Homemade Pizza Dough

Making homemade pizza dough is easy! All you need is a few ingredients to turn your kitchen into the best pizzeria in town.

One of my families favorite things to do together, is family pizza night. We make the dough, pick out our ingredients, bake our pizzas and watch a movie together. 

Honestly, it doesn’t get much better. 

Now, you can have family pizza night with store bought dough but that takes so much fun out of it! Making your own dough is fun for the whole family. 

How do you make a good pizza dough from scratch?

Have you ever thought that making your own pizza dough is hard? I mean I used to. Especially when I found out yeast was involved. But guys, it is SO easy and I’m going to show you just how easy. 

STEP #1: Combine yeast, sugar and warm water together in the bowl of a stand mixer. And let set for 5 minutes, the mixture will get foamy. 

DES’ TIP: You don’t want the water to be too hot or it will kill the yeast. The recommendation is 110 degrees. 

STEP #2: Add in flour and salt. 

STEP #3: Attach the dough hook and turn the mixer to medium speed. Mix until the dough starts to come together. 

STEP #4: Reduce the speed to medium-low and beat for 5 minutes until a ball forms. Turn the dough into an oiled bowl. 

STEP #5: Cover and let rise until doubled. About 35 minutes. 

STEP #6: Use a rolling pin to roll into a circular shape. Place it on a pizza pan and continue stretching the dough until it covers the pan. 

STEP #7: Use a fork to pierce the dough all over. This step is optional but it will prevent bubbles from forming as the pizza cooks. 

STEP #8: Top with your favorite toppings! And bake at 430 for 15 – 20 minutes or until golden brown. 

Which flour is the best?

There are so many flours on the market these days, it can be hard to figure out which one to use. When it comes to making pizza dough, you’ll likely use either all purpose flour or bread flour. 

All purpose flour (AP flour) is, just as the name suggests, the perfect flour for just about anything. Whether you are baking cakes, cookies or bread, you can use AP flour and it’ll get the job done.

Bread flour, as the name suggests, is perfect for making bread. This is because the protein content is higher than that of AP flour. The higher the protein content the more gluten. Gluten is good for bread because it gives it the stretch, elasticity and chew that we are used to.

So which flour is the best for pizza dough? Personally, I like to do a combination of the two. I’ve tried using only AP flour and the dough didn’t stretch as easy as I wanted it to. I’ve tried using only bread flour and the dough was way too chewy. A combination of the two makes the perfect, airy and chewy pizza crust. 

For more on the differences between AP flour and Bread Flour check out this super informative article from Bon Appetite. 

This Easy Homemade Pizza Crust is great to top with whatever toppings you like the best! At our home we always make two batches of dough, we top one with my super easy pizza sauce, pepperoni and cheese for the kiddos and then one for us with more interesting toppings like an olive oil base with artichoke hearts and goat cheese. 

You can use this pizza crust in the oven or on the grill too! 

Looking for pizza recipes? Check out some of my favorites!

Calabrian Honey Pizza 

How to make Pizza on the Grill

Andouille and BBQ Chicken Pizza 

Mongolian BBQ Pizza 

Looking for more bread and muffin recipes? Check these out! 

Garlic Focaccia Bread 

Sweet Cornbread Muffins

Cheesy Rosemary Breadsticks