really simple homemade pizza
But first, a small detour. Alex and I went to brunch at a friend’s apartment in the Upper East Side yesterday, stopping at Eli’s on the way home for provisions. Despite it’s unseemly pricing structure, I used to love this store but yesterday it just left a funny taste in my mouth as I realized that I’m just not the customer they’re after. Pre-made cookie and dinner roll dough? Pre-chopped vegetables? Day old chocolate cake? I suppose if I was frightened of my kitchen and had endless funds at my disposal, this place would be a godsend. But instead I just felt like pleading to their customers: pizza dough is so easy to make! Lately this has become like my battle cry, trying to convince people not to be so afraid of failing at a recipe that food choices are instead left to companies who possibly have their best interests in mind, but most definitely not before their bottom line.
To wit: Three-quarters of a teaspoon of yeast, one teaspoon of salt, one and a half cups of flour, half a cup of lukewarm water and a tablespoon of olive oil. Stir. Knead. Let sit for one to two hours, until it has doubled. Deflate. Wait twenty minutes. Roll. Add toppings and seasonings. Bake at your oven’s top temperature for about 10 minutes. Eat the best pizza for two, ever, brimming with self-satisfaction.
Except now I have a huge hankering for Eli Zabar’s Health Salad — also called Eating My Words as it is the one prepared food I am physically incapable of resisting the purchase of whenever I’m in either neighborhood, and they had none available yesterday. Have I tried my hand at it in my own kitchen with great success? Does the salad cost about $4 for forty-two cents worth of ingredients? Why can’t I see the big picture and stop buying it when I can make it myself? Er, ah… Well, it tastes better after it sits for a couple days, and I’m not that patient. You see? We all have our reasons, and I promise, I’m not judging yours. But, do hope you try my pizza dough, at least once, and see if it makes a convert out of you. And I’ll do my best to come up with a fail-proof formula for that crunchy salad.
Really Simple Pizza Dough
Makes enough for one small, thin crust pizza. Double it if you like your pizza thick and bready.
1 1/2 cups flour (can replace up to half of this with whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water (may need up to 1 or 2 tablespoons more)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Stir dry ingredients, including yeast, in a large bowl. Add water and olive oil, stirring mixture into as close to a ball as you can. Dump all clumps and floury bits onto a lightly floured surface and knead everything into a homogeneous ball.
If you are finding this step difficult, one of the best tricks I picked up from my bread-making class is to simply pause. Leave the dough in a lightly-floured spot, put the empty bowl upside-down on top of it and come back in 2 to 5 minutes, at which point you will find the dough a lot more lovable.
Knead it for just a minute or two. Lightly oil the bowl (a spritz of cooking spray perfectly does the trick) where you had mixed it — one-bowl recipe! — dump the dough in, turn it over so all sides are coated, cover it in plastic wrap and leave it undisturbed for an hour or two, until it has doubled in size.
Dump it back on the floured counter (yup, I leave mine messy), and gently press the air out of the dough with the palm of your hands. Fold the piece into an approximate ball shape, and let it sit under that plastic wrap for 20 more minutes.
Sprinkle a pizza stone or baking sheet with cornmeal and preheat your oven to its top temperature. Roll out the pizza, toss on whatever topping and seasonings you like. (I always err on the side of skimpy with toppings so to not weight down the dough too much, or if I have multiple toppings, to keep them very thinly sliced.)
Bake it for about 10 minutes until it’s lightly blistered and impossible to resist.
the “h” could eat pizza every night of the week. your dough recipe will be put to usee tomorrow i am sure. as i am sick right now, a pizza sounds pretty good about now… i always crave bad bad things when i am not feeling well. thanks for another great idea!
Ok, I can accept that the dough is yummy, but how do you do the rising for 2 hours when you are at work all day? My hubby is generally starving by the time he gets home and is not willing/able to wait for 2+ hours for dough to rise.
I am absolutely open to suggestions.
