Here is my easy method for how to make pizza dough! It's so easy, you'll never go back to storebought dough.
Does the idea of making your own pizza dough intimidate you just a bit? It did that to me for the longest time! I'm here to tell you that homemade pizza dough is way easy and worth the little bit of time investment.
I'm a big fan of the quick and easy approach to most things. I'm not a baker. I'm certainly not one of those people who bakes their own bread. And I'm really not a fan of kneading.
But I am a pizza lover and for a long time I would buy the frozen dough at the store. That had some challenges. Like sometimes I could only find brands that weren't vegan. Or sometimes I'd forget to buy it, or thaw it (it takes longer to thaw frozen pizza dough than it does to let your homemade dough rise). Or the dough at the store would be loaded with additives, and certainly wasn't into that.
So I took to making my own, and you know what? It's super easy—and quite a bit tastier than the stuff from the store. Plus, you can customize your homemade pizza dough to your liking and you can even freeze it if you'd like to keep a stash on hand!
While you're here, be sure to check out our Vegetarian Freezer Cooking Cookbook. We take the guesswork out of freezer cooking with these meatless recipes that were specifically developed to be prepared, frozen, and reheated later. Talk about easy dinners!
How to Make Pizza Dough
- Heat the water.
- Whisk together water, yeast, and sugar until foamy.
- Mix dough ingredients together.
- Knead dough until elastic.
- Let dough rise until doubled in size.
- Either punch down the dough or freeze it for later.
- Pizza: Preheat oven and roll out dough.
- Prep dough, add toppings, and bake pizza.
Full directions for how to make pizza dough are in the printable recipe card below.
How to Make Pizza Dough FAQs
What toppings can I put on my pizza?
You can put any kind of toppings you want on this pizza dough. Try cheese, mushrooms, peppers, olives—and even sun-dried tomatoes. You can even use this dough to make calzones if you want!
How do I use frozen pizza dough?
Freezing pizza dough is a great way to make pizza quickly and easily. You can store this fozen dough in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Using frozen pizza dough is easy. You just need to let it thaw on the countertop first. Once the dough is fully thawed, it will be easier to work with.
If you're on your way to a more plant based lifestyle, be sure to check out our Veggie Kickstart Kit. It's packed with easy and tasty vegetarian dinners, effortless packable lunches, and easy grab-and-go breakfasts. And they’re so good - you’ll never miss the meat again!
Recipe
Ingredients
- ¾ cup water
- 2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- 2 cups flour plus a little extra
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp olive oil plus a little extra
Instructions
- Start by heating your water to about 110°F. If you don't have a thermometer, just test it with your finger—it should be like very hot bath water, but not so hot you burn yourself.
- Whisk the water, yeast, and sugar together in a small bowl or liquid measuring cup and let it sit for a few minutes, until it gets foamy. This means the yeast is starting to work.
- While the yeast mixture sits, stir the flour and salt together in a medium bowl. Add the yeast mixture and the olive oil and stir everything together. You should get a nice soft dough.
- Sprinkle some flour onto a clean countertop and knead the dough just until it's nice and elastic. This should only take about 3 minutes.
- Lightly oil a medium mixing bowl and place your dough into it. Cover it with a clean dish towel and place it in a warm place to rise until it doubles in size—about an hour. Once this is done your dough is ready to use, or you can seal it up and freeze it for later.
- After your dough rises you'll want to punch it down a bit to let some of the air out. To make a pizza, preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll it into a 12 to 14 inch circle.
- Transfer the dough to a pizza stone or parchment-lined baking sheet. I like to brush the top of my crust with a little olive oil and sprinkle it with some cornmeal, but that's totally up to you. Pile on your pizza fixings and bake the dough until it's lightly browned, about 18 to 20 minutes.
Notes
- You'll need to get started an hour and a half or so before serving time. Keep in mind that most of this time is inactive—and it's less than the 4 or 5 hours it takes to thaw frozen pizza dough!
- For the flour, you can use all-purpose, whole wheat, or a mix of the two! I'm a big fan of using half all-purpose and half whole wheat pastry flour. Other types of wheat flour will work too, but with varying results. Some people swear by bread flour for a super crispy crust. Experiment with different types to see what you like best!
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