The Best Pizza Dough
(note: I’ve edited this recipe since originally posting it here in 2008. Enjoy!)
- 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour (original recipe had 1 3/4 cups white flour and 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour)
- 1/4 cup olive oil (original recipe had 2 tbsp oil)
- 1 1/3 cup warm water
- 1 packet yeast (1/4th oz)
- 2 tsp sea salt
In a mixing bowl, combine the warm water and yeast.
Stir in the salt and flour and mix on medium high speed on your KitchenAid for 5 minutes. While the mixer is going, drizzle in the olive oil.
When the dough is soft and elastic, take out of the bowl, rub with olive oil and then place back in the bowl, cover with a dish towel and let rise for one hour.
After the dough has doubled in size, cut in half to make two large pizza doughs or make mini doughs. You could also do what I like to do and freeze the dough in a plastic baggie for another time! When you are ready for your pizza, roll out the dough, cover with your toppings and bake at 425 for 10-15 minutes.
**You could also make this dough without an electric mixer…..just knead by hand for about 8 minutes and then follow above steps! I’ve made it by hand many, many times and it always comes out right.
Try it for cheesy zucchini pizza, pear gorgonzola flatbread and classic margarita pizza with mushrooms and goat cheese!
{ 64 comments… read them below or add one }
hi jenna! i used this dough recipe the other day and it turned out fabulous
i posted pictures in my latest post. the crust was perfectly crispy, and it was doughy and flavourful. thank you!
i second that!
Jenna,
Why can’t you use all whole-wheat flour? Same with the rolls … I just read French Women Don’t Get Fat (LOVED IT) and want to make the baguette from there (any tips?) but a whole-wheat version. I would love to do 100% whole wheat. What is the reason not to? Are there any other changes I would have to make?
Thanks and great recipes!
Usasually whole wheat flour doesn’t have enough gluten in it so it will not stick together as well as regular flour. Just add a little gluten (box at walmart) or accept bread that crumbles a little bit, especially when cooled.
Best pizza dough EVER! I have tried so many whole wheat recipes and they usually just aren’t that tasty. This is just fabulous, nice and crispy, yet still has that hearty whole wheat taste. I don’t have a mixer, but I didn’t really want to mix by hand cause I’m lazy like that, so I just use the bread blade that came with my food processor and it works PERFECTLY! Thanks for the recipe!
Hi there! I’m a fairly new reader
I was wondering how many servings this makes? It’s sounds delicious!
Thanks!
*alli
Jenna,
Thanks for the recipe — it truly is the best pizza dough! I made it last night and smothered it in veggies:
http://sillytatertot.com/2009/09/05/avoid-the-noid-amazing-homemade-pizza/
I have half a batch in the freezer and can’t wait to make this pizza again!
How about subbing whole wheat pastry flour? Now I use it exclusively in place of white flour called for in baking. It’s less grainy than whole wheat and really tastes like white.
I used this recipe last night and it turned out great! Thanks for sharing!
I have to try this!
I was wondering, though, how long would the dough keep in the freezer?
Do you think you can make this with another kind of flour besides wheat my nephews are wheat sensitive. I suppose you could…has anyone else evr done that?
Oh…this sounds perfect! I can’t wait to make this very soon! Thanks!!
The dough did not rise at all. What was the yeast sposed to do?
My guess is you used old yeast! That has happened to me a few times!
You might have killed the yeast if your liquid was too hot.
Hi, Jenna! I’m not usually the fan mail kind of gal, but I just had to finally write and thank you for this pizza dough recipe. I’ve been reading and enjoying your blog for some time and have made many of your recipes. Last night I made a pizza so good that I wished I had a way to get a few slices to you. First I peeled and then thinly sliced half a butternut squash. I placed it in a saute pan with about 2/3 cup of homemade chicken stock and cooked it for about 7 minutes until the stock was mostly cooked out and the squash was soft. I added a tablespoon of butter, a little sea salt, and some sage. When the butter was a beautiful shade of brown, I spread the squash on some pizza dough. I then crumbled over some goat cheese, added a little shredded mozz for meltiness (they didn’t teach me that word in culinary school, but I still think it’s a word), some fresh black pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. It was SO good. I only wish I’d added some caramelized onions. Thanks, Jenna, for your great writing and recipes. You are a joy!
This IS the best pizza dough I’ve ever used. I just used it for strombolis, and I’ve never had such perfect dough. Thanks!
About how many miniature pizzas would this make?
it depends on the size of your mini pizza. I’d say four, maybe?
