my best pizza crust recipe

Pizza Crust

Every Friday is pizza night at our house. I make it from scratch and my family absolutely loves it. They actually love it so much that they, are you ready to hear this? Love my pizza better than any frozen or take-out pizza out there.

Yes. It feels good. Very good.

This crust makes a chewy, thick crust that will be the only recipe you’ll need. 

It is AMAZING.

Take it from my friends and family who’ve had it fresh off the pizza stone in my home.

This pizza crust and sauce recipe will crown you best mother on the planet. And what mom doesn’t want to be crowned, “Best Mother” if even only for the duration of dinner?

 printable recipe
Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 pkg. active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup vegetable oil (or light olive oil)
1 tsp. salt
My sauce recipe goes with my pizza divinely…
Click here to get my recipe

pizza dough getting ready to rise

cheese pizza on my baking sheet. I love to sprinkle dried parsley on before baking for a pop of color.


half pepperoni & half cheese pan pizza



delicious!


half pepperoni half cheese


right before the oven
Preparation:

If using a pizza stone ( I love doing this because the crust comes out so crispy, chewy and delicious!) preheat the oven to 500 degrees and let it heat up for at least an hour before your first pizza. This ensures the stone is super hot!

If using a pizza pan or baking sheet, preheat your oven to 475 degrees.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the water, yeast, and sugar and stir to combine. Let sit until the mixture is foamy, about 5 minutes.

Add 2 cups of the flour, 1/2 cup oil, and the salt, mixing by hand until it is all incorporated and the mixture is smooth. Continue adding the flour, along with herbs and garlic (I use basil, oregano, thyme, and garlic powder–just small palm-fulls of each.) 1/4 cup at a time, working the dough after each addition, until all the flour is incorporated but the dough is still slightly sticky.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth but still slightly tacky., 3-5 minutes. Oil a large mixing bowl with the remaining 2 tsp. oil.

Place the dough in the bowl and turn to oil all sides. Cover the bowl with a towel and set in a warm, draft-free place until nearly doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Divide into 2 equal portions or depends on your pizza size and thickness, and it’s ready for your sauce and favorite toppings!

Remember you can roll the pizza dough, thin for a thin crust or thicker for a nice fat crust. 

On the stone, the pizza only takes about 5-7 minutes to bake up nice and golden brown. 

For the baking sheet or pizza pan pizza, about 12, or until cheese and crust is golden and bubbly. 

My Best Pizza Tips:

Right before going into the oven, using a pastry brush, brush the outside crust with olive oil, granulated garlic and cracked black pepper. Then sprinkle the top of the pizza with dried parsley. Gives the pizza a pop of color without any added taste the kids will poo-poo:)

When using the pizza stone. Make sure your stone is nice and hot before beginning to make pizzas. This will make the difference between a soggy crust and a nice crispy one. 

I use a peel to toss my pizza into the oven. But it can be tricky. Use a generous amount of cornmeal on the peel before placing your rolled dough onto it. Then work fast! The longer you take, the more chances of the dough will stick to the peel making a transfer to the hot oven a bummer. So have all your toppings ready, cut and in bowls to make this easier.


Enjoy your pizza making and enjoy your pizza!

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Comments

  2. So yummy – made it for dinner tonight and the family loved it. Can I freeze the other half? If so, how long does it keep in the freezer? Thank you!

    Reply

  3. glad your family liked it! You can freeze the other half but I do find it is never as good as freshly made. What I've done instead, is bake up the crust and wrap in plastic wrap for later in the week. Top with your favorite toppings and bake until the cheese melts and is the crust crispy hot…perfect for an easy lunch or dinner during the week. If you haven't tried the pizza sauce I've posted…you must! It makes the pizza over the top. Hope this helps!

