Quick and Easy Foolproof Pizza Dough
This simple recipe for quick and easy homemade pizza dough is amazing! It comes together in minutes, rises quickly, and makes incredible homemade pizza!
Homemade pizza has never been easier thanks to this foolproof recipe for pizza dough.
It can be used for pizza, calzones, breadsticks and more!
Easy Homemade Pizza Dough
This homemade pizza dough is very straightforward. It can be made in a stand mixer with a dough hook or by hand in a bowl with a spoon or spatula (and good old-fashioned hand kneading).
Pizza dough ingredients:
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2-3 cups all-purpose flour (also works well with bread flour, ’00’ flour, or half whole wheat flour)
The pizza dough should be very soft and pliable. The biggest key is to not over flour the dough when mixing.
Add flour just until the dough pulls away from the sides and/or center of the bowl. As it kneads it will be transition from rough and shaggy to smooth and supple.
The dough should be soft and stretchy without leaving a lot of dough residue on your fingers.
Short Rising Time
This quick and easy homemade pizza dough only needs a short rising time. Just 10-20 minutes until the gluten relaxes and the dough puffs up a bit.
However, you can leave it rising for an hour or so if that fits your timeline better (and it does very well slow rising in the refrigerator).
How to Assemble and Bake Homemade Pizza
- Preheat oven to 475-500 degrees F. Don’t be afraid of the high temperature! It’s key to great homemade pizza.
- Heat a pizza stone in the oven for 45-60 minutes before baking pizza. Investing in a pizza stone {aff. link} is worth it for great homemade pizza! (I also have a baking steel, but find I prefer baking pizza on a pizza stone.)
- Use a pizza peel to slide the pizzas in and out of the oven. I have a wooden pizza peel {aff. link} but metal pizza peels {aff. link} are popular and work great, too.
- Shape homemade pizzas on a piece of lightly greased parchment paper or shape the pizza directly on the pizza peel using cornmeal as a barrier to sticking. I like using parchment paper so I can assemble several pizzas at once and have them ready for baking (or so people can customize their own pizzas), and it’s also a lot less messy than using cornmeal. Different brands of parchment paper vary in thickness/durability; thicker brands work best for pizza baking. It’s ok to use parchment in a hot oven – it will darken in color and may become brittle baking at high temperatures, but siding the pizza in and out with a pizza peel helps (it’s the only way I make homemade pizza).
The Best Pizza Dough
This quick and easy pizza dough is truly the best. It is easy and fast to make, and it really does produce the best homemade pizza.
The crust is soft and chewy and fluffy.
For extra fluffiness to the crust, let the assembled pizzas rest for 10-15 minutes before going in the oven.
5-Star Reviews
If you’ve been looking for the best homemade pizza dough, this is it! You don’t have to take just my word for it.
Nikki: I’ve tried innumerable pizza crust recipes over the years and this is by far my favorite! It’s so easy with little prep time(my inner procrastinator thanks you), and its crispy and soft all at the same time. Thank you for ending my search for a homemade pizza dough recipe, Mel!
Sarah: I have to say that this is the BEST dough I’ve ever made! It’s my go to for pizza, as well as scones. THANK YOU for all of your posts. I’m proud of myself for making something delicious my family loves. You’re the best!!
Juliee: This crust is EVERYTHING! I make a lot of pizza, I’m talking once a week for twenty years and usually 5 pizzas at a time so there’s enough for the whole family. During that time I have tried many (MANY!) different crust recipes including many from very well known websites, famous chefs, popular flour companies, etc. I have finally found the only recipe anyone could ever possibly need ever again! This dough was an absolute delight to work with (soft, silky, and super cooperative) and the finished product is DANGEROUSLY good! The fact that it is pretty much instantly ready to bake and I don’t have to prepare hours in advance is just a precious gift because even if it did take a lot of extra time and steps I would still be all over this. I really can’t give it enough stars. Love, love, love this! Thank you!!
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Quick and Easy Foolproof Pizza Dough
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2-3 cups (284-426 g) all-purpose, bread or '00' flour (see note)
Instructions
- In a large bowl or in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, mix the water, honey, oil, yeast and salt.
- Add the flour gradually until a soft dough forms and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. The exact flour amount will vary so go by the touch and feel of the dough versus the exact cup measurements in the recipe. The dough should be soft and smooth (not leaving a residue on your fingers but not super stiff, either).
