You guys… I made pizza dough! Seriously, pizza dough!
I never thought in a million years that I would be making homemade pizza dough. This was just another one of those thing that I thought was super hard to make and took forever in the kitchen slaving away.
Of course, again, I was wrong.
Now, this does take some time, but it is well worth it. And most of that “time” is idle time anyway. Just waiting for the dough to rise – like watching a pot of water waiting for it to boil. You think it takes forever but, in reality, it really doesn’t.
Honestly, I’ve never really made homemade pizza before just for these reasons. I didn’t want to slave in the kitchen all day making the dough.
But when I did want to make homemade pizza, I would always just buy the pre-made crust at the store.
Well, I’m happy to say that I won’t be doing that anymore. This recipe makes 2 pizza crusts – one for eating tonight and then one you can just pop in the freezer for a few weeks or months down the line.
Ya know, whenever you’re having that pizza craving again. Which in my house, is quite often so usually the pizza dough doesn’t sit in the freezer for too long.
You can also double up this recipe to make 4 crusts (or really however many you want) and then just freeze them all for when you’re ready to use them. So yes, these can totally be made ahead of time.
Then when you want to make pizza, just take it out of the freezer at least 24 hours in advance and thaw it in the fridge. As soon as it’s thawed, just roll it out into your crust, top it with your favorite toppings and bake! Boom, done!
See… super simple!
Homemade Pizza Dough
Ingredients
- 1 packet active dry yeast
- 1 1/3 cups water
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
Instructions
- Using a stand mixer with the dough attachment, combine yeast and warm water. Stir until dissolved and let sit for about 5 minutes or until yeast is foamy. If your yeast does not get foamy, it is dead and you need to try again.
- Add flour, olive oil, salt, and sugar and mix on low speed for about 7-8 minutes or until soft dough ball forms and begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
- Turn out dough ball onto floured surface and form into ball. Pour a little olive oil into mixing bowl and coat all sides, then return dough ball to bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let sit in warm place to rise (see notes).
- In about 1-2 hours, dough should have doubled in size. Punch dough down to release the air, turn out onto floured surface, and divide into two. Roll each into seperate balls and let rest, covered in plastic, for about 15 minutes.
- Roll out each ball of dough on lightly floured surface into the size and shape you desire. Place on parchment lined sheet pan or directly on flour dusted pizza stone (like I use).
- Using tips of fingers, lightly stipple the dough to prevent bubbling while cooking and then brush with a little olive oil.
- Top with your favorite pizza toppings and bake at 475° F for about 12-15 minutes. Slice pizza and enjoy!