Tammy – Now, it doesn’t have to be a bad thing.:) Then again, I’m not a cheese-aholic nor one who loves my pizza doused in olive oil, so keeping it light isn’t hard. You can even bulk up the veggies so each slice is abundantly more filling, though less pizza-y. Good luck!
Nicole – Excellent point; I almost always make this on the weekends, or we inevitably eat a late dinner. Now, I haven’t done this yet, but one thing that will take the pressure off the evening is just stir it up in the morning, and then let it rise in the fridge. It slows down the process so much, 8 to 10 hours might be just what it needs to double. That would just leave you with the 20 minute rise, during which time you could heat the oven, chop your toppings, etc. The flavor should actually be better because a long rise makes always makes for richer flavor. I promise to very soon give this method a try and get the times down for you guys (though if you try it, let me know).
Oh, I am laughing after reading that post. So funny and so true. When it comes to pizza dough, my SO and I have a not-quite-DIY trick: we go to our favorite pizzeria and ask for raw dough. We live in New Haven, CT, a town known for really, really good thin crust pizza…and the pizzeria dough is always fantastic. What I do miss, though, is the change to kneed ingredients into the dough. Mmmm, garlic and basil crust.
To tammy: I crave bad things when I am sick too! No soup for me – I want mac’n'cheese and hash browns! (weirdly enough)
You are making me want a pizza stone. I am still resisting baking or anything similar that involves dough. Please… stop >:T
Happy new year, and thanks for always sharing your wonderful food & recipes with the rest of us. Best to you.
Yvo – I actually wrecked my pizza stone with the caramel overflow from the pecan bars, so I’m between them right now. But really, a thin metal pizza tray we have worked just fine. So, more or less, you’ll need another excuse. :)
No need to convert me! That is the same pizza recipe I use. But beyond the pizza dough, you have succeeded in explaining so perfectly why we should all be making pizza dough at home. Damn your good!
And don’t worry about the salad … we all have our little treats.
Happy 2007!
The dough does work. I’ve successfully made it (after a failed first attempt). I cut back on the salt, but that is personal taste. I loaded mine up with caramelized onions, goat cheese, tomatoes and spinach (before ecoli). Turned out really yummy. Thanks Deb!
Cabots low-fat Vermont Chedder Cheese!! Best on home made pizza’s (or in my case, English Muffin Pizza’s!)
You’re right – home made pizzas are ridiculously easy, and I’ve found that by keeping a few par-baked bases in my freezers, it makes for a delish and very easy meal when I need something in a hurry!
Deb, I don’t do much cooking but this seems simple enough so I may try it. One question though: why can’t you substitute the white flour entirely with whole wheat flour?
Yay! Lots of converts!
Mara – Whole wheat flour has lower gluten contents than all-purpose flour, so when used 100 percent, the bread tends not to be soft or chewy. I can imagine that with the high heats and thin crust of this recipe, you’d end up with something like a cracker if you went all-whole wheat, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t experiment. Try it 50/50 and see if you can work your way up to 2/3-1/3. There are also gluten additives/bread enrichers available at many stores, something you would add a teaspoon or tablespoon of to a dough for each cup of flour and might compensate for some of the lost gluten in whole wheat flour, allowing you to use a higher percentage of it.
Last month I was on a pizza making kick and couldn’t find a recipe I liked. Maybe yours will be the one!
I make pizza crust and double the recipe and split it in half and freeze one crust worth. A quick thaw/rise, and you’re ready to go on a weeknight.
I love to add rosemary to my dough, too, and sometimes a handful of fresh grated parm.
I’m replying in this comment, which is probably rude, but thanks for all the cocoa nibs suggestions. I have plenty of homework now! Also, got a Le Creuset lidded oval thing for Christmas that’s the perfect bread baker for that Bitman/whomever recipe. Will try asap.
A dear friend of mine is a professional pastry chef but she still buys pre-made pizza dough at the local italian deli. So crazy!