- Knead the dough for 2-3 minutes (knead for 5-6 minutes if kneading by hand or if using whole wheat flour).
- Let the dough rest, covered, for 10 minutes.
- Shape the dough into pizza(s), spread with sauce and toppings, and bake at 475 or 500 degrees on a preheated pizza stone (heat the stone for an hour in the oven before baking) or on a lightly greased baking sheet for 8-10 minutes.
Notes
Recipe Source: slightly adapted and updated from a recipe I posted several years ago
Recipe originally posted January 2008; updated March 2023 with new photos, recipe details, etc.
Need to make things as low-carb as possible….will Splenda work in lieu of Honey? If not, if Honey is reduced to 1/2 T, will the recipe be affected (other than reducing sweetness of the dough)?
The honey is not for sweetening the dough. It feeds the yeast. The yeast consumes it and produces carbon dioxide to give the dough that nice puffy rise. Too little honey (or other natural sweetener) and the dough won’t rise. Splenda doesn’t work for yeast recipes.
You’ll have to experiment – I haven’t tried either of those changes!
A flour based dough won’t be remotely low carb anyway.
If it was good enough for Jennifer Garner….yummy for us too!
Congrats, BTW on the extra special exposure!
Thanks, Nancy!
I was really in a crunch one evening, and the Hubby wanted pizza for dinner. I don’t usually make pizza at home, but decided to give it a try. Of course, Pizza is a favorite around our house. Quickly I starting looking online and found this fantastic quick dough recipe and decided to give it a try. I love honey and whole wheat and what a difference it made in the taste. I can certainly say its one of the very best pizza dough recipes I’ve ever tried. And my Husband loves it!!! Thank You Mel.
Mel- thank you so much for this great recipe! I am only sorry it took me so long to find it. Came together so fast, and the result was a billowy, fluffy, chewy pizza dough. I used about two cups of unbleached bread dough and a little less than a cup of whole wheat flour- those were the only flours I had. I used agave instead of honey to make it vegan, and the flavor was perfect.
I used a pizza stoned and baked for 10 minutes at 475 F. Next time, I will either up the temp or cook for a little longer for a ever so slightly more crispy crust. Otherwise, super.
If I were to make individual size pizzas how many do you think it would make and should I use the same cooking time and temp?
I’m not sure – what size of pizza are you thinking for individual size? just a guess, but you might be able to get 4-5? I don’t know for sure, though. I’d use the same cooking temp but probably a few minutes less.
Oh, Mel! I made this recipe for dinner last night and my husband is still talking about how good it was! I think the crust recipe I have used for the last 8 years has finally been dethroned! It was seriously so good!! Can’t wait to make it again later this week!
Yay! Such awesome feedback!
Fastest, easiest, most delicious pizza dough ever! Following the recipe, I mixed all the ingredients in my food processor (used 1-1/2 cups of ’00’ flour & 1-1/2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour), baked it on a pizza stone in a preheated 500 degree oven & the result was the best pizza I’ve ever made! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe!
I have tried more crust recipes than I can count and FINALLY this is the one. Simple and quick and I like mixing in a bit of whole wheat flour. My husband (for 43 years) always eats right up to the edge of the sauce and leaves the crust on his plate and he has never liked my cheese sticks. Tonight he ate it all !! and said it was great!!! I don’t think he has just given up on me because I loved it too. My next biggest critics are the grandkids – can’t wait to try it with them.
Yay! Thanks, Ellen!
Hello. I have commented before. I normally make pizza pockets with this dough. But today, it was pizza for lunch. One of the kids said I should open a pizza shop. It’s great pizza-thanks to the dough
So there is no rise in this dough?
Rising isn’t necessary, but you can let it rise based on your own timing.
I made this last night for the first time. It was super easy and wonderful! I’ve tried different recipes over the years but none were as good or easy as yours! Easy to make, easy to handle dough, great tasting, husband approved! Thank you Mel for your great recipes! I’ve cooked for a long time and keep taking out my old favorite recipes for my new favorites; Mel’s!
Hi Mel — What do you mean by “if kneading by hand”? What is the other option? Thanks, Sarah
You can make it/knead it by hand or use a mixer fitted with a dough hook.
Thanks. So kneading really just means more mixing? I do have a bread hook on my Kitchen Maid. Does this mean in any bread recipe, in lieu of taking out of the bowl and “kneading” by hand, I can just mix more in the Kitchen Maid? Thanks again for your help.
