Homemade Pizza Dough using 6 ingredients and makes a beautiful thin or thick crunchy crust. Just as a salad is only as good as it's dressing, I believe the same for pizza. A pizza is as good as the crust. Whether you like your pizza thin or thick, the crust should be crunchy with a bite to it otherwise it's borderline sandwich right?
If you've made my easy bread recipe then you can make this homemade pizza recipe. It's even easier because once it's in the oven, it takes minutes before it's ready! I don't recall when last we had pizza out or take-out, it's been years. If you've never made pizza before or are a beginner, give it a try and then keep making it and soon you will never buy pizza again! The taste is evidently so different and homemade pizza is fresh. You get to decide how you want to make it and what toppings you want to add. Getting the family to join in is a wonderful family bonding and memory building family affair, making your own pizza really is a win win.
Like most things, once you get used to making it yourself, there's no comparison to the taste, texture and ingredients that you get to choose allowing you to make healthier choices. Try these homemade popular recipes to start like Basil Pesto Recipe or easy bread for homemade goodness.
So Many Reasons To Love This Recipe
- Versatile
- Even a beginner can do this, it's so easy
- Ingredient friendly so you wont be stuck trying to find something
- Easy recipe
- Fresh and homemade
Ingredients For Homemade Pizza Dough
From what flour type to use, rising time, rolling and shaping the pizza, let's get started by using the pizza basics; flour, salt, yeast, sugar, water and olive oil.
Flour: So we've used an array of flours to make pizza and the one that always trumps the charts is the pizza flour. It has a lower gluten percentage and you'll also find that it needs much less water than bread flour because of it's fine silky texture. Naturally the double zero Italian flour is better for pizza but I do use both '0' and '00'.
I must admit that Bread flour is a strong contender, it has much more of bite to it. I generally use white stoneground unbleached bread flour, stoneground unbleached cake flour or pizza flour.
You will also need a few other ingredients for this recipe.
Water: I've shared more on water below in this post, just scroll down a bit but be sure to use warm water. Not hot water or the yeast won't rise because you would've killed it (it is a living organism) and too cold, well nothing happens. An ideal water temperature? 38°C / 100/110°F which would normally come from the tap because it's more likely equivalent to the temperature in the room.
Dry active yeast: It will make the dough rise.
Olive oil: Olive oil adds flavor to the dough. This is something that I've always done with my pizza's and have my daughters to do the same - brush the pizza base with olive oil (crust included). I saw my mother in law do it and followed suit not knowing that it helps prevent the crust from tasting soggy!
Sugar: Yeast needs sugar so we feed it sugar to help activate it.
Salt: As someone who prefers bread flour because of it's structure that it seems to give the pizza I am bound to tell you, don't leave the salt out! Salt helps strengthen the dough, gives it structure and it's necessary.
How To Make Homemade Pizza Dough
You can make pizza dough by hand using a bowl and a wooden spoon or a stand mixer.
Option 1
Step 1. Add the flour, salt, active dry yeast and sugar to the mixing bowl. Start on a low setting with the dough hook attached to combine the salt and flour. If doing this by hand, use the spoon to combine the dry ingredients.
Option 2 - This is only for the first part of the recipe, the rest is the same.
In the bowl of your stand mixer (or any large bowl) add the warm water and sugar, sprinkle the yeast on top, let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes, then stir to combine. Add the flour, salt, and olive oil and continue with the rest of the recipe.
Why Give 2 Options For the Yeast
If your yeast has been somewhere in the back of the cupboard, it helps to use option 2. This method allows you to test the if the yeast is fresh before continuing with the rest of the recipe. If your yeast does not froth, use a new packet. I use the 1st option because my yeast is on fast rotation, from the same supplier, always alive.
Step 2. Pour the water and oil into the dry ingredients and mix until your dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl and is wrapped around the dough hook.
If your dough is not pulling away from the sides of the bowl, it's probably because it's too sticky in which case you need to so add a spoonful of flour at a time.
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The same as above if you are mixing by hand. Get your dough into a soft ball of dough that has bounce and softness to it, not hard, not sticky. The full recipe card with the quantities are below which work every single time so this is just incase you need to know (for first timers).
