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The Best Homemade Pizza Dough {photo tutorial}

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The Best Pizza Dough – a photo tutorial packed with tips on making the best pizza at home!

The Best Pizza Dough The Best Homemade Pizza Dough {photo tutorial}
Today we are taking the mystery out of making pizza dough.
Trust me when I say, it’s easy-peasy.
Or what my Hubby says, because he is going to show you how you can make a pizzeria-style pizza at home!
Are you excited? 🙂
I should warn you though, after trying this pizza – you may never order delivery again.
Just sayin’…. 🙂
Take it away, Honey!
Hi everyone! Mr. CCS here. 🙂 Hope you are ready for a photo loaded tutorial. I am going to show you how to make pizza at home. We did our best to photograph every step so there is no mystery involved.

HOW TO MAKE THE BEST PIZZA DOUGH?

Let’s start with gathering our ingredients:

1.5 cup water (warm from your hot water faucet)

1.5 teaspoon sugar

1.5 teaspoon active-dry yeast large bowl

Note: the sugar and yeast are very workable depending on room temperature and how long you have to wait. If you have hours and hours you don’t need much yeast, but with my patience, I use a bit more than necessary.
pizza+collage The Best Homemade Pizza Dough {photo tutorial}

1. Have your ingredients ready.

2. Combine all in a large bowl. Stir gently to help the yeast to dissolve.

3. Let it sit for about 10 minutes until you see bubbles forming on the surface.

4. Gather the rest of ingredients: 3 cups of flour, a pinch of salt and 1 tablespoon oil.

5. Add flour to your yeast mixture. Begin with 3 cups of flour. It might be enough but you will know as you work with the dough if you need a bit more. Not enough flour and it will stick to the counter, your hands, rolling pin etc..

6. Sprinkle the salt over your dough and add the oil. Stir until the dough forms and separates from the sides of the bowl.

7. Turn the dough onto a floured surface or baking/pastry mat. ( or some nonstick mat my wife uses for her modeling chocolate decorations ).

8. Flatten the dough with your hands,

9. Now the fun begins! You get to fold and punch the dough!

pizza+tutorial+2 The Best Homemade Pizza Dough {photo tutorial}

HOW TO KNEAD PIZZA DOUGH?

10. Fold from right…. 11….. to left… 12. … punch down… 13…. really doesn’t matter just eventually form into a ball.

14. Like this.

15. Clean the bowl you mixed the dough in and coat lightly with cooking oil. Place your ball of dough inside. Turn it few times to coat the dough with the oil.

16. Cover the bowl with a cloth or a towel.

17. Let rise until it doubles in size. A tip my wife taught me is on a cold/cool day to heat up a cup of water in the microwave and then placing my dough inside. Not a problem right now with the heatwave we are going through in the Midwest ;). In theory you want your dough to rise as slow as possible at cool temps such as a refrigerator overnight but in reality, I am unable to plan that far ahead and need to spend as little time on prepping dinner as possible.

18. This is how your dough should look like after rising.

pizza+tutorial3 The Best Homemade Pizza Dough {photo tutorial}

HOW TO FORM PIZZA DOUGH?

19. Turn your dough back onto the floured surface or a mat. Flatten down.

20. Form it into a log…. 21. …like this.

22. Divide into three equal parts. You can always divide the ingredients but we usually have three pizzas with leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch. (Or you can freeze a ball or two they will keep for some time.)

23. Form each part into a ball and let sit a few minutes. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

24. One by one, flatten each ball into a disk.

25. After hand flattening to a circle use your rolling pin to get it as thin as you are comfortable handling and it staying together. Your dough will be pretty flexible and if it does rip or develop a hole, you can fix it as it is very forgiving. Simply fold over where it ripped or take a little piece from a thicker part of the dough and smash it in. Worst case scenario: roll it all back up and roll it back out again. I try to roll it out as circular as I can and as close to the size I want so I don’t need to stretch it out a whole lot to get to my edges. You don’t need these pizza pans. Freeform pizza works even better and is much easier, but my kids are familiar with commercial pizza and believe that the perfectly round pizza tastes infinitely better.

