigerate it up to 7 days.
can I cut the dough into 4 small balls and still cook the mini pizzas at 550 degrees.
also, can I bake them on a nonstick metal pizza pan?
Hi Donna! Yes, you can bake them at the same temperature but they will bake faster.
Using a pan is fine, just lightly dust it with flour to avoid sticking.
Hi!
Can this be made in a bread machine on the dough cycle?
Hi Anna! I haven’t tried it, but here is what one of my viewers said: “This is the recipe that I have been using for a dozen years including resting in the refrigerator. Works well in my bread machine on dough setting just add flour, make well, and add the warm yeast mixture. I start my bread machine stirring the flour and wait until it reaches mixing speed.” I hope that helps.