This easy homemade pizza dough recipe can be made a couple hours or a couple weeks before mealtime. It’s simple, fast, freezable, and most importantly a recipe your whole family will love. Skip all the way to the bottom of the post for this easy homemade pizza dough recipe, or skim through this post for step-by-step pictures and instructions. Enjoy!
Pizza is such a big deal in my family that my dad’s birthday is referred to as National Pizza Day. He’ll announce weeks in advance that National Pizza Day is coming, and then we all wait to see where he picks for his pizza dinner that year.
And no one in our family complains because every single one of us shares his love for pizza. My daughters’ affection for pizza makes him beam. 😉
Take away from me all of the cookies, cake, burgers, and tacos, but please don’t tell me that I can never eat pizza again. I don’t want to know that life.
If I were following Coach Mark’s plan 100% of the time, I would have one indulgence meal per week. I’m 99% sure that every single week in September I requested pizza. Jamie: You get one meal a week to eat whatever you want, and you want pizza again? Are you sure?!?!
There’s just something about sharing pizza with those you love that caters to a laid back, hassle-free, enjoyable time together.
Most people order delivery pizza or dine at a restaurant when they get a craving for pizza, but we DeSpains simple walk to the pantry, grab a small handful of ingredients, and get to work. It’s mega cheap, super easy, really fun, and most importantly oh so delicious.
Let’s get bakin’!
For starters, you’ll need this little trio of yeast packets (available in most baking aisles). There are other brands, but I haven’t tried them. I have tried the Rapid Rise from this brand, and for this recipe, it’s a no-go. Stick with this one. You’ll need to cut off just one packet, so you’ll have two more for future pizza making. 🙂
Pour one yeast packet into 1.5 cups of hot water. You could warm water in the microwave, or you could be like me and wait for the water from your kitchen sink to get as hot as it gets, and then put a glass measuring cup under it. Easy peasy. Give the yeast a quick stir to make sure it’s all covered in water. Otherwise, the yeast tends to float on top of the water.
After letting the water/yeast mixture set for five minutes, pour in 2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil and 1 tsp sugar. Stir well.
In large mixing bowl, combine four cups of unbleached all-purpose flour and 2 tsp of salt.
Pour wet mixture into dry mixture, attach your dough hook onto your stand mixer, and mix on medium speed for roughly 60 seconds.
If you do not have a stand mixer, no worries! I made pizza dough for years before I got this mixer. Simply mix with a spoon for 1-2 minutes then dig in with your hands to get it all nice and worked in together.
The dough will still be quite sticky. At this point we’ll start adding a bit more flour slowly until it’s barely sticky to the touch. Start with 1/4 cup flour, mix for about 30 seconds, and then test. If it’s still sticking to your finger a good bit (making it difficult to easily shape into a ball), continue to add 2 tbsp of additional flour at a time. (1/4 cup of flour is usually perfect for me.)
This (below) is what your desired dough should look like before you get it out of the bowl. It’s formed itself into a nice ball but needs to be worked in and shaped a bit.
Coat your hands in flour, grab the dough, and start working it in with your hands until you have a nice, classic pizza dough ball.
In large bowl, pour in 1 tsp of olive oil. Roll your dough ball around in the oil until it’s nicely coated all around. Place your dough ball in the bowl, and then cover tightly with plastic wrap.
Set the bowl in the kitchen and let it rise for at least one hour. Watch it double!
Now you’re ready to roll – literally! First, preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
You can split your dough ball in half to make two small pizzas, or make one gigantic pizza. I usually do two small ones since our daughters like simple pizza and my husband and I often like all kinds of vegetables.
Your dough will thicken in the oven, so roll it a bit thinner than you think you might like it.
You can cook your pizza on a stone (our preference 100%!) or a metal pan. For a metal pan, make sure you generously coat it in non-stick spray.
Before putting your dough on the pan or stone, coat it lightly in white cornmeal. This gives it a nice, light, gritty texture that you don’t want to miss!
Now you’re ready to put your dough on the pan/stone and finish shaping. Pop it in the oven for eight minutes.
Once your crust has cooked a bit, you’re ready to top it. But first, may I recommend brushing on a generous amount of honey then a sprinkling of garlic salt onto your crust? Oh my goodness. This absolutely sets this pizza apart. It gives it this salty/sweet light flavor that is mild but wonderful!
Top your pizza however you’d like, then bake for an additional 7-9 minutes. You’ll know it’s done when your crust is lightly browned, the cheese is all melted, and your belly says “Get in here!”
Finish with a dash of oregano before slicing and serving.
