Homemade Pizza Dough
A reliable, forgiving pizza dough of flour, yeast, salt, water and olive oil, risen for an hour, that stretches easily and bakes with a crisp base and chewy crust.
Storing and Planning Ahead
Wrap each ball in oiled cling film and keep in the fridge for up to 3 days, when the flavour improves. The balls freeze for 3 months.
Making Homemade Pizza Dough
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Mix the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Add the water and olive oil and stir to a shaggy dough.
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Knead on a lightly floured surface for 8 to 10 minutes, until smooth, elastic and slightly tacky. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turn it once to coat, cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise for 1 hour, until doubled in size.
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Heat the oven to its highest setting, at least 240°C / 475°F (220°C / 430°F fan), with a large baking tray or a pizza stone inside.
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Knock the air out of the dough and divide it into 2 equal balls. Cover them with the tea towel and rest for 10 minutes.
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Stretch or roll each ball into a 30 cm circle on a sheet of baking parchment. Spread with sauce, add your toppings and slide the pizza, paper and all, onto the hot tray.
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Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the crust is puffed and golden and the base is crisp underneath.
Tips for Success
- Keep the dough slightly sticky. Extra flour in the kneading makes a dry dough that bakes into a hard, biscuit-like crust.
- Stretch the dough with your hands, and do not use a rolling pin if you can help it. Stretching keeps the air bubbles in the dough, and rolling squeezes them out.
- Heat the tray or stone for at least 20 minutes before the pizza goes in. A very hot surface is what gives a crisp base.
Behind the Recipe
A good pizza starts with the dough, and the dough is only flour, water, yeast and salt, with a little olive oil for softness. Its quality depends on how those four things are handled. Strong bread flour, with its higher protein content, gives a dough that stretches thin without tearing and a crust that is chewy rather than crumbly. Kneading develops the gluten that makes it elastic, and a slightly wet dough, one that is a little tacky when you touch it, gives an open, airy crumb and a crisp base. In Naples, where pizza was born, the dough is made with fine 00 flour and baked in a wood-fired oven at 450°C for a minute or two, and no home oven can match that. The answer for the home cook is to heat the oven as high as it will go and to put a heavy baking tray or a pizza stone inside it, so the base meets a very hot surface as soon as the pizza goes in. This dough rises for an hour and can be used at once, but it is also good if it is left in the fridge overnight, when the flavour deepens. It makes two pizzas about 30 cm across, and it can also be shaped into calzones, garlic knots or a flatbread. The whole process takes about half an hour of work.
Serving Ideas
Tomato sauce · Fresh mozzarella · Green salad
Quick Answers
How long does Homemade Pizza Dough take to make?
About 30 minutes of hands-on work — 20 minutes of preparation and 10 minutes of cooking — plus 1 hour of Rising, so allow 1 hour 30 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 4.
What are the key tips for making Homemade Pizza Dough?
Keep the dough slightly sticky. Extra flour in the kneading makes a dry dough that bakes into a hard, biscuit-like crust. Stretch the dough with your hands, and do not use a rolling pin if you can help it. Stretching keeps the air bubbles in the dough, and rolling squeezes them out. Heat the tray or stone for at least 20 minutes before the pizza goes in. A very hot surface is what gives a crisp base.
What should I serve with Homemade Pizza Dough?
Tomato sauce; Fresh mozzarella; Green salad.
Can Homemade Pizza Dough be made ahead or frozen?
Wrap each ball in oiled cling film and keep in the fridge for up to 3 days, when the flavour improves. The balls freeze for 3 months.
Is Homemade Pizza Dough suitable for a special diet?
This recipe is vegan, vegetarian and dairy-free. Those labels are checked against the ingredient list, so a dish is only marked when nothing in it contradicts the claim.
How many calories are in Homemade Pizza Dough?
About 521 kcal per serving, with 16 g protein, 94 g carbohydrate and 9 g fat. The figures are calculated from the ingredient list and are an estimate.
Nutrition per Serving
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list. Treat these as an estimate — brands and cuts vary.
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Written and tested by Turab
One person, one kitchen — no test kitchen, no team. How every recipe on this site is checked before it goes up.
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