Homemade pizza dough recipe that’s easy and delicious. A flavorful dough you can make in bulk and just pull out of the freezer when you’re ready to use it.
This homemade pizza dough recipe is brought to you by one of our favorite family traditions! I love creating little traditions for my family, and pizza night is a definite winner!
We try to have one night a week where we just spend time together and try and have more church or spiritually focused discussions {family night}. Sometimes this can be hard to remember to do or sometimes we feel too busy, so I started making Monday night our weekly pizza night as well!
We make a few pizzas which allows us to spend more time together and gives us more time to talk. It makes the whole evening something we look forward too and remember to plan on instead of something that’s just an afterthought. I think it will just get more fun as Abram gets older and can make his own pizza.
How do I have time to make homemade pizza every week? It’s super easy – I promise! It’s actually one of my quickest meals. I make a double or triple batch of dough and then divide it up into baggies that have been sprayed with cooking spray and then put them all in a gallon size bag in the freezer. I set out 2 or 3 of the baggies Monday morning and they are ready to go for dinner! Here is how I do it:
How to Freeze Pizza Dough
- Oil a small bag.
- Place dough portion, enough for one crust, inside of the bag.
- Close the bag almost all the way, leaving 1 inch open for the gas to escape.
- Place small bags into a freezer bag.
Here it is in picture format:
For toppings, I use whatever I have on hand. I usually try to pick up pepperoni at the store but other than that we always have a few different kinds of cheese, veggies, and meats ready to pick from in the fridge.
My favorite pizzas from this last month were a pesto with mozzarella and a BBQ chicken! Pizza is a great way to use up small amounts of leftover ingredients so you don’t waste anything! {I am a compulsive food saver – ask Andy.}
This easy pizza dough recipe makes six small {think personal pans} pizzas. We do more traditional Italian style pizza’s so the crust is thin and baked on a pizza stone {an overturned baking sheet works well too} so it’s more crispy. Our toppings aren’t loaded on either, they are more thinly layered.
If you want a thicker crust to stand up to more toppings, you’d double the dough up. Because you let the dough sit out at room temperature all day before baking, it develops a fantastic flavor. So give the thin crust a try before loading it down with toppings – trust me! 🙂
Final note: yes, the oven temperature really is that high. Most ovens don’t have an issue but do a test run with yours if it’s an older model just to be sure. Test run = heat to 500 and be on standby with a fire extinguisher. I’ve only ever needed to use a fire extinguisher once in all my years of cooking…but that’s a story for another time!!!
Ahem. Anyways, here is my easy pizza dough recipe! If you want a delicious topping idea, check out my BBQ Chicken Pizza Recipe too!
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Easy Pizza Dough
Ingredients
- 4 1/2 cups flour
- 1 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon yeast
- 1/4 cup olive oil + extra for baking
- 2 cups water lukewarm
Instructions
For the Dough
- Combine dry ingredients.
- Gradually mix in olive oil and then water until a sticky dough is formed. Err on the side of too sticky versus too dry. If you get too much water, just add a little flour.
- Knead 10 minutes by hand or about 6 minutes in an electric mixer.
- Remove dough and divide in 6 equal pieces.
- If using that same day, let rise on the counter until ready to bake. It will need to rise for at least 30 minutes before being shaped.
- If freezing, spray the inside of sandwich bags with cooking spray or coat with olive oil. Place one dough piece inside each bag. Leave 1 inch open on the bags to allow for gas to escape.
- Combine all the individual sandwich bags into one freezer bag (prevents freezer burn) and store in freezer until needed.
- Remove from freezer the morning you need them and let thaw and raise at room temperature. You can also place them in the fridge the night before.
Baking
- Preheat oven and baking stone (or overturned sheet tray) to 500 degrees F.
- Roll or toss out dough until it is 1/8-1/4 inch thick. You don't need to form a crust, this will naturally happen. I roll mine on parchment or foil to make transferring to the oven easy.
- Add desired toppings. Only top your pizza when the oven is heated and you can bake it immediately. Do not over do it on the toppings! Topping to soon or too heavily will result in a soggy crust.
- Bake for 6-8 minutes, until the cheese is browned and bubbly.
- Let cool slightly on a wire rack or vented pizza tray for a few minutes before serving.
Boyd Kobe says
Homemade pizza dough is the best! I love this easy recipe! Thank you.
Anonymous says
If kneading by hand how do you know the dough is workable and not likely to break apart when rolled out or stretched. How would the recipe be modified for whole wheat flour instead of bleached white flour?
Alli says
Hi! If you are having trouble with the dough breaking when rolled or stretched, it needs to rest. When gluten is worked, those proteins tighten up which is great for structure, but not good for shaping. If you need to use the dough right away, let it rise for at least 30 minutes before trying to roll it out and that will give the gluten time to relax and become workable. I have never subbed out all whole wheat flour for this recipe. The main thing you’ll need to pay attention too is the moisture. You will want the dough to be a sticky dough (like in the video) so I’m guessing you’ll need more water. Hope that helps!
Jessica says
This will be my first time making my own pizza crust, but you make it look so easy I had to try! A couple of questions, instant yeast or active dry? And, how long should I let the dough rise before using it?
Alli says
Hi Jessica! I’m sure it will turn our great! Good question, I use instant yeast when I make this recipe, which is more potent than active dry yeast and doesn’t need to be bloomed in the water like active dry yeast does. You can use either and it won’t make too much of a difference for this recipe. Does that help?
Alli says
Love this dough recipe for pizza night 🙂