I love homemade pizza it is a fun kid-friendly meal and activity! Obviously it involves me making homemade pizza dough and sauce. So, I have looked everywhere for a good pizza dough recipe and below is my favorite so far. I have tried ones for the bread maker and have settled on this one I knead by hand, and prefer this method. I can get 2 thin pizza crusts out of this recipe.
- 1 cup warm water (approx 110 degrees F)
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1½ cups + 2 tablespoon white flour
- 1 packet or 1 tablespoon active yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Proof yeast (use water, sugar and yeast) in a separate measuring cup. **see proofing tips and pictures below
- Combine all ingredients, minus flour into large mixing bowl, add yeast mixture.
- Add flour and work in with a fork.
- Once dough looks like the picture below, remove dough and place on floured surface. Knead and roll out with floured roller to fit onto pizza pan.
- Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes.
Note*: If you use a pizza stone, be sure to preheat it in the oven so your pizza is nice and crispy. Also, I roll out 2 crusts with this recipe.
I am a big fan of tangy pizza sauce, so the sweet ones don’t do it for me, but you can try out my favorite Homemade (and Simple) Pizza Sauce to put on this pizza.
Proofing Yeast
One of my biggest issues with not putting my dough in the bread maker was dealing with yeast. Let me tell you a little trick I learned. You should always “proof” your yeast, even if you just bought it at the grocery. This is to make sure that it is fresh enough to do what you need it for…rising your bread.
Checkout my post on How to Proof Yeast to make sure you always have a good batch before starting your pizza dough.
Anyone else have a favorite pizza dough or sauce recipe to share?
This is great! Also, my breadmaker instruction book said keep the yeast dry by pouring it into a little “crater” atop the mound of dry ingredients. If I fail to do that, the results are never as good, but I think I’ll hand-knead this recipe like you recommend. Thanks again!
Kelly-
did I miss something- does the dough need to rise/rest before you roll it out?
Nope, just follow directions as is! That is why I love this recipe.
Did you know you can freeze pizza dough? Mix it as usual but don’t let it rise. I quadruple my recipe, wrap them in plastic wrap, after they’re frozen I put them all together in a big ziploc. This cuts down on the time it takes to make pizza. I just pull the dough out in the morning, put it in a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, & by the time I’m ready to make the pizza the dough has defrosted & risen. Wonderful!
Thanks, Kelly! We make homemade pizza alot and I have a hard time finding a recipe. Usually I add Rosemary to the dough (I guess this would be in place of the Italian seasoning) and it reminds me a little of the Pie in the Sky crust. We also double our pizza dough for Calzones…another fun meal b/c everyone can pick their toppings. Then we just dip in the sauce. Fun Sunday night meal. Can’t wait to try the recipe.
Your recipe looked so good, and I finally tried making it tonight. I had a question about proofing the yeast. Mine did look creamy but not really as foamy as your does in your picture. Does that mean the yeast was too old or do you think my water should have been hotter or maybe I didn’t wait long enough? Also, about how long do you cook the pizza after you add the ingredients? Thanks!
Stacy, I usually wait about 10 minutes, and it gets creamy and a little foamy. Did the pizza taste okay? If so, no worries!! I usually cook it about 4-8 minutes to get it a little brown!
I have a short cut recipe for next to homemade pizza dough ,that is kid friendly. There’s also a sauce recipe at bottom of letter. Dinner roll pizza dough : You take frozen dinner rolls( I use Rhodes dinner rolls), and butter them up .Place them one half inch apart on your microwave plate,then you microwave them for two and a half minutes.Take them out , turn them over, microwave for another two and a half minutes. They will be very soft.This is where your kids can have some fun helping ! Lightly oil your surface to roll dough out on . Let kids roll dough out with pin to about 6in. crust , just about the size of a single serve pizza.Grease and sprinkle corn meal on your cookie sheet, Then have a few different toppings for them to customize their own pizzas. Cook til crust is toasted. I also have a great homemade sauce . It may take alittle bit to reduce after mixing ingredients ,(about 40 min.) but it’s worth while! Homemade pizza sauce: The ingredients are:14 oz. can stewed tomatoes in juice 2 large garlic cloves smashed 2 Tbsp olive oil 4 basil leaves 1/4 tsp sugar Pulse tomatoes with juice in a blender.Cook garlic in oil in a small sauce pan over medium-low heat until fragant and lightly golden.Add tomato puree , basil , sugar , and 1/8 tsp salt and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally , until thickened and reduced to about 3/4 cup , about 40 min. Season with salt and use. This is my version of homemade pizza, I hope you try it ! Sincerely ,Jennifer
Just for clarification — you cook the crust alone for about 15 minutes, then you top with the sauce and toppings and cook another 4-8 minutes? I’m looking forward to trying it. Thanks!
Lauren, yes, I like the pizza crust “crispy” so I cook it a little first.
Kelly, do you follow all of these same steps for your mini pizzas that you freeze? And at what step do you freeze them? Thanks.
The only thing I do differently is that I keep halving the dough until I get 8 pieces. Then I undercook the pizza and freeze!
Kelly, do you follow all of these same steps for your mini pizzas that you freeze? And at what step do you freeze them? Thanks.
The only thing I do differently is that I keep halving the dough until I get 8 pieces. Then I undercook the pizza and freeze!
Yum Kelly! We had homemade pizza tonight although we used storebought crusts. We have a great homemade crust recipe from my MIL.
Do you use all purpose flour or self rising?
I have tried your pizza dough recipe a few times now. It is a keeper for sure! My husband sometimes makes a “special request” for homeade pizza and I always use your dough recipe. I haven’t tried the sauce recipe yet….
Julie – Thanks so much! It is so easy. The pizza sauce recipe is to DIE for and so simple! It is the best part, so easy and freezes well. Try the Homemade Bread Dough recipe too, I use that to make bulk pizza dough. I don’t do the rises, but then flash freeze it and it makes around 7-8 thin crust pizza’s.