Pizza Dough

This pizza dough recipe is simple to make and tastes delicious! Pizza was one of the first things I learned to make as a child. Every Friday night was family party night and we usually had homemade pizza. Truth be told I don’t think I had a restaurant pizza until middle school. I grew up in a family of 11 people and eating out would totally break the bank, plus I think our homemade pizzas tasted pretty incredible. 

So here is my pizza dough recipe. In dough, time equals more flavor so if you can remember ahead of time to make and let your dough sit in the refrigerator for a few hours or over night it will taste even better. The dough is still delicious without the added rest time but that’s a tip to get a more flavorful dough. 

What you need to make pizza dough:

makes 1 large pizza crust

• 1 cup cold water
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoons salt
• 2 and 1/4 cup flour – plus more and more for rolling out
• ~2 tablespoons olive oil for drizzling on top 
• (optional) seasoning of choice or dried Italian herbs

1. Mix the yeast, cold water, sugar, salt and flour.
2. Mix together and dough should be fairly wet. I’ve always said it’s better a dough be too wet when you first mix it then too dry. Incorporate more flour or water if needed. Knead dough for about 5 minutes with an electric mixing dough hook or you can hand knead for 7 minutes. The dough should pull away from the side of the bowl but stick to the bottom on the bowl. 
3. Cover bowl and refrigerate the dough for at least 20 minutes or for a more flavorful dough let it rest overnight. 
4. Hand stretch and toss dough OR roll out dough with rolling pin on a floured surface (My mom always taught me to buy a pillowcase that is designated to rolling out dough- it really works the best!)
5. Roll or hand press dough into a round or square crust and place on a greased pizza sheet, cast iron pan, cookie sheet or piece of parchment paper if using a pizza stone.
6. I then always drizzle a little olive oil on top of the dough. It makes it taste really good! I also like to season the crust with some seasoning – garlic and herb is a favorite of mine before I put the sauce on.
7. Sauce pizza with sauce of choice, a little cheese then toppings of choice then more cheese, That is just how I do it, that way the toppings are peaking through but don’t all fall off when you pick up your slice.
8. (optional step) Leave the pizza alone ideally somewhere kind of warm for 20 minutes. You can totally bake your pizza at this point and it will still be delicious but slightly more dense than if you let it rise.
9. Heat oven to 500 F. and bake for about 10 minutes.
10. Check at 7 minutes. Lift up crust to see that bottom is golden and top is nice and bubbly. Another favorite way to cook my pizza is on the pellet grill on a pizza stone. To do that, heat grill on high and cook for about 7-10 minutes.

Browse below for a few pizzas my family has enjoyed the last year… we clearly eat a lot of pizza.