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
we live in Florida and with humidity and other issues. I made this twice first time was the 8hours, then 24 in the fridge. Was good but not a lot of bubbles. 2nd I did and in the fridge for 4 days, 1 dried on top and the other was fine but less bubbles than the first time i made it. Dough was wet in the middle. Was wondering if I should cut the liquid down. I have to do that with other recipes, due to sea level and weather. Any one have thoughts about this. Maybe less time in the fridge? Because the dough seems like it is perfect after folding and 8 hours on the counter.
Hi Lisa, I think it’s worth experimenting with slightly less liquid if you living in a humid area and especially if that is a typical fix for you. Make sure to cover when refrigerating so it doesn’t dry out or form a film.
I want to only do half of the thing– do I halve all flour, water, and yeast measurements?
Hi Winni, that is correct, you would halve the entire recipe.
This pizza dough is amazing!!! It’s the first homemade pizza I’ve ever made and it came out perfect. The recipe is so easy to follow and the dough was incredibly easy to work with. I used bread flour and let the dough rest in the fridge for 24h. The crust was nice and crispy on the outside and chewy and soft on the inside. I topped mine with big chunks of fresh mozzarella and fresh basil.
Yum! That sounds amazing! Thank you for sharing that great review!
Mine didn’t turn out..
The dough didnt rise well at all even though i followed your steps. It didnt bubble much either. It was very heavy. Pizza looked beautiful but didnt taste fluffy like i was expecting. Do you think i might have added too much flour? Should I add more yeast maybe? 1/2tsp seems so little.
Hi Ksusha, I would suggest checking if your yeast is still active. It doesn’t rise as much as bread but it should rise as described in the post. It could also be too much flour – make sure to either weight in grams or use the method we suggest for measuring ingredients. I hope that helps.
Thank you for the help. I think too much flour was half the problem and the other half was that I took the dough out of the fridge 1.5hrs prior to cooking. I let the other half of the dough out 4 hrs prior to baking the next day and it formed the bubbles but was still a bit heavy. Definitely will try again to perfect it.
It tastes great btw!
I’m glad that was helpful!
SOS
Hi Natasha! I accidentally, added 1/2 tsp of salt instead of 1/2 tbs. it’s been about 2 hrs. Can my dough be salvaged or should I start over?
Hi Angela, the dough will be fine. It will still work well with less salt. The toppings will also add salt and will compensate. It tastes better with more, but the recipe will still work.
Can I bake my pizza in a pizza pan if I don’t have a stone or those other fancy things?
Hi Gabriela, others shared that they used a pizza pan and it worked well too.
We love to add broccoli and Italian sausage and use just olive oil. We also do spinach and artichokes.
Sometimes we go insane with pepperoni, sausage,band bacon.
** Can we cook the pizza at 425 degrees? If so, how long?
That sounds amazing! If that is the highest your oven will go, yes. You may need to adjust the bake time, however.
Really want to make this but, quick questions.
Does it have to be kneaded by hand only? Standing mixer won’t work?
Hi Natasha, a stand mixer isn’t necessary and I find I have more control doing this by hand. Also, I have baked after 5 hours in my testing and I found the cold fermentation is what gives you those desired bubbles in the crust, great texture and rise as the edges while it’s baking. It also tastes better after cold fermentation.
Made this, this past weekend which was not a good idea in 100 degree weather but non the less was so good I made extra so once it cools down will forsure be making more pizza 😘🍕
That is awesome! I’m so glad you liked it.
Hi Natasha, I love your blogs. I’ve made this pizza dough couple of times already, but I’d like to know if it is possible to let the dough rise in an instant pot? As an alternative to 4-5 hrs at room temp.
Hi Ann, I have not tested that in an instant pot to advise. If you experiment please let me know how you like that.
I used the Instant Pot rival pressure cooker, the a Crockpot Express to proof my dough using the yogurt function on low.
I had used google for a rough guideline but apparently didn’t read it clearly. It said to proof for 30 minutes, and I accidentally did it for an hour…. which I think was better based on the end result.
Hi Natasha! I was first impressed by this recipe with 70% hydration dough made with hand as I never seen it before as it is recommended to be done with a mixer. So I decided to give a try. I was surprised that you could fold a 70% hydrated dough with hands and that dough looks somehow hard in your hand though 70% dough are very soft e sticky and impossible to be worked by hand like you show in the video. So I gave it a try and I was right. After 4 hours I tried to fold the dough, and it was not as the hard dough you can fold in the video, though somewhat I managed to fold it and it is on the fridge now So finally I would love some info on this recipe, because it sounds good but it does not give the results that you are showing, and I really want this work.