I made this On Sunday and froze it. I took it out of the freezer to thaw out to use it last night but we had unexpected plans and could not make it. I put it back into the fridge to use tonight… Will it still be ok since it wasn’t used right away? Is there anything I should do to it before using it? I can’t wait to try it! Thanks for the great recipe!
can i let it rise for MORE than an hour? is that a silly question? i need (want?) to go to wine tasting for 3 hours and then make the pizza, but want the dough to be ready when i get home so we can make the pizzas right away!
Hi–I also wondered about the whole wheat flour; my boyfriend and I only eat whole grain, whole wheat. Could the recipe use ALL whole wheat? If not, any suggestions?
Thanks much,
E.G.
Hi Jenna! I love this dough! I made a BBQ chicken pizza last night and it turned out great with this dough recipe! Love your site!
I love this recipe- I’ve tried making dough several times, and it always turned out horribly wrong. But this recipe is sure-fire! When I’m not too lazy to just use a pre-made crust (like naan) I use your recipe.
And it grills GREAT!
Thanks (and extra thanks from my hubby)!
So glad to of found your blog and this awesome recipe!!! I’ll be making this on the weekend, by hand, thank you very much!
any advice on how to knead by hand without an electric mixer? thanks!!!
This is now my basic pizza dough recipe. I’m making it for the second time tonight! Thanks Jenna!
Such an easy and delicious dough! My favourite!
yum! this is the first yeast bread i have gotten to work and it was delicious. thanks
yum! this is the first yeast bread i have gotten to work and it was delicious. thanks
Hi Jenna,
Thanks for this recipe. It turned out great!! It tasted good and was easy to make. I posted about my experience making my first homemade pizza using your dough recipe at the link below. I did link to your site and to this recipe a couple times, so I hope it’s okay that I blogged about it. If not, or if I need to change something please let me know.
Thanks!
http://healthnutholdthenut.blogspot.com/2011/11/homemade-pizza-screw-c-pizza.html
awesome!! glad you liked it!
I made this recipe last night, after stumbling upon it in a frantic search for an “easy, delicious” pizza recipe. It turned out wonderfully and I just made one giant pizza on a cookie sheet, added green pepper and pepperoni and tons of mozzarella. So good. I’m going to use the recipe to make calzones for a Christmas gaming party later in the month. Thanks so much for this!
I used this recipe to make pizza the other day and it was so delicious and easy to make! Thanks again!
Very good pizza dough recipe!
How much yeast is it? How much yeast is in one “packet”?
1/4th oz
This is seriously the best pizza dough ever! My friend told me about it and I had to try it. I used it to make cheese stuffed pizza crust bites and they turned out so good!!! The texture is perfect and it is so easy to make this dough. I posted about the bites on my blog (don’t worry, I mentioned your blog and linked back to you for the crust!), but thank you so much for this recipe! Absolutely amazing
The first time I tried this was a total fail, but I tried again last night and it was fabulous! I kneaded by hand, and it wasn’t difficult at all. I have the other half in the freezer, and can’t wait to make it again!
I am confused. Where doea anybody get the idea that whole wheat flour was uased. Am I missing something.
The original recipe used both all purpose and whole wheat flour.
Any chance you could post that recipe again, Jenna? My family loved it, but I never wrote it down
For that, you use half whole wheat flour and half regular—I’ve found that this one turns out even better though!
Thanks for the recepie, it turned out great the first time i made it and im actually making it again tonight!
I’m not going to lie Jenna – I am so upset that you re-wrote this recipe and have apparently deleted the original version from your website. That was my absolute favorite pizza dough and I never wrote down the original recipe because you had it posted. I
know you said above that you just replace half the flour with whole wheat, but that doesn’t seem to be the only change you’d have to make. I remember the original recipe having WAY less olive oil than what you list, and possibly more water (but again, I can’t remember).
I really wish you would post both variations here for us readers that love this recipe of yours.
I’m sorry, Laura! I had been working on this recipe and this variation turns out much better than the original! However, I totally understand and I will add back in the original recipe with the new edits for you. I’m sorry about that!
I just wish people would quit saying sea salt. it sounds pretentious, all salt is sea salt. If you mean a courser salt say so. The same for Kosher salt. If it isn’t blessed by a rabbi, it isn’t kosher.
@Barry – No Barry, all salt is NOT sea salt. Salt that is mined is generally “fractionated” salt which means the minerals are removed from it and sold as vitamins – the remainder (NaCl) sodium chloride (which is highly corrosive and disease causing in this form) is sold to us as “table salt”.
The finest salt is called Celtic Sea Salt and is made in the salt flats of France – it has a beautifully sweet taste unlike any salt you may had, is high in magnesium and very healthful. Once you tried it you’ll never go back to regular salt!
Bryan
Hey!