26. Have your pizza pan SLIGHTLY greased with cooking oil or sprayed with it. Place the pizza dough on top.

27. Now here is the trick: use both hands to create the edges. With one hand pushing /squishing the dough towards the edge of your pan and over and the other hand flattens it so it will stay in place.

pizza+tutorial+4 The Best Homemade Pizza Dough {photo tutorial}

HOW TO FORM PIZZA DOUGH IN PAN?

28. Push and flatten.

29. You a-like-a-the pizza crust, no? 🙂

30. After you form your crust it needs to proof a bit; you can do this by letting it set for a while or pop it in the oven for about 5 minutes, pull it out and then add your toppings.

31. Your crust is ready to be finished and topped.

32. Brush the edges with melted butter…

33. … and sprinkle with cornmeal.

34. Spread the sauce in a circular motion.

35. …until it’s nice and coated.

36. Top with your favorite toppings and bake 15 – 18 minutes. Enjoy!

For condensed instructions and a printable recipe, please click the button below.

I hope you will give it a try and prove to yourself you can make a great pizza at home!
Update 03/2014: If you want a thin crust pizza – cut the dough into three parts. If you like thicker crust – divide into two parts. 
Also, check out our Homemade Pepperoni Pizza recipe for more tips!
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So how about that, huh? 🙂 Now you know one of the reasons I love this man. He makes the best pizza ever!!
Our girls love to help with the toppings which make pizza dinner quite the family affair. Warning: you may end up having unusual toppings, like pickle slices or strawberries on your pizza. 🙂
I hope you will find this tutorial helpful and try your hand in making pizza at home. If you will, please, come back and let us know how it went! It will make our day! 🙂

MORE PIZZA RECIPES:

Homemade Pizza Sauce

Best Homemade Pepperoni Pizza

New York Style Pizza

Stuffed Crust Pizza

Easy Pizza Bread

Hot Slice of Pepperoni Pizza The Best Homemade Pizza Dough {photo tutorial}

If you like this recipe and make it, snap a photo and share it on INSTAGRAM! Tag me @crunchycreamysweet so I can check it out and leave a comment! 😀

THE BEST HOMEMADE PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE:

 

5 from 7 votes
The Best Pizza Dough 150x150 The Best Homemade Pizza Dough {photo tutorial}
Print
The Best Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe
Prep Time
1 hr 25 mins
Cook Time
19 mins
Total Time
1 hr 44 mins
 
The BEST PIZZA DOUGH tutorial! Step by step photos show you how to easily make the best pizza dough at home. Top with your favorite toppings and enjoy! Check out the comments on our post from readers who make this recipe all the time and love it.
Course: Main Dish
Cuisine: American, Italian
Keyword: pizza
Servings: 6 people
Calories: 323 kcal
Author: Anna
Ingredients
  • 1 and 1/2 cup warm tap water
  • 1 and 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
  • 1 and 1/2 tsp active dry yeast I used Red Star Yeast
  • 1 Tbsp vegetable or canola oil
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • oil for greasing pans
  • cornmeal for dusting pans
US Customary - Metric
Instructions
  1. Place water and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Stir until sugar dissolves.
  2. Sprinkle yeast over the water and stir few times. Let sit until foamy ( about 5 minutes).
  3. Add 2 cups of flour and salt. Mix in with a wooden spoon until combined.
  4. Add oil and mix well.
  5. Add third cup of flour and stir it in with a wooden spoon.
  6. Place dough onto a floured surface and knead it the last cup of flour.
  7. Knead the dough until smooth and no longer sticky. It should be smooth.
  8. Place the dough into a oiled large bowl, cover with a kitchen towel.
  9. Place in a warm and draft-free place until doubles in size, about 1 hour.
  10. In the meantime, prep the pizza pans by lightly greasing them and sprinkling with cornmeal.
  11. Punch the dough down. Transfer back onto the floured surface. Smooth out into a ball.
  12. Divide into two equal pieces.
  13. Roll out one piece into a circle, about the same size as your pizza pan. Place on the pizza pan, stretching the sides.
  14. Preheat the oven to 420 degrees F.
  15. Place the pizza dough in the oven and bake for 7 minutes.
  16. Brush the sides of the pizza with melted butter and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of cornmeal.
  17. Top with toppings and bake 12 to 15 minutes.
Recipe Notes

This recipe makes 2 large pizzas. The calorie count is an estimate. I use MyFitnesPal app. 