Yeah, that’s a good question. Kneading is mixing once the dough has come together and forms a ball (so mixing to incorporate more flour wouldn’t technically be considered kneading). Does that help?
Yes, thank you! I made the overnight pizza dough last PM, and it was great. I couldn’t get it as thin as I wanted to, and I settled for a rectangle as opposed to a circle, but I’ll work on my technique, and the taste was fabulous.
It’s called “Kitchen Aid,” not Kitchen “Maid.”
Made this last night on a whim. Mel isn’t messin’ around. I didn’t try that hard, was sure I messed it up in the kneading process, but if I did you sure couldn’t tell. It was AMAZING. Just the right amount of sweet, salty, chewy, and crispy goodness you look for in a pizza crust. Ready to make it again tonight! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Excellent–just made them–pizza pocket/calzones style.
I like it–kids will try in a minute—I make a dough that requires overnight (18 hours to rest). It is good, but takes far too long.
This was great. These are going in school lunches Monday!! I am a father in the kitchen–getting better day by day….
You are amazing, Jim!
This is my go to recipe for pizza night. I add some extra seasonings to the dough and add our favorite toppings and my kids gobble it up! Thank you for sharing your recipes with us!
This is the quickest pizza crust recipe I’ve ever tried, and it’s delicious. A touch sweet and got nice and crispy on my pizza stone. Made 2 Med/Large pizzas with a thin crust. Thanks for sharing your recipe!! 🙂
Excellent crust. I have used this for Chicago style pizza as well with good results.
I have tried for years to make pizza and failed. With this recipe, success!
I thought this was very good crust, just curious how you put it on a pan & how thick. I double the batch & used two cookie sheets. On both sheets it didn’t quite cover all of it, but maybe I should have spread it out more. When I baked it, it was defiantly puffier crust, I think I’m used to more thin crust. Also the outside was getting crispy while the middle crust was still pretty soft. Taste wise was good!!
Works perfectly tastes great will be my go to pizza doaugh recipe!
do you ever use regular active yeast or always the instant? It’ll be my first time attempting to make the dough. I rarely do much cooking however, the reviews are so great I wanted to give it a go.
I always use instant yeast, but you can use active dry yeast (just proof it in water and a pinch of sugar until it is bubbly and foaming before using – no need to proof instant yeast).
Great recipe. Thank you.
Sounds great! Will use this week! Thank you!
OMG!!! Awesome recipe. Easy and fast. Made this recipe for family game night. It’s a winner.
I’ve made this for years now and it’s incredibly simple, delicious and impressive when I’ve made it for others! It’s crispy, just the right amount of airy, and all around great. Add some dried basil for a unique look/slight flavor, or some butter or oil on the edges to help it brown a little. I never leave reviews but this one deserves it for sure.
Tried this a week ago and it was the best crust I have ever made. So soft and pliable! Making again tonight for calzones. Thanks for the recipe, it will be the only one I need from now on.
This is the perfect pizza dough. Finally.
I made my first ever homemade pizza dough last week and unthinkingly used a recipe from another site. It called for bread flour and an hour’s rising time and still I soldiered on. Oh Mel, it was horrible. Well, it tasted fine but the dough was SO thick and just impossible to work with. It wouldn’t stretch without shrinking back. After fighting with it for awhile, I finally gave up and just baked this extra thick crust pizza. The next day I kept thinking “there’s gotta be a better way” and I thought “you dummy…check Mel’s Kitchen Cafe” so I did. I made this pizza dough recipe yesterday after church and we were eating pizza an hour or so later. It was a quick and easy dough to mix up, fantastic to work with and the finished product tasted delicious. Thank you!!!
Oh, the pain of using a recipe that is awful! I’m so sorry. But I’m glad you were able to find this one that worked better! Plus, your comment made me smile. Thank you!
So nice to try a blog recipe that actually works!! This is my new go to dough. I think it’d make a great garlic bread or cinnamon dessert pizza.
Mel- this is my FAVORITE dough recipe ever…. but can you also make it a DAY ahead of time? I’m bringing it to my sister’s Halloween party tomorrow to have all the kids make their own pizzas… but I’d rather make the dough a day early. Will that be okay? In the fridge overnight? Or on the counter?
Hey Jennifer – yes, you can definitely make this ahead of time, but when I do that (refrigerate overnight), I cut the yeast down by about 1/4 so it doesn’t overrise and get too yeasty-tasting, if that makes sense. Just take it out of the refrigerator a couple hours before making pizza so the dough isn’t cold.