PS: Don’t have time to make the dough the day of? No worries! It’s freezable. Once you’ve let your dough rise, wrap it tightly in a couple layers of plastic wrap. Once you’re ready to eat it, let it dethaw in the refrigerator overnight. Finally, let your dough get to room temperature by letting it sit on the kitchen counter for 30-60 minutes before rolling it out.
We have been using and perfecting versions of this dough for years, and it just keeps getting better and better!
A few ideas for when to make this easy homemade pizza dough:
- when you have friends coming over and you want to serve something you cooked, but you don’t want it to look like you tried too hard.
- the night before a big holiday, such as Thanksgiving or Christmas
- when you want to serve a “pizza bar” as entertainment, and you set out lots of mini dough balls and toppings
- when you just want to lounge with your family on a Friday night and eat pizza in sweatpants
- when you want a fun activity to do with your kids or grandkids
Giveaway!
Because my favorite way to cook this pizza is on my Pampered Chef stone, I figured I’d give one away to one of you! All you have to do to enter is make your pizza between now and next Saturday, November 10th and share a picture on Instagram (either on your feed or your stories). Tag me (@WhimsicalSeptember) and use the hashtag #WhimsicalSeptemberPizzaChallenge. I’ll random pick one winner from those who participate in trying out this pizza recipe! Can’t wait to hear your feedback and see what creations you come up with!
Easy Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe
- DOUGH:
- 1.5 cups of hot water
- one packet of yeast (1/4 oz)
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil + 1 tsp for later
- 1 tsp sugar
- 4 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour + ~1/2 cup for later
- 2 tsp salt
- TO PREPARE PIZZA:
- 2 tbsp white cornmeal
- 1 tbsp honey
- a sprinkle of garlic salt
- a sprinkle of oregano
- ~ 1 cup of marinara sauce
- ~ 2 cups of shredded mozzarella
- additional pizza toppings of choice
- TO MAKE DOUGH:
- Pour entire yeast packet into hot water. Use a spoon to give a quick stir to make sure all yeast is coated in water. Set for 5 minutes.
- Pour EVOO and sugar into the water/yeast mix. Give a quick stir.
- In separate large bowl, combine flour with salt.
- Pour liquid mixture into large bowl with flour mixture.
- Using your Kitchenaid mixer's dough hook, turn on medium speed for 60 seconds. (If you're not using a stand mixer, you can use a hand mixer or a spoon. You can even work it in with your hands after giving it an initial stir.
- Dough will be sticky. Add an additional ¼ cup flour to the mixture and return to medium speed.
- At this point, the dough shouldn't be sticking terribly to your hands. If it is, continue to add 2 tbsp of flour until you can easily grab it out of the bowl to shape into a ball.
- With your hands coated in flour, work in the dough until a nice ball is formed.
- In a large bowl, pour in 1 tsp of EVOO. Roll dough ball around in the EVOO until it is completely coated.
- Place dough ball in bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap.
- Set bowl on the counter to let the dough rise for 1-3 hours.
- Once dough has doubled in size, you're ready to make your pizza!
- TO MAKE PIZZA:
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- You can now either split dough ball in half to make two smaller pizzas, or make one large pizza.
- Lightly coat the bottom of your cooking stone with cornmeal. If using a metal pan, coat generously with non-stick spray and then lightly spread around cornmeal.
- Roll out dough, form your crust, then pop in the oven for seven minutes.
- After seven minutes, lightly brush honey onto the crust of the pizza.
- Sprinkle crust with garlic salt.
- Time for toppings! Top pizza to your desire, then stick back in the oven for 7-9 minutes. The crust should be lightly browned before it's ready.
- Slice pizza and enjoy immensely!
More: We are also big fans of this naan bread pizza recipe!
Hi! I’m Erica, and I absolutely adore sharing my life on this website with you! I come here almost daily to blab about all of the things related to being a regular wife and mother in today’s ever-evolving society. I share about our new home, what’s on our kitchen table, what we’re hanging in our closets, where we’re traveling to next, my crazy 5 a.m. work outs, how I make time for girlfriends, our faith, and much more. We always have a lot of balls in the air and somewhat thrive on the chaos. I believe in the power of story-telling as a form of inspiration and entertainment, so I’m here to do both! I was born and raised in north Alabama and recently re-planted roots here again after my husband transitioned out of the Army (he is now in the Reserve and it’s going so well!) I’m a super proud mom to three little girls (ages 7, 4, and 1) who seem to be the stars of the show around here (for good reason – they’re pretty great!) I’m so glad you found me and are here reading! I hope we can get to know each other here on the blog as well as Facebook and/or Instagram. xoxo