Step 3. Knead the dough whether you are using a stand mixer or not, this next step applies to both methods.
Remove the dough from the bowl onto a lightly floured surface and knead until you have smooth ball, a couple of minutes. It doesn't take longer than 2 to 4 minutes. Shape it into a ball and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise until doubled in size.
If your climate is warm/hot the inside of your unlit oven is good enough to rest the dough while rising. If your climate is cold, then preheat your oven in advance, when you ready to rest the dough, turn the off and leave your dough inside to rise unless you have a keep warm setting on your oven. Because our climate is more warm than cold I use the first option, covered in an unlit oven.
Step 4. When the dough has doubled in size (1 to 2 hours depending on temperatures and yeast amount) transfer the dough from the bowl to a floured work surface. Deflate and cut into two parts. Roll them out one at at time to fit the pizza tray or stone that you will be baking them in.
Step 5 Add your toppings and bake at high temperature.
When adding your toppings, make sure to have the pizza dough in the pizza or oven tray that you are planning to bake it in. Once the fillings are on, trying to lift the pizza may be a disaster especially if you've overloaded the pizza base.
Is Olive Oil Even Necessary
Yes it is necessary. Adding olive oil to your pizza has many benefits like a crispy flavorful crust and it adds flavor. You might be used to making pizza without olive oil which makes it a bread dough, not pizza dough.
Can you use Canola Oil?
Yes you can but it wont hold the same flavor as explained above.
Baking Your Pizza
Preheat the oven to its highest temperature, which is generally 230 / 250 C. You can use a pizza tray, oven tray or pizza stone just make sure to spray some cooking spray over the pizza tray / oven tray. I normally add a light sprinkle of flour over the cooking spray (that's optional). Pizza stones must be heated up first. Bake your pizza for anything from 7 to 10 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. I say 7 minutes because that's when you want to be peeping in to see how brown it is and if the cheese is bubbling then you can get ready to take it out on 8 / 9 minutes.
Recipes To Try With Pizza Dough
Tips and Suggestions
Water temperature kitchen thermometer should read 32°to 43° C / 90° and 110°F. Yeasts are tiny living organisms like plants, animals, humans and insects therefore need to be treated with care. When you buy a packet of yeast the yeasts are dry and inactive. Preserved so they don't need to eat but once you mix yeast with dough they come alive and start eating creating carbon dioxide. So when a recipe like this, says wait for the dough to rise what's in effect happening is that you are giving the yeast organisms time to eat. They create small pockets of carbon dioxide which make fluffy dough! Referenced here because understanding the process makes it more enjoyable.
If your water is too hot, it will kill the yeasts, the dough won't rise because the yeasts were not able to eat, therefore not rise. If the water is too cold, nothing will happen, so the yeast will not rise (you just wet them for no reason). See, that little lesson helps! Use warm water from the tap, that's generally room temp warm water which is what you want to use.
Dough rising is affected by other elements like the room temperature not just the water and usually the room temp and water temp are the same if using room temperature water so don't fuss too much about it. If everything is room temp you will have a beautiful dough.
Storing Your Pizza Dough
Bake: Once your pizza dough is ready you can add the toppings and bake immediately but if you would like to bake it the next day, read the next line.
Refrigerate: Pack the dough balls in individual Ziploc bags in the fridge overnight and roll them out the next day (a couple minutes to reach room temp is fine)Flour Bread flour gives you a much crispier crust and cake flour will give you a chewier crust, however, they both work.
Topping Choices For Homemade Pizza Dough
Pizza toppings are definitely a matter of preference because I may tell you salami and you think mushrooms or both so it's really up to you. For interest, here are a few options;
- Salami, prosciutto, or other cured meats.
- Mozzarella, parmesan or any cheese type
- Veggies like tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli, butternut, spinach etc.
- Fresh herbs like basil, parsley, rocket or add them after the pizza comes out the oven.
- Dried spice mix in the sauce and on the pizza layers, try your favorite 100% natural spices.
More Delicious Recipes
- Easy Italian Homemade Pizza Recipe (image below)
- Salami Pizza
- Easy Pizza Sauce Recipes
- Homemade Ciabatta Bread
- How To Make Pita Bread
- Homemade Pie Crust
- Calzone
- How To Make Pita Bread
If you try this Homemade Pizza Dough recipe please feel free to leave me a comment and a star rating! And if you take a photo of your dish and share it on Instagram, please tag me @anosmickitchen and use the hashtag #anosmickitchen because I love seeing your remakes! Happy cooking????