Nutrition Facts
The Best Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe
Amount Per Serving
Calories 323 Calories from Fat 27
% Daily Value*
Fat 3g5%
Sodium 1mg0%
Potassium 89mg3%
Carbohydrates 63g21%
Fiber 2g8%
Protein 8g16%
Calcium 13mg1%
Iron 3.9mg22%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Sharon says

    I just read your Post I Love Pizza Even I when I buy Pizza from the Store I put my own sauce on it and Add more Meats add Veg’s and different Cheese.It is good .But from here on I will be Making my owe Crust.Thank You and Your Husband.

    Reply

  5. Lulu says

    I’ve got my dough rising now. I just looked at the print recipe and it says 1 TBSP oil but this tutorial says 1 tsp…. Which is correct?

    Reply

  6. Liz says

    If only everyone would make there instructions as easy as you do! Very helpful with the pictures! Great job..defiantly will use ur post to make one! 😉

    Reply

  7. Laura Pagels says

    I’m just about to start a double batch of this now. One batch for the pizza and a batch for garlic knots. My kids are going to love me! Betcha I even get a hug and kiss out of it!

    Reply

    • Anna@CrunchyCreamySweet says

      Hi Laura! It’s Friday so we are whipping up a batch too! Yay for pizza nights! Let us know how you like it! Thank you for the comment!

      Reply

  8. Ed Evans says

    I just made this pizza dough…..I couldn’t believe how soft the dough was. When I formed it into a ball, it felt like I was holding a pillow. The dough was enough for 2 large pizzas…..I have the big 16″ pans. Thank you so much for this recipe! This was easy to make and I’m sure it will be delicious!

    Reply

    • Anna@CrunchyCreamySweet says

      Hi Ed! Thank you so much for the wonderful comment and for trying our recipe! We make it every week on Friday and love it too! Thanks so much!

      Reply

  9. CrunchyCreamySw says

    Hi Tanya! We used 12″ pizza pans. This recipe makes three thin crust pizzas or two thick crust pizzas. I think you should have no problems making 2 16″ pizzas. Let me know how it goes! Thank you!

    Reply

  10. Amanda Cortez says

    Just came across this recipe on Pinterest. I LOVE pizza. I have tried 3 other pizza dough recipes and so far this one IS THE BEST. (Also the first one I’ve used with yeast) Fantastic! Thank you for sharing!!

    Reply

    • CrunchyCreamySw says

      Hi Amanda! Thank you so much for letting us know! We make this recipe almost every week! We did last Friday! It’s fantastic to know that others love it too! Thank you!!

      Reply

  11. Sahar Durali says

    Hii –quick question. You mentioned that in step 22-24 you roll the dough into three balls/disks. Do you then have three different pizzas, or did you roll all the disks together with the rolling pin after you separated them? What’s the point of separating the dough? Just wondering-I’ve never made pizza dough and I’d like to try it.

    Reply

  15. Ali says

    I just made homemade pizza dough for the first time yesterday! So fun. And now I wish I'd had your tutorial — this is great!! 🙂

    Reply

  16. Anne@FromMySweetHeart says

    What a FABULOUS tutorial! I am definitely bookmarking this because I must admit, though I don't do delivery anymore, I've been buying my dough from Trader Joe's! Thanks Mr. CCS! : )

    Reply

  18. The Better Baker says

    Awesome tutorial! Great job to both of you…I'm sure this is yummylicious! Nothing beats homemade.

    Reply

  19. Curry and Comfort says

    I have never made my own pizza dough…. you know I have a fear of dough. I loved your step by step tutorial! Tell you hubby way to go!! 🙂 The dough looks perfect and the pizza…. do you deliver? 🙂

    Reply

  20. Lizzy says

    Thank you, Mr. CCS! Your dough looks PERFECT! It's time to dig out the pizza stone and treat the family 🙂

    Reply

  21. Astral de la Mare says

    Such a brilliant post! I love making pizza dough but I don't make it nearly as often as I should.

    Reply

  25. Baking Addict says

    I've been wanting to make my own pizza for ages but never got round to it. I recently bought a pizza stone and it's still in its box. Thanks for this helpful photo tutorial – I can't wait to try it out!

    Reply

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