Fast, Foolproof Pizza Dough: Step by Step

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This quick, super-easy pizza dough recipe is a deal-breaker. It mixes up in minutes and can be ready to bake in about 1 hour. The supple dough is easy to handle and bakes into an airy crust with perfectly browned edges.

When you’re craving homemade pizza — and you want it fast! — this is the basic recipe you need. It produces what I think is the best airy, tasty texture — perfect pan pizza recipe for baking in a home oven or pizza oven. Kids love this crust!

During my cooking career I’ve baked bread in bakeries and made pizza in Neapolitan-style pizzerias, testing my way through MANY different styles of pizza doughs. This is the dough that makes a simple, satisfying homemade pizza crust without making sticky mess in the kitchen or waiting overnight for the dough to slow-rise.

It’s the by far the quickest dough I’ve tried that actually tastes great and has that perfect texture you expect in a bakery pizza crust — crisp brown edges, a thicker crust and lots of yeasty air pockets.

No-rise pizza?

So-called “no-rise” pizza dough is a thing, but I don’t recommend it. There’s a reason yeast has leavened pizza (and most bread) dough for thousands of years: Yeast works by metabolizing enzymes in flour. It breaks down wheat gluten while it ferments, releasing carbon dioxide which aerates the dough.

Underfermented pizza dough can be hard to digest. Additionally, if a dough isn’t allowed to expand and rise a bit before baking, it will be dense and tough — and worse, it won’t taste good.

The great thing is that with the proper technique, you can mix up a batch of pizza dough to use right away, or just stick it in the refrigerator or freezer for later.

How long to rise pizza dough

• With the help of 1 tablespoon of instant yeast, this dough will rapidly double in bulk in about 1 hour, or longer depending on the temperature of the room.

My kitchen is about 75 degrees year-round, which is a fairly warm room temperature. Keep in mind that the cooler the ambient temperature, the longer the dough will take to rise. Choose the warmest spot in your house if you’re in a hurry, or place in an oven on the “Proof” setting if you have one (which is 80F-95F).

About pizza dough ingredients

Amazingly, the base of the best pizza dough comes from using just a handful of main ingredients — flour, yeast and water. Here’s a breakdown:

• Flour: All purpose flour, Italian OO pizza flour or higher-protein bread flour will all work well in this recipe. If you enjoy whole grains, substitute 1/2 cup whole wheat or other whole grain flour (remember that you may need to add a bit more water to hydrate the dough if using whole wheat flour).
• Yeast: Instant yeast is the SECRET to this dough. If you’ve been using active dry yeast for baking, instant yeast will be a game-changer. For one thing, instant yeast doesn’t need proofing or need to be hydrated in liquid before mixing. Because of the way it’s produced, the yeast is more vigorous than active yeast.
• Honey or sugar: A little sugar added to the dough increases the yeast activity, kickstarting the fermentation process.
• Olive oil: Extra-virgin olive oil adds flavor, helps prevent the dough from sticking and browns the crust.
• Water: When using instant yeast, you can use cold filtered water for pizza dough rather than warm water. Depending on your tap water quality, consider using bottled water or filtered water from your refrigerator, which will eliminate chlorine taste and smell.
• Salt: Kosher salt has larger grains than fine salt. If you don’t have kosher salt, use 1 teaspoon fine salt.

Recipe steps

This dough comes together in minutes using a heavy duty standing mixer.

If you don’t have one, you can also mix the dough in a large bowl. Stir the wet and dry ingredients together with a wooden spoon, then turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface or counter and knead by hand until smooth.

Baking directions

• Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. If your oven doesn’t go that high, preheat to 475 degrees for at least 25 minutes.
• The recipe makes about 1 1/2 pounds of dough. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface, free-form the dough with your hands into two 12-inch oblongs or rounds or make one quarter sheet-pan sized pizza.
• If you like, use a pizza stone in the oven and use your favorite tools such as a pizza peel for transferring the pizza.
• Top with about 1/2 cup homemade pizza sauce, tomato sauce, cheese or any of your other favorite toppings.

Refrigerating pizza dough

This dough is very forgiving when it comes to making ahead for a spur-of-the-moment pizza party. Here are some possibilities:

• Shape and bake the dough right after it’s doubled at room temperature.
• Mix the dough, immediately transfer to a large covered bowl or gallon-size ziptop bag and refrigerate up to 3 days. Punch it down, shape and bake straight from the fridge.
• Stretch the risen dough on your sheet pan, cover and refrigerate up to 12 hours. Pull out of the fridge while the oven preheats, top and bake.

Freezing pizza dough

• Allow the dough to rise about an hour at room temperature, then gently deflate and transfer the dough to an airtight container or freezer bag. Place in the freezer, where it will keep up to a month.
• Thaw the dough overnight in the refrigerator or few a couple hours at room temperature until it can be stretched or rolled out. Shape and bake as desired.