Homemade Pizza Dough

This pizza dough recipe is sure to become your go-to! It's easy to make and makes the best chewy, crispy pizza crust. This recipe makes two balls of pizza dough, to make two 14-inch pizzas. If desired, you can freeze half or all of the dough for later; see the recipe notes below for freezer instructions.

📝 Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups warm water (110-115° F)
• 1 tablespoon rapid rise or instant yeast
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)
• 4 cups 00 pizza flour (or bread flour or all-purpose flour)

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1--- Make the Pizza Dough ---
2. 2Add warm water, yeast and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir gently to combine. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes until yeast becomes active. Yeast should be bubbly. (Instructions on making dough by hand, without a mixer are included in the notes below.)
3. 3Add the olive oil, salt, garlic powder (if using) and flour to the bowl. Begin mixing on low speed using a paddle attachment until combined.
4. 4Next, remove paddle attachment and knead the dough with the dough hook on low speed.
5. 5Check the dough after 5 minutes of kneading. If the dough is more than a little sticky when pressing on it with your finger add an additional tablespoon of flour. Continuing kneading to incorporate all flour for an additional 3 minutes. After about 8 minutes of kneading, the dough should spring back when lightly pressing on it.
6. 6Transfer the dough to a clean, dry and lightly floured work surface. If the dough is overly sticky, light rub with flour. Split the dough in half and shape each half into a ball. (Freeze half of the dough if only making 1 pizza). Cover each dough ball with a clean kitchen towel and let rest for at least 30 minutes until doubled in size.
7. 7Preheat oven to 500° F and place an oven rack one space above the bottom rack position. Oil pizza steels or baking sheets with a high temperature cooking spray or vegetable oil. Do NOT preheat the pizza pans.
8. 8--- Shape the Dough ---
9. 9Punch the dough down to release any large air bubbles. Shape the dough into a ball by tucking the sides under.
10. 10Use a rolling pin and a lightly floured work surface to roll the dough out into a 14-inch diameter circle. Roll from the center outward in all directions for a circular shape. Use a more oval shape if you are using a baking sheet in place of a circular pizza pan.
11. 11Place the rolled out pizza dough onto the prepared pizza pan. If the edges are larger than the pizza pan, fold them over a bit (towards the pizza) to form a nice thick crust on the edges. Repeat with the other half of the dough on a second pizza pan if making two pizzas.
12. 12--- Assemble and Bake Pizzas ---
13. 13Add pizza sauce, cheese and toppings as desired. Bake pizzas, one at a time, for 7 minutes. You may need to bake an additional 1 - 2 minutes until the crust and cheese are lightly browned. Let pizzas rest for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.