Perfect Pizza Dough

If you aspire to make legendary homemade pizza, start with this perfect pizza dough. It can be made into deep-dish pizza with a thick crust, or thin and crispy pizza with light golden edges. Add your favorite sauce and toppings and you’ll be in pizza heaven.

The first time Kevin came to visit me and my family (mostly me), I asked Mom to make homemade pizza.

Yes, this perfect pizza dough was used as boyfriend bait years ago.

We laugh, because Kevin is now the only one in the family who makes homemade pizza on the regular. And his pizzas are the stuff of legends.

After we got married, we made homemade pizza as a relatively inexpensive fun food since going out wasn’t in the budget.

As our social circle expanded, pizza became a favorite meal to share with friends and neighbors. It’s also frequently requested for birthday meals for adults and kids alike.

My mother, in fact, asked for Kevin’s pizza for her birthday this year. Her pizza investment all those years ago paid off. Talk about a golden goose.

Here’s to all the people near and far who’ve broken pizza crust with us. Think of us when you enjoy a slice.

Ingredients

• Water – nothing special here, just straight out of the tap.
• Sugar – to help feed the yeast.
• Active dry yeast – We bake quite a bit, so we buy yeast in a large package (like this) and keep it in a container in the fridge.
• Olive oil – Makes the crust tender. We have also used canola oil when olive oil was not in our budget. Both work great.
• Salt – Just regular table salt here to give the crust nice flavor.
• Flour – All-purpose does the trick here. We buy 25-50 lb. bags so it lasts a while.
• Oil for the pizza pans – A nice spread of canola oil on the pizza pans gives the crust a crispy golden crunch.
• Pizza sauce and toppings – These are totally up to you.

Equipment

• Stand mixer – Our trusty KitchenAid mixer has a permanent place on the counter. Definitely one of our most-used wedding gifts.
• Large cutting board – We use a cutting board like this to roll the dough out on. You can also use a section of countertop. This is just easier for us.
• Flour shaker – Coat the cutting board/surface with flour so the dough doesn’t stick.
• Marble rolling pin – This was gifted to me for my high school graduation, and it has been used so many times over the years. The person who gave it to me picked a perfect gift.
• Pizza stones – We have pizza stones as well as regular metal pizza pans. The stones make a far better crust, but if you don’t have one, don’t let that stop you from trying out this perfect pizza dough. If you do go shopping for stones, give Pampered Chef a serious thought. A lot of other pizza stones are not as durable and well-made as these. Another option is cast iron. We used to always use a cast iron skillet to make deep-dish pizza, and the crust was incredible.
• Pizza cutter/ bench scraper – A knife can work too, but we find a nice pizza cutter to be handy. If you have a pan with tall sides (or use a cast iron skillet as mentioned above), a pizza cutter won’t cut to the very edge. For these pans, a bench scraper works better. We have an OXO bench scraper, a basic “normal” pizza cutter, and a Blackstone pizza cutter.

How to make

Dissolve the sugar and yeast in warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer. When it’s nice and foamy, add the oil salt, and 4 cups of flour. Mix on speed 2 (using dough hook) to combine.

With the mixer still running, add flour 1/2 cup at a time until dough clings to the dough hook. You may need more or less flour depending on the humidity where you live.

Continue kneading on speed 2 for 5 minutes. 

Remove dough from bowl and grease the bowl with oil or cooking spray. Return dough to bowl, cover lightly, and let rise for one hour or until doubled. Flour sack towels are our favorite for covering dough as it rises.

When dough has doubled, punch it down and divide into three pieces, with one piece slightly smaller than the other two. If you want a thicker crust, just divide it into two pieces. You can also make mini pizzas – divide the dough as needed for your purposes.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Grease pizza pans or baking sheets of choice, using a generous amount of oil but not so much that it runs off the pan. Set aside.

Dust a large cutting board or clean countertop with flour and roll pizza dough out to the size of the pans you are using. Transfer to prepared pans.

Top dough with desired sauces and toppings.

Bake pizzas at 450 degrees F for 15-20 minutes, or until crust is light golden and no longer doughy.

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