Thank you a lot!
Hi Gris, it may be in the way you are measuring flour. Check out our post on measuring ingredients which may help answer your questions to get the texture correct. If you can weigh your ingredients, that would be even better.
I experienced the same thing. I bake bread every week. I use a scale to weigh flour. My pizza dough was still sticky after 24 hours. It wouldn’t even slide off and I floured it quite a bit. Even tho it wasn’t quite like the video it was a very good tasting crust. Guess it will take a few tries to figure things out. I’m sure there is a user error somewhere. Thank you so much for your recipe!
Hi Natasha. I have been trying to make a good pizza at home for a while now. none of the recipes ive tried have worked out. Except this one.. it did take me three tries to get it right..but finally when i got it, it was sooo yummy… thanks for the recipe…. i was so excited that when i formed the crust with my hands it didn’t break this time and i saw the bubbles
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it Smitha!
Hi Natasha, I’m a long time viewer of your cooking videos and first time commenting. Just wanted to let you know that this pizza recipe was great! Your video is so helpful to understand the technique for preparing the pizza and shaping it. This is the first time I was able to make a mostly circle pizza lol.
That is awesome, great job! Thanks for leaving a comment here and for your excellent review!
with everything going on, i could only find fresh yeast. Will it work?
Hi Kathy, I haven’t tested this with fresh yeast to advise.
We made it with fresh yeast. Used double the amount of yeast that you asked for and it turned out amazing! My kiddos love this pizza and want it everyday. My oldest loves following your recipes. You are our go to. Will get a pizza stone as we made it on a baking sheet, but still the best recipe.
That is so great to know that it works great using double the fresh yeast. Did you change anything else in the process or keep the steps the same? Others have asked about using fresh yeast and your review is so helpful. Thank you!
Hi Natasha,
I made the pizza and it was amazing!! Thank you so much. It was nice and crisp and crunchy. My son loved it so much he wants it every weekend. I k ow you said we could use instant yeast. Couple questions
#1 do you think it will taste the same as far as crisp and crunchy crust?
#2 you said you could put the instant yeast in with the flour, what would be the next steps and so forth?
I love your cinnamon rolls by the way, will be making them today!
Thanks so much for all your great recipes. P.S your meatloaf is so on point also!!
Elle
Hi Elle, I always make mine with active dry yeast. If I were to do it with instant, I would mix it into the flour and then just add the liquids to that flour mixture.
Would you use the same amount of instant dry yeast? Or reduce it?
Hi Heather, I always make mine with active dry yeast. If I were to do it with instant, I would mix it into the flour and then just add the liquids to that flour mixture.
I’ve been making pizza for years and have tried many crusts. This is the best one I have found and it will be my go to recipe from now on. Thanks. Kelly
That is just perfect! Thank you so much for your good comments.
Hi there all the way from New Zealand. We tried this recipe along with your white pizza sauce for a cheese pizza and it was awesome. Definitely be using this recipe again
I’m so glad that you loved it! Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
I really want to make this but I dont have a pizza stone… what do you recommend? also your kids are super cute !!!
Hi Amberley, you can use a pizza pan or a baking pan! That should work great! I recommend reading through the comments for some tips also, our readers have the best ideas! One reader mentioned using cast iron.
Hi I want to try your recipe for dough but does the Honey make it sweet?
Hi Denise, it does not. Most pizza dough has either sugar or honey in it.
I’ve just finished mixing the initial ingredients and set aside for the first rise. Since I cook for one, how should I divide and shape the dough for smaller size pizzas? Will the dough freeze properly after the second rise in the refrigerator after it’s already divided? Thanks, Natasha!
Hi Sara, freezing will work fine. To Freeze Pizza Dough: 1. Let the dough do it’s cold ferment overnight before freezing. 2. Lightly coat the dough with oil and transfer to a resealable freezer-safe zip bag and squeeze out the excess air then freeze up to 3 months. 3. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator then transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rest on the counter and come to room temperature 1 hour before shaping.
How should I divide and form the dough for smaller pizzas as I cook for only one?
Hi Sara, that should work fine, just form smaller balls of dough – I would cut them further in half but probably not smaller than that.