Quick & Easy Homemade Pizza Dough
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This easy homemade pizza dough recipe will have you creating your own pizzas in no time.
Pizza is a no fork zone. Anyone who uses a fork to eat a cheap slice of pizza is shameful. But feel free to add any toppings that you like. Think summertime – nice weather, maybe a pool party and friends. This is the perfect setting for pizza on the grill. Just make sure you keep drinking water while you grill. It might get a little hot over there.
Quick & Easy Homemade Pizza Dough
Table of contents
More About this Dough
This easy recipe is for a simple dough with a short rise time. Because it doesn’t have a long fermentation time it will have bready crust. It’s ideal for thin crust pizza paired with my 5 minute homemade pizza sauce.
How to Make Homemade Pizza Dough
For the dough:
- Bloom yeast. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in 1 cup lukewarm water and let stand for about 10 minutes. Make sure that the water is lukewarm, not hot so that it does not kill the yeast.
- Mix dough then knead. In a large bowl, mix flour, olive oil, salt, sugar, and yeast mixture. Stir until combined then knead dough on a clean and lightly floured surface until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 to 6 minutes.
- Let rise. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour.
- Punch down the dough. When ready to make the pizzas, punch down the dough. Top with desired pizza toppings or as directed below.
For the cheese pizza:
- Heat oven or grill. If you are making the pizza on the grill or in the oven you will get the best results using a pizza stone. Preheat the grill or oven to 500°F (260ºC) with the pizza stone in the oven or on the grill.
- Divide dough. Divide the pizza dough into 2 even pieces. Turn one of the thirds out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll it out into a pizza crust shape. Dust cornmeal on a pizza peel* then carefully move the pizza crust onto the peel.
- Top pizza. Spread about ¼ cup of crushed tomatoes evenly on the dough. If you like your pizza with extra sauce, feel free to add a little more. Tear up ¼ cup of basil leaves and sprinkle over the dough.
- Add cheese. Evenly sprinkle mozzarella and Parmesan cheese over dough. Brush the exposed crust with olive oil, then use the pizza peel to slide the pizza onto the pizza stone.
- Cook the pizza. Cook until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbling, about 10 minutes. Remove and repeat with the remaining dough.
Tips and Tricks for This Recipe
- Since the pizza dough recipe makes about 2 (10-inch) size pizzas I usually like to make one cheese or margarita pizza and then play around with the pizza topping combinations on the other two to mix it up. A lot of times I will take whatever leftovers I have in the fridge and see what kind of toppings I can come up with using those.
- If you don’t have a pizza peel, you can use a baking sheet for your pizza.
- When cooking pizza in the oven it can make a big mess. You can use parchment paper instead and then once the pizza is on the stone, simply grasp the corner edged of the paper and pull it out.
- When it comes to pizza toppings, less is more. If the dough has too many toppings it won’t be able to cook as throughly as quickly and won’t have as crisp of a crust. Piling on lots of toppings can lead to sauce pooling at the center and too much flop on each slice.
Troubleshooting Pizza Dough
My dough isn’t rising!
Check your yeast! Yeast can expire, and if you buy a jar it’s best stored in the refrigerator at a cooler temperature.
Another issue may stem from the temperature of your water is too hot. If the yeast is added to a liquid that is over 120ºF (49ºC) then yeast will start to die. If it dies then it will not activate which will cause the dough not to rise.
My dough is really sticky!
Sticky dough that is hard to work with is too hydrated. This means the ratio of liquid to solid is off. The good thing about this issue is it can typically be fixed by kneading in a bit more flour.
Some of my Favorite Pizza Topping Combinations:
Spinach Artichoke = white pizza + Spinach leaves + artichoke + Parmesan + crushed red pepper
Hawaiian = ham + diced pineapple + sliced jalapenos + cheddar cheese
Buffalo chicken = chicken thighs tossed in buffalo sauce, chopped + blue cheese + diced celery
BBQ = barbecue pulled pork + crispy onions + chopped cilantro + sliced Fresno peppers
BBQ chicken = shredded chicken + barbecue sauce + red onions + cilantro
Breakfast pizza = breakfast sausage + mushrooms + cheddar cheese + egg on top
Lamb pizza = slow roasted lamb shank + feta cheese + mozzarella + thyme + balsamic glaze
Pesto pizza = basil pesto + mozzarella + Parmesan + sausage
Prosciutto = Prosciutto + basil + mozzarella
Read More About Styles of Pizza
Other Pizza Recipes to Try
If you enjoy this easy homemade pizza dough recipe, I recommend checking out some of these:
Quick & Easy Homemade Pizza Dough
Ingredients:
For the dough:
- 1 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading and shaping the dough
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for oiling the bowl
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
For the cheese pizza:
- ½ cup cornmeal
- ¾ cup homemadepizza sauce
- ½ cup fresh basil leaves
- 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- Plus any other desired pizza toppings
Instructions:
For the dough:
- In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in 1 cup lukewarm water and let stand for about 10 minutes. Make sure that the water is lukewarm, not hot so that it does not kill the yeast.
- In a large bowl, mix flour, olive oil, salt, sugar, and yeast mixture. Stir until combined then knead dough on a clean and lightly floured surface until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 to 6 minutes.
- Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour.
- When ready to make the pizzas, punch down the dough. Top with desired pizza toppings or as directed below.
For the cheese pizza:
- If you are making the pizza on the grill or in the oven you will get the best results using a pizza stone. Preheat the grill or oven to 500°F with the pizza stone in the oven or on the grill.
- Divide the pizza dough into 2 even pieces. Turn one of the thirds out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll it out into a pizza crust shape. Dust cornmeal on a pizza peel* then carefully move the pizza crust onto the peel.
- Spread about ¼ cup of crushed tomatoes evenly on the dough. If you like your pizza with extra sauce, feel free to add a little more. Tear up ¼ cup of basil leaves and sprinkle over the dough.
- Evenly sprinkle mozzarella and Parmesan cheese over dough. Brush the exposed crust with olive oil, then use the pizza peel to slide the pizza onto the pizza stone.
- Cook until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbling, about 10 minutes. Remove and repeat with the remaining dough.
DID YOU MAKE THIS?
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15/10 recommend this recipe! It’s really easy whether you knead by hand or use a stand mixer. The dough comes out just as expected and the instructions are super clear! Definitely adding this to my go to recipes
Hi! I had to add a lot more flour but then the cacio e pepe turned out to be the best pizza I’ve ever had! 🙂
So happy to hear you enjoyed! Thank you for the note on the flour, I always add more as I roll out the dough!