    Jenny

    Reply

  4. My husband has worked in the culinary industry (mostly a as a chef) for over 30 years. Also, we consider ourselves to be pretty good home cooks. Having said that, this is the best pizza dough we've ever made. It's not gooey or springing back into the small size when you roll it out. But even better than how it handles raw, is how it tastes cooked! WOW! The outside is crispy while the inside remains light and airy. Amazing. Thanks for sharing this great recipe Jenny.
    Melissa in NE

    Reply

  6. Greetings! Tried this for dinner tonight…wish there had been some specific cooking instructions (or maybe there are and I just didn't see them!) as my pizzas turned out a little dark on top, but not yet cooked in the middle (used stones).

    Reply

  7. Erin, I'm going to adjust the recipe… You're right, not enough instructions. When using a stone, I set my oven to 500 degrees an hour before I'm ready to bake the pizza. That way it's nice and hot and the pizza cooks fast, browns beautifully, and all the way through. You can roll out thick or thin you should have a great pizza. If you are just using a baking sheet for your crust I set the oven to preheat at 475 degrees. Pizzas cook until nice and lightly browned, crispy on the bottom of the crust and oh so good; about 12 minutes on the stone to maybe 15 minutes in the baking sheet. Sorry about the vague instruction and let me know how your next round turns out!!

    Reply

  8. I made this tonight for dinner. It was fantastic! I use to think only my bread machine made great pizza dough, I literally threw this together on my lunch break. By the time I got home it had rose perfectly, added a toss salad and dinner was ready in 30 minutes!
    Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  9. Oh I'm so glad you loved it! It's a family tradition every Friday night for us!!

    Reply

  10. ok im going to try this out tonight.. just a few doubts.. after rolling out the pizza and bake it before adding the topping??

    or roll out and add all the topings and bake together?

    Reply

  11. I always roll out to the thickness of my liking and place on pizza pan or baking sheet and then top with toppings then bake. But, with my leftover dough, if I should have any, rolling one out and baking lightly is a perfect way to bake off a quick pizza in the week:) just top and bake till the cheese is melted and only takes a few minutes. When storing crust to use in the week just let cool first then wrap in foil or Saran Wrap and keep on fridge. Will keep for up to 4-5 days! Your oven should be set high at 425 degrees if using the baking sheet or pizza pan and 500 of using a stone. Enjoy!

    Reply

  12. Trying your dough tonight,! looks delish,I'm using half whole wheat and half white ap flour,hope it works out.Just one question I have for you is on the temp. of the cooking,you say 425 on the printable version, but 475 on recipe page, Im guessing that it should be 475 for a reg pizza pan?

    Reply

  13. sorry about that…yes, it hsould be 475 for a reg. pizza pan:) it will be delicious!

    Reply

  14. Made this for the first time last night. This makes a wonderful, silky dough that is lovely to work with. Substitued honey for the sugar and the yeast loved it. I doubled the recipe and froze about 1/3. Used my 14" and 10" cast-iron skillets. Prebaked the dough for ten minutes before topping. The crust was thick the way my husband likes it and we have a lot of pizza left over. Next time I'll try to roll it out thin and crispy, the way I like it. Great recipe! Thanks so much!

    Julie Hamilton

    Reply

  16. I made this yesterday and I have to say that this is the most amazing recipe!!! The crust and sauce turned out perfect! I am soooo glad I found your website!! 🙂

    Reply

  18. Wie lecker das aussieht. Davon würde ich jetzt auch ganz gerne ein Stück essen.

    Reply

  19. How much yeast comes in a packet according to your ingredients? I live in Honduras and I wanna make sure I'm using the correct amounts. The packets we get here are 1/4 oz. each. Is that right? THANKS! im dying to try this tonight! 🙂

    Reply

  21. Perfect!! Thanks for answering so quickly! 🙂

    Reply

  22. I've already made this pizza dough 5 times and its the best pizza dough,its just perfect I bake on pizza stone @500 degrees for about 9 minutes I use the quick rise yeast and it comes out perfect every time

    Reply

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