Easy Homemade Pizza Dough (Featuring 00 Flour)

This is an easy pizza recipe anyone can make! It’s a great for beginners and experienced chefs alike. I used 00 flour for its wonderful chewy texture, but you can substitute all-purpose flour too.

You truly don’t need much to create amazing pizza at home, and it starts with great pizza dough. This is such a simple recipe that provides wonderful results every time. High-quality ingredients are also really important to making your pizza restaurant-quality. So go for the good stuff and don’t overload your pizza with toppings!

Check out more favorite recipes for beginners here! Or, check out another simple and delicious pizza recipe made in a cast iron skillet!

This is the 00 flour pizza dough recipe I make in episode 7 of my show, Zoë Bakes on Magnolia Network and it is adapted from my book Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day!

In this episode I visit Pleasant Grove Pizza Farm to learn their secrets to making great pizza, then head home to host a backyard pizza-making party of my own, complete with my very own backyard pizza oven. If you want to learn more about the pizza farm, check out my exclusive Q&A for Substack Extras subscribers.

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Pizza Dough FAQs

• Can I use any flour for the pizza dough? Yes! The recipe below calls for 00 flour, which I love for its texture, but you can substitute to AP flour.
• What temperature should the water be for the dough? I call for lukewarm water, and recommend it to be around 100 degrees. Water that’s too hot will kill the yeast and too cold will affect the rise.
• Can I store the Pizza Dough? Yes! This pizza dough can be made ahead of time, which is part of what makes it so great. You can store the dough in the fridge for about a week or in the freezer for up to two months.
• Do I need a pizza oven? I love my pizza oven, but this recipe can just as easily be made in your oven. You’ll want to bake it at a high temperature and preheat your pizza stone.
• Do I need to put corn meal on the pizza peel? The corn meal adds nice texture and helps the dough slide off the peel. You don’t need it, but you’ll want to use something in its place like parchment paper to keep the dough from sticking if you choose to skip cornmeal.
• Does the pizza dough need to rise before baking? Yes! This is a pretty fast-rising recipe, but you will need to let it rise for 2 hours before it can be used.
• What toppings are best for homemade pizza? Anything and everything! One tip is to avoid overloading your pizza. I also recommend using chunks of fresh mozzarella spaced out to give it space to melt!
• Pizza dough tip: This recipe is also amazing as a focaccia.

Homemade Pizza Equipment

There are a few items I swear by to make the best homemade pizza, including a good pizza stone. Bonus points if you get a pizza peel! Check out all my pizza making equipment in my Amazon shop! These are the must-haves:

1. A nice dough bucket with a lid makes it easy to mix your ingredients and store your dough. You need one that has a lid but isn’t airtight, and this dough bucket is my favorite.
2. You’ll want a pizza stone to give your pizza a nice browned bottom. A preheated pizza stone makes a huge difference for your crust.
3. This is my favorite pizza peel for easily sliding your pizza in and out of the oven.

Pizza Dough

You don't need much to create amazing pizza at home. This simple 00 flour pizza dough recipe provides great results every time.

5 from 11 votes

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Author: Zoë François

Equipment

• 6 qt Bucket with Lid
• Danish Dough Whisk
• Oven Thermometer
• Pizza Stone
• Pizza Peel
• Pizza Cutter

Ingredients

Dough

• 3 cups lukewarm water
• 3 tbsp olive oil plus more for drizzling
• 1 tbsp active dry or instant yeast
• 1 tbsp kosher salt plus a pinch for topping
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 kg (8 cups) 00 caputo flour plus more for dusting
• Cornmeal for pizza peel (optional)

Toppings

• 2 cups tomato sauce
• 1 1/2 lbs fresh mozzarella
• 1 bunch basil

Instructions

Mix and store the dough

• Put the water in a 5-quart bowl or in a lidded (not airtight) plastic food container and add the olive oil, yeast, salt, and sugar. Or use a heavy-duty stand mixer fitted with the dough attachment. Then add all of the flour and mix with a wooden spoon, dough whisk, or the mixer. Cover with a lid (not airtight). Allow the dough to rise at room temperature, approximately 2 hours.

Shape the dough balls

• After rising, divide the dough into 8 equal balls. For each ball, pull up and cut off a half-pound (orange-sized) piece of dough, using a serrated knife or kitchen shears. Hold the piece of dough in your hands and add a little more flour as needed so it won’t stick to your hands. Gently stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the dough a quarter-turn as you go to form a ball. Most of the dusting flour will fall off.
• Refrigerate the dough balls, each wrapped well in plastic wrap, and use over the next week, or freeze for up to 2 months.

On Pizza Day

• Prepare and measure your toppings in advance: This will help you top the pizza quickly so you can get it into the oven before it sticks to the pizza peel.
• Position a baking stone in the bottom third of the oven and preheat the oven to its highest temperature.
• Prepare a pizza peel with flour, cornmeal, or parchment paper to prevent sticking when you slide the pizza into the oven. Sprinkle the surface of one of the refrigerated dough balls with flour.
• Roll out and stretch a pizza crust: Flatten the dough with your hands and a rolling pin on the counter or directly onto the pizza peel to produce a 1/8-inch-thick round, dusting with flour to keep the dough from adhering to your work surface. Use a dough scraper to “un-stick” the dough as needed, and transfer it to the prepared pizza peel if you haven’t stretched the dough directly on one. When you’re finished, the dough round will be about 12 inches across, and should have enough flour under it to move easily when you shake the peel. As you add the toppings, continue to test for sticking by gently shaking the peel. The pizza should move freely. If it doesn’t, use the dough scraper and some flour to un-stick it.
• Add the toppings: Spread 1/4 cup of tomato sauce over the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border at the edges, then add 3 ounces of mozzarella and several basil leaves, and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. We prefer using well-spaced chunks of cheese, which gradually melt and spread (giving the crust a longer opportunity to crisp before toppings burn). Drizzle a little olive oil over the pizza.
• Slide the pizza onto the preheated stone: Place the tip of the peel near the back of the stone, close to where you want the far edge of the pizza to land. Give the peel a few quick forward-and-back jiggles and pull it sharply out from under the pizza. Check for doneness in 8 to 10 minutes and turn the pizza around in the oven if one side is browning too fast. It may take up to 5 more minutes in the oven. Allow to cool slightly, preferably on a wire rack, so that the cheese sets.
• Repeat with the remaining 7 dough balls and toppings.

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• If you've made this recipe, please leave a rating and review! I love to hear how you've adapted my recipes to your own tastes, so please share how it went for you. It helps other people find my recipes. Thank you!

Notes

Adapted from “Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day Recipe: The Homemade Bread Revolution Continues” by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François © Thomas Dunne Books, 2011. Provided courtesy of Zoë François. All rights reserved.

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