Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe

February 16, 2013January 11, 2017 bread, Italian, pizza

I really love pizza. Honestly, who doesn’t? Even the cheapest, most generic slices are tasty. But when you’ve got a perfectly thin, crisp, flavorful crust with just the right amount of toppings, pizza is food magic. And it doesn’t stop there. Pizza dough is versatile and can be used for stromboli, calzones, garlic knots, and even more. Learning how to make homemade pizza dough is a skill that will serve you over and over in the kitchen. I’ve become a bit of a pizza snob after living in New York, and I have to say, in your home oven you can make truly exquisite pizzas for less money than delivery, and much less than buying the equivalent product out at a trendy Italian restaurant. It all starts with the dough and I’ve got the homemade pizza dough recipe that is bound to become your favorite.

There are a handful of traditional doughs, from the thinner Roman crust to the thicker Neopolitan. New York City pizza is almost halfway between the two, and the slices are huge.

When I’m making pizza at home, I stick with a thin crust and small pizzas. My home oven and pizza stone cannot compare to a huge wood burning oven the pros have, so keeping the pizzas smaller and making sure your oven is preheated helps even the playing field. If you are new to making yeast doughs at home, I’ve added step-by-step photos in the recipe.

Boozy Epicure’s Pizza Dough

Makes 8 small pizzas

1 cup warm (not hot) water
1 tblsp yeast (I buy ActiveDry yeast in the jar)
1 tblsp honey
3 cups flour (I usually use 2 cups of bread flour and 1 cup of all purpose, but you can use either or mix like I do.)
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tblsp extra virgin olive oil

Put the yeast in the bowl of your stand mixer, pour the water over it, add the honey, and swirl it around or mix a bit with a fork to get the honey incorporated and make sure all the yeast is moistened. Let it rest for just a few minutes to wake up the yeast.

Yeast, water, and honey, just mixed.

After just 2 minutes, starting to get foamy.

Using the dough hook, start mixing on low speed until is starts coming together, then turn the speed to medium and let the mixer work for about 5 minutes.

Your dough should be smooth, elastic, and feel supple when you touch it.

Looking smoother, time for the windowpane test.

Now for the windowpane test. Your dough is done when you can grab off a piece, pull it with your fingers and it is both strong and elastic enough to create a thin membrane you can see light through. This means the gluten has fully developed. If the dough rips instead, it needs more kneading, either by machine or hand.

Since my other photo was fuzzy, here’s a clearer shot.

Once you’ve passed the windowpane test, take the dough out of the mixer, put it in a large ziplock bag and leave it out at room temperature to rise for 30 minutes. All that’s left is to let it rest in the fridge.

Technically, your dough is ready to use after an hour’s rest in the fridge. I think the flavor is better if you make it a full day ahead of time, so it has overnight to rest in the fridge.

If you trust your yeast (as I do) and you are making it a day ahead, you don’t even need to start with warm water. The heat wakes up the yeast faster, more rise, but less flavor. The choice is yours.