This is THE best pizza dough recipe I have ever made. Full Stop! It turns our perfectly every single time, can be easily doubled and the dough is light, slightly sweet and delicious!!
This is awesome! Tastes great, quick and easy!
I finally made this for the first time last week and it was AWESOME. I made a few changes:
* Substituted maple syrup for the honey since that’s what I keep on hand for sweetener.
* Quartered the ingredients (yes, divided by 4) because it’s just for me as an occasional treat (don’t want leftovers), and I prefer my crust very thin.
* Used my 10 inch cast iron griddle, preheated in a 450 degree oven (I was afraid to go higher since I was already over the 420 degree limit on my parchment paper), and cooked it for about 10 minutes. It probably could’ve used a minute or two more, but it was still above and beyond all of the other crust recipes that I’ve tried over the decades.
Just, wow… Thank you!
I’ve been looking at making homemade frozen pizzas. Have you frozen this dough before using, and if so, would you par-bake it first?
I’ve only ever frozen it in a big mass – not already rolled out for pizza. But you could – if so, yes, I’d recommend parbaking.
AWESOME PIZZA!! So easy and the tips section is so helpful. Paired with my mom’s homemade pizza sauce. WINNER WINNER!
This is easy and perfect. Fantastic pizza dough that is now the only pizza dough we make.
I made this pizza and it was the best crust I’ve made in a long time! The taste and texture were perfect. 🙂
I made this pizza dough for my family and everyone loved it. The dough was thick, fluffy, and delicious, and baked very evenly. I am not a talented baker and really appreciated the foolproof and easy recipe and the short rising time!
I am looking for something different to sell at farmers markets and thought I might try pizza crusts. Would it work to sell the baked crusts and put into zip lock bags? I would appreciate your comments. Thank you. I adore your site Mel ! It is the greatest.
That’s a great question, Deb – to be honest, I’m really not sure! I have a feeling with homemade pizza, the baked crusts might get stale pretty quickly. Clever idea, though!
Hi. Was ready to try this, but it does not state HOW much it makes. For example, one 12″ pizza. I am unsure how much to make for my family….
The yield is above the recipe title. It makes one large (12-14 inches) or two medium pizzas.
Can you give me the temp for warm? About 112 to 115?
Yep, right around there. I usually use about 110 degrees.
I love that this is quick to make and uses easy ingredients. It tasted great too!
Super delicious! I don’t have a stand mixer yet so I’ve been searching for pizza dough recipes I can make by hand- this one is the best! Thank you!
Great recipe! Thank you!
Hey Mel,
I am a deep dish fiend and this particular recipe was absolutely perfection!!! I was out of honey so I used Agave which worked as well as the honey (although I generally use honey, but sometimes ya gotta make do) It was so nice to find a perfect dough that doesn’t take hours to prep!! YOUR A MAGICIAN!!
Any chance this can be made and frozen for later?
Yes, it’s been a while, but I’ve frozen this before and then thawed to use. It has a slightly yeastier smell and flavor but was delicious.
Do you by chance have the nutritional information for this pizza dough? such as calories and carbs? Thanks
I don’t; sorry!
When cooking the dough ahead of time, how long should I cook it without the toppings? And how long should it be cooked once the toppings are on it? Thank you!!
You can cook it without toppings for 4-5 minutes and then add toppings and bake until everything is golden and bubbly (this is assuming you are baking on a pizza stone in a 475 or 500 degree oven).
This really was amazing, thank you so much. Have tried so many pizza doughs in the past, but this was the quickest to come together and the easiest to work with. Tasted good too! Will definitely be making again. We used a rolling pin and got two large pizzas.
Thanks so much for your advice on baking pizza on a pizza stone. Pizza night has gone from great to amazing. I use your overnight dough recipe, but this time tried the quick and easy foolproof dough. What went wrong? Used approx. half white flour and half whole wheat, with the final result being a crust that was tough and leathery.
Any chance the dough was overfloured, Karen?
Just saw this and I’m going to give making homemade pizza a “try” again. Question: The last couple times I tried to make pizza dough, t was so elastic that I couldn’t get it to stretch out…and STAY stretched out! It would constrict back too small. What am I doing wrong?
Hey Laura – sounds like the gluten needs time to relax. When this happens to me, I stretch it out as far as it will go and then let it rest 15 minutes. That usually does the trick.