I love your site and your recipes, but I noted two things that needed to be brought up re: this recipe:
1. For people using jars of yeast rather than packets, one packet yields approximately 2.5 teaspoons.
2. People using Kitchenaid stand mixers should not mix their dough at a speed higher than 2 (as recommended by the manual). I haven’t had my mixer very long, so I wasn’t super familiar with the manual. When I followed the pizza dough recipe’s advice of mixing at “medium-high” speed, it burnt out a piece of the motor. That’s when I went back, read the manual more thoroughly and realized that you should definitely NOT blend dough at a speed higher than 2. Whoops! Luckily, my mixer was still under warranty, but I just thought you might want to note that in the recipe so no one else makes the mistake I did!
1 package of yeast is 2 1/4 tsp. of bulk yeast
so I used to use the original recipe all the time so when I used what you said was the original recipe again. It was a sticky mess. It was like a pile of fluffy glue after rising. I’m not sure (I’ve made alot of pizza dough in the last few years) but I think the “original”recipe you have on there now is different than the actual original recipe.
I think I will try this recipe for Friday Pizza Night tomorrow, thank you! What type of yeast do you use? I am new to baking bread, and I get confused between rapid-rise, active dry, etc…
Hi!
I just used this pizza dough recipe to make a vegan eggplant pizza and it was GREAT! I used 2 cups unbleached flour and 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour and I used a little raw sugar in the yeast/water part. It was soooooo good! I will use this from now on! thank you!!!!
I love this recipe and use it all the time. I’m having a make-your-own pizza party on Friday. If I make the dough Thursday, will it keep in the fridge until Friday evening? Or should I make it Wednesday night, freeze it and then let it thaw in the fridge all day Friday?
One of my biggest problems is I always eat the pizza dough before I make the pizza.
This dough is my go to pizza dough. We do it at least once a week and my family rants and raves EVERY time. Thank you for this!
How many bases does this dough make?
I am always trying to improve my dough and I will try yours. I don’t know why mine is never elastic. And I notice that you didn’t place a water tempeture for the yeast. I thought it was 100 – 110 degrees and I always waited for the yeast to bubble before adding to the flour. I agree that wholewheat gives it less taste.
…and so, I done good. You don good, LOL. Thanks for the advice. I sense that rubbing oil on the ball of dough keeps the skin from drying. When you have a moment, i wold still like you to discuss the water temp with the yeast. I still use the 100 – 110 degree method. I can’t wait to try out the Celtic Seal Salt. I’ll bet it is expensive but certainly worth a try. And thanks for the explain about table salt. I never knew why the complaints until now.
Oh, and I forgot to add a short story on pizza. when I was a child,my family would vist a great aunt of mine. she didn’t know any English but she would bend down to me and say, “billy, I maka you pizza today.” In my excitement, I sat there and watched her kneed the dough over and over again. Eventually the smell from the oven made me ecstatic. To me, kneeding is part of the ritual and it always brings me back to that moment in the kitchen with my aunt.
Oh, boy, did i have trouble with this one! I’m not totally new to yeast dough (and pizza dough), so I knew what was it supposed to be like, but my mixer was nowhere near starting to “clean” the bowl – on the contrary, the dough was SO sticky it was all over the place , it started climbing so high on the dough hook that I had to stop it a few times to put it back to save the mechanism. I added some flour (actually, quite a lot, maybe almost a cup more), kneaded by hand, then had to add a little water, put it back in the mixer and.. eventually I got the dough I was expecting! It is still rising so I don’t know how it tastes yet but it should be fine.
What I wanted to say is, I KNOW it’s NOT the recipe’s fault at all, it’s the whole cup-thing. I am from Europe and I measure everything on a digital scale. I convert cup-to-gram ingredients all the time but it is SO tricky with the flour – “a cup of flour” could be anywhere between 100 and 200 grams, depending on how you pack it in that cup.
I love your blog and there are a lot of recipes here I want to try, so could you please be so nice and note somewhere how much does your cup of flour weigh (in grams or ounces, doesn’t matter)?
Thank you very much for the understanding and sorry for the long comment!
Update: Ok, it did turn out to be the best pizza dough and my guess is your cup of flour is around 150g
just made this and it came out perfect…it was a huge hit with my fam! thought i’d let you know
I’m new on the breads. This recipe was easy in so many ways , such as : simple & easy to find ingredients , a short list of ingredients, easy to pat out the dough . I loved , loved , loved this pizza dough recipe. Great taste ! This crust will hold a pile of veggies on top . It is a good idea to pat out the dough then place in oven for 15 minuets or more in a 325 degree oven, before adding your sauce and toppings . That is if you are using a pampered chef baking pan . I guess it takes a bit to heat up the pan. After adding all the toppings I still cooked in oven for another 30 min.’s . Again a awesome recipe !!!!!
Hello. Tell please, how many gramme in your cup? Simply at us make gauging by a glass in 250 gramme. And at you?
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