Homemade Pizza Dough
Ingredients
- 500 grams flour bread or cake plus more for rolling
- 7 grams dry yeast
- 1 ½ tsps salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 ½ cups warm water See notes below
- 2 tbsps. olive oil plus more for greasing the bowl
Instructions
- Add the dry ingredients into a bowl In the bowl of a stand mixer (or any other bowl if working by hand) add the flour, salt and yeast. With the dough hook attached, combine the ingredients on a low setting #1 / or use a wooden spoon.
- Add the wet ingredients Pour in the warm water and olive oil, increase the speed #2 and mix until you see the dough wrapping itself around the dough hook. You may have to stop once and scrape the insides of the bowl. Use a wooden spoon / hands to mix into a dough. Same as above, you want a cohesive ball of dough. If the dough is too sticky or wet, add a little flour to the dough before taking it out onto a floured surface but make sure you're adding the flour by a tablespoon not all at once! Same applies if the dough is too dry, by the tablespoon add water. For Both Options!When the dough comes all together transfer it onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead into a smooth round ball for around 3 minutes. You will have a round smooth finish dough ball.
- Prep The Dough To Rise Grease a large bowl with a drizzle of olive oil rub it on the inside of the bowl. Place the dough inside the bowl and roll it over once to collect the oil. Cover with a kitchen cloth and leave for 1 to 2 hours until double in size in a draft free area. You can cover the dough with plastic wrap too.
- Preheat The Oven to 250°C / 450°F. Your oven needs to be very hot for pizza so let it preheat for at least 20 to 30 minutes. Prep Your Trays Lightly flour a pizza or oven tray or you can use cooking spray or both. If you have semolina that will help give the pizza texture and some flavorful crunch.
- Roll The Dough Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface deflate and divide it into 2 or 4 parts. This recipe makes 2 'thick' regular sized pizza's or 3 thin to medium sized pizzas or 4 very thin pizza's. You choose. Option To Bake The Next Day You can also, at this point place the dough balls (after deflating the air) into individual Ziploc bags, leave them in the fridge overnight and continue the next day. Okay, lets continue...
- Short 2nd Rise Roll each part into a round ball, cover and let them rise for 10 to 15 minutes. This a short 2nd rise that you can do while you prep the toppings.You can also go right ahead and roll the dough parts out into round disc shapes to bake but you may have difficulty in getting the dough to stretch to fit the pan. If that happens, just come back to this point, stop rolling, cover as is and give the dough 10 to 15 minutes to rest, then come back and try rolling again.
- Pizza Disc Shapes Roll each dough ball out into disc shapes trying to fit the pizza pan or tray. My pizza tray is a 12 inch circle size or you can use a large plate for a rough size. You can now pinch the edges to create sort of 'fold' for the crust if you like.
- When you dough is shaped and the edges folded (or not) you can start with the topping preparations, so cover the dough and prep the toppings. If you've already prepped your topping go straight ahead to the next step.
- Prep the Pizza Bases Use a fork to poke holes into the pizza base, this prevents it from puffing up while it's in the oven. Brush over the base with olive oil. I just give the pizza base (and crust) a single brush of oil. It helps the prevent any sogginess in the pizza and gives the crust some flavor and browning. Top with your toppings of choice. Generally I spread out the pizza sauce first, top it with grated mozzarella, salami and oregano. That's just an idea of our favorite.
- Baking Your Pizza And Oven Temperatures Bake your pizza for 10 to 12 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Ovens can be emotional 🙂 so I set my timer for 9 minutes, turn the oven off and leave the oven door slightly ajar for another 2 minutes. Work with your oven it might not be emotional 🙂 If I forget to set the timer (like always) I then set 5 or 7 minutes to remind myself depending on how long it went in then just peep to check. You just want it golden brown and bubbly.
- Serve and Enjoy Slice warm and enjoy! If when you taste your pizza, your palate needs salt, sprinkle a bit of sea salt or meat salt for the perfect pizza slice.
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