How to Make the Best Homemade Pizza Dough Ever

Being able to make your own homemade pizza is one of the best things ever! Golden brown, crispy crust topped with your favorite toppings and gooey cheese? YUM! You can make homemade pizza easily and economically — just the way you like it. This homemade pizza recipe will save you $100s of dollars.

Imagine your favorite Supreme Pizza made at home for less! With the best pizza dough recipe you can whip up in minutes and your favorite toppings, You can stop eating out. Guaranteed.

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If you’ve never made your own pizza dough, let today be the day! If it’s your second time or more and you just haven’t found an easy recipe that works, take heart. I got you!

I’ve been making this easy pizza dough recipe for over 20 years, starting when my kids were little and I made them each personal pizzas that they topped themselves with their favorite pizza toppings. 

We’ve saved so much money and avoiding some very bad pizza along the way. But, the best part for you, is that I’ve learned all the tricks for getting the best results, great flavor, and delicious pizza — without buying any fancy baking stone, food processor, or pizza oven!

Why Make Your Own Pizza

Save Money. Making delicious homemade pizza is one of those things that you can make yourself to save money. If you regularly order pizza delivery, know that you will save a bundle of money making your own at home. 

You can make it lots of different ways. Pizza is never boring because you can vary the pizza base or the sauce or the toppings so that it’s different every time. Once you’ve tried your hand at homemade dough, be sure to make these easy 5-Ingredient Pita Pizzas or these fun kid-friendly Pizza Bagels. 

Fun fact: you don’t need much to make homemade pizza. A few baking supplies, a can of tomato something, a bit of cheese, and maybe some toppings. My daughter eats vegan pizza without any cheese, so there ya go!

Even if the cupboards look a little bare, you can still pull off a great pizza. In fact, I’d call it the king of pantry meals. The only fresh ingredient you absolutely need is mozzarella cheese.

Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make this homemade pizza dough recipe:

water – Warm water will help your ball of dough rise. Try to get the water between 105 and 115 degrees F if you’re using active dry yeast.

olive oil – Olive oil adds a bit of flavor, but mostly adds a nice texture to your pizza dough.

honey – A little bit of honey or sugar acts as food for the yeast as well as adds flavor to the dough.

salt – This adds both flavor and texture to the pizza crust. Don’t skip it.

yeast – Yeast adds flavor as well as helps dough rise. You can’t omit this, but you can use instant yeast which simply doesn’t need to be dissolved in water if you want to make the dough more quickly. If you prefer not to use commercial yeast at all, be sure to try your hand at growing a sourdough starter and make sourdough pizza crust.

flour – Regular all-purpose flour or bread flour is the best flour for pizza. It’s easy to keep on hand, unlike semolina flour that I don’t end up using that often. Bread flour is a nice option since it has a higher protein content that will result in a stretchier dough that results in a nice, chewy crust. If you’d like a whole-grain pizza crust, be sure to try my Whole Wheat Pizza Dough that uses whole wheat flour. 

Variations: you can add parmesan cheese or Italian seasoning to your dough if you’d like to add a little bit extra flavor to the crust itself.

Pizza Toppings

To make the perfect homemade pizza at home, you’ll also need sauce, cheese, and toppings.

Pizza sauces – You can use canned tomato sauce and sprinkle some dried Italian herbs over the top. You can also make our easy, No Cook Pizza Sauce for a quick option. Jarred pizza sauce as well as pesto are also good options. This homemade pizza sauce recipe is delicious!

Cheeses – Shredded mozzarella cheese is standard, but Monterey Jack or fresh mozzarella are both common pizza cheese. Many pizzas also feature goat cheese, feta cheese, Swiss, or Brie.

Toppings – Standard pizza toppings include sliced pepperoni, cooked and drained Italian sausage, sliced mushrooms, diced onion, diced tomato, sliced black olives, chopped zucchini, and sliced bell peppers. You don’t have to limit yourself to these toppings, though. You can pretty much put anything on a pizza: bacon, pulled pork, cooked chicken, grilled steak, black beans, etc. I’ve even seen mashed potatoes on a pizza! 

?How to Make Homemade Pizza

A homemade pizza dough isn’t difficult to make, especially if you have a bread machine or a stand mixer. Make the dough a few hours before you plan to bake the pizza(s). This Homemade Pizza Dough makes enough for 3 medium pizzas. You can cut the dough into smaller portions for smaller pizzas. 

To make the dough by hand:

• Place the warm water in a large bowl. Stir in the honey and sprinkle the yeast over the top. Allow this yeast mixture to set for five minutes. The mixture will start to foam and bubble.
• Add the oil, flour, and salt, and stir until a shaggy dough forms.
• Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for about five minutes until a smooth dough ball is created.
• Transfer the dough ball to a greased bowl, cover with a lid or plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place, until doubled in bulk, about an hour.

To make the dough in a bread machine:

• Combine ingredients in the bread machine pan according to the order recommended by your machine’s manufacturer. 
• Set on “dough” and start the machine, checking after ten minutes to make sure all the ingredients have been incorporated and not stuck to the side of the pan. Scrape down any stray ingredients.

To make the dough in a stand mixer:

• Place the warm water in the mixing bowl. Stir in the honey and sprinkle the yeast over the top. Allow this to set for five minutes. The mixture will start to foam and bubble.
• Add the oil, flour, and salt.
• With the dough hook, stir the mixture on low until a smooth, elastic dough ball forms. Scrape down the sides, if needed.
• Transfer the dough ball to a greased bowl, cover with a lid or saran wrap, and allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about an hour.

To form the pizzas:

While the pizza dough rises, grease 12-inch pizza screens. I find that a screen works better than a pizza pan for a crispier crust. Alternatively, you can prepare four baking sheets by lining them each with a piece of parchment paper or greasing the pans and then sprinkling with cornmeal.

When the dough is ready, divide it into three equal portions. Shape each portion into a flat, 12-inch round. You can use a rolling pin and roll it out on a lightly floured work surface, adding additional flour if the dough sticks to the surface. 

Place each on a prepared pan and proceed with your pizza recipe, adding your preferred sauce and toppings. 

Bake in a preheated 475 degree oven for 8 to 12 minutes, until the crust is crisp and the cheese is melted. This high temperature helps the crust bake all the way through the center.

FAQs

What to Serve with Pizza

There are so many great recipes to serve with pizza. Of course you can simply dig in as is! But pizza night always goes well with a garden salad topped with this Easy Homemade Italian Salad Dressing Recipe.  Or try this Italian Salad with Crispy Prosciutto.

Of course you can’t go wrong with a Quick and Easy Caesar Salad.

Favorite Pizza Recipes 

This post was originally published on July 24, 2009. It has been updated for content and clarity.