The dough recipe I use is basically the double-sized version of of yours (we like a thicker crust at my house), although it generally doesn’t need such a long rise. I give it about 20 to 30 minutes for the first rise, then punch it down and roll it to fit in the pizza pan. And it does a brief second rise while I’m assembling the toppings….maybe 5 or 10 minutes. The whole thing takes a little more than an hour to get on the table, which is just about twice the time it takes to have a pie delivered, but so much tastier that it’s worth the wait.
Deb, I love your pictures! They’re just brilliant. Rising dough in the fridge works fine, I’ve done this often for Sunday morning bread rolls (though never for pizza…)
For whole wheat flour, my experience is that adding some buttermilk helps to keep it soft. As I just mix until it “feels good”, I’m no help at how much is needed… but whole wheat flour usually soaks up more than white one.
Where did you get your little spice containers???
My boyfriend got me a pizza stone for Christmas, and we tried it out last night with a yummy focaccia that stuck to the stone! After I’ve got the stone ready again, I’ll give this pizza a try. You mentioned that a pizza tray works too, but do you prefer the taste of a pizza on the stone? This whole stone thing is new for me…
I came close to making pizza dough the other day, but we bought the dough from Trader joe’s and made calzones. I’ve been apprehensive about doing pizza because I don’t know how to get it from the counter to the hot pizza stone in the oven. Any tricks to suggest, or do I need to just suck it up and get a pizza peel?
Sarah – You know, they actually suggest that you never wash your pizza stone — soap is supposed to get into the pores and not easily come out. They say you can sand it to get baked-on junk off. Or, just use water and make sure it dries out completely between uses (some people will go as far as to dry it out in the oven at a low temperature for an hour or so). The pizza stone bakes more evenly than a tray, as it conducts better and it supposed to make for a more consistent and better-quality crust. It’s also great to bake any bread on, for the same reasons. I do prefer it, but have been making do without it until I get around to buying a new one.
Ann – A peel isn’t really necessary, unless you want to get super-duper into bread-making and want to be all professional. In my bread class, not having enough bread peels to go around, we’d put a piece of parchment paper on the back of a sheet pan, add cornmeal (though less necessary since nothing will stick to parchment paper), put the formed dough on top, and shimmy it onto the oven floor (or in this case, the stone), parchment paper and all. No worries about baking it on top of the parchment paper, it baked like it wasn’t there. Also makes for a cleaner pizza stone, non? (Note to self: start doing it this way.) You can take it out the same exact way.
I’m mostly right there with you on all the pre-made, pre-packaged stuff. I haven’t bought a bottled salad dressing in years, for instance. There was an article in the New Yorker [last fall?] about the dumbing down of the Food Network and how instead of telling you how to MAKE things, the current batch of chefs shows you how to SHOP for pre-made ingredients and combine them into something. Grrrrr!
The pizza looks amazing, by the way.
Looks easy and sounds completely delicious, but what about the sauce? That would be the thing that would keep me from making homemade pizza. And what kind of cheese is best for straight-up traditional flavor: pure mozzarella? Or Should we mix like Mr. Gatti’s does??
I am very interested in making homemade pizza!!
I type this as I finish off my second slice of pizza. Crust was excellent though I might bake it for 5 minutes on the stone before adding toppings just to achieve my desired crispiness. I loved making it myself though – I don’t think I have made homemade pizza since I was a kid!
I’ll do no knead bread in the next couple of days…
Allow me to change the subject ever so slightly.
Apparently, Deb is too modest to let you know she has been nominated (by myself, amongst others) to win in the humor category at the Well-fed network “Best food blog” awards (yes, Deb, you ARE funny). Here is the links for you to vote:
http://wellfed.net/2007/01/03/top-5-best-food-blog-humor/
While you are at it, check out the other categories because there are a lot of big favorites (Orangette, Cream puffs in Venice, to name a few), but you can also find some new favorites, Lucullian delights is a new favorite of mine, for instance.
Good luck, Deb!!!
I have pizza on the menu for Friday night and was looking for a new crust recipe!
Congrats, btw, on the nomination. I just headed over there to place my votes!
Deb- that stone issue. I hope you didn’t toss it. It can be saved! Put it in the sink and cover with hot water — no soap — and let it soak over night. In the morning you should be able to scrub the affending material from the surface. Then put it in you oven on the bottom rack and let it dry out there for a couple of days. Whenever you use the oven, it’ll dry out. (That’s where I store my favorite stone most of the time! You may need to reseason the top – by baking something oily — like canned cresent rolls or the like, but it should be rehabbed!
As someone who’s generally skeered of making anything with yeast, I think you’ve convinced me to try. Your pizza looks delicious! But I have to say I’m skeptical of anything called “health salad” — think I’ll take your word for it on that one.
Deb, we just made pizza last night too! I’ve been experimenting with different recipes for crust. Yours looks like the one from Marcella Hazan, which we’ve enjoyed. Currently I’m playing with one of Mollie Katzen’s recipes, which has no oil in the dough but oil on the pan. Somehow this dough is too wet after the first rise, but it has a nice mouth feel after its cooked.
I bake at 450 and do the crust w/sauce + oil for 12 minutes before putting on the toppings for the last 5.
Grayson – the easiest sauce ever: mince 1 clove garlic, heat in 1 T olive oil until golden (not brown!), add 15 oz can of diced tomatoes. If you can find the fire-roasted tomatoes that will add a nice flavor. Simmer for ~20 minutes until oil separates from tomatoes. Salt to taste. I sometimes puree this sauce for the pizza. This will make enough sauce for 2 small pizzas.
Question- are you supposed to preheat your pizza stone!?! I’ve been just throwing the pizza and/or stromboli right onto the room-temperature stone and baking…am I missing out on a perfectly-done crust?? I was wondering why your stone caught the overflow of caramel!
I learn something new everyday!
Karen – Thanks so much! I was hoping someone would add a quick recipe. That one is very close to what I use, though I typically use whole tomatoes so I can break them up as I choose, add a little onion or shallot with the garlic. Easy as pie, right? But, if I have an open jar on hand — and this time, it was Rao’s as I’d wanted to check it out after Julia Moskin’s piece on supermarket gems (it’s delicious, btw) — I use that first.
Megan – I usually just leave mine in the oven at all times, hence it catching the mess, because it heats everything more evenly.
Farmerbeth – Yup, I tossed it. Honestly, it was cheap to begin wtih and had suffered years of misuse in my uneducated hands. My next one will be treated like the prized possession it is.
Terry B – I completely agree about the combining of pre-made ingredients known as cooking. But oh, how their advertisers and profit margins must appreciate this approach. Prego/Ragu would not like it if they were showing people how easy homemade sauce is to whip up.
Oh, and Marce – I had no idea. A humor blog? They must be kidding. But, I am flattered nonetheless. Thanks for the shout-out!
I suppose it is the regional cooking thing, but I would have cheese on top of that nice-looking pizza in your pic.
I make pizza every Friday evening. My dough recipe is similar to this one, except mine is scaled up to 3 cups of flour so I can make 2 medium sized pies. To speed the rise time, i use fast rise yeast and proof the dough in the that was preheated to 200 degrees for ten minutes and turned off. The dough doubles in size in about 45-60 minutes. I split it in to two balls, give it another 15 minutes and then roll out my crusts.
Could you tell us more about this health salad which is so marvelous? How do you make your version? I see what looks like radicchio…
We did it! We made pizza! Your dough recipe is just perfect. I used my brand new stone (seasoned a bit earlier than expected thanks to a couple of early mishaps, but seasoned to perfection) and made one delicious pizza. Wine Guy (my boyfriend) and I used your recipe for the dough, then put a layer of tomato paste, some Italian Seasoning, Thyme and Oregano, mozzarella, caribbean jerk chicken, bacon, sundried tomatoes and crumbled feta, then baked for 12 minutes and 30 seconds and had perfect pizza. The crust was light and airy, but the bottom was nice and crisp and firm. Hurrah! Just what we were craving and just the perfect timing for my Christmas gift. Thank you!
Deb, