Knowing how to make pizza dough from scratch is a great cooking skill to have. This easy homemade pizza dough is likely healthier and less expensive than pre-made doughs, store bought pizzas, or delivered pies. It just takes 6 simple ingredients: active dry yeast, sugar, water, flour, salt, and oil.
Just want the recipe? Check out our Italian pizza dough recipe here.
Step-by-Step Instructions for Homemade Pizza Dough
To make the best homemade pizza dough, start by activating the yeast in the bowl of your stand mixer. Make sure that your water is warm but not hot. Test the water with your finger; if you cannot keep your finger in the water for more than a few seconds, it is too hot. Water that is too hot will inactivate the yeast and prevent the dough from rising. Adding a little bit of sugar in with the water helps feed and activate the yeast. After ~10 minutes, the mixture should look foamy and bubbly and have a warm, bread-like smell. If it doesn’t, either your yeast is expired or your water was too hot.
Next, add the flour, but don’t add it all at once. The amount required will vary depending on the day and the humidity level in your area; the moisture in the air makes a difference! We recommend using 00 flour. Many of the best pizza recipes are made with 00 flour because it creates great gluten development for a nice, chewy crust. (Want to learn more about gluten? Check out this article: Is Gluten Bad for You?)
Turn your mixer on low and knead the dough for 10 minutes, or until it is smooth and slightly tacky. Add more flour – a little at a time – if the dough is sticking to the bottom of the bowl. If you don’t have a stand mixer and are making this recipe by hand, it may take up to 20 minutes of kneading, so get ready for an arm workout!
How do you know when pizza dough is ready? By doing the window test! Pinch off a small piece of dough, roll it into a ball, and spread it out with your fingers. If it breaks, it isn’t ready. If you can pull it apart and it forms a “window pane” that you can almost see through, it’s ready to rise!
Check out the full instructions to our window test video here. Then, learn how to shape the dough rounds and stretch pizza dough.
Once you know how to make pizza dough at home, you may find yourself eating pizza a lot more often! As long as you pair it with some veggies and eat other nourishing meals throughout the week, there is absolutely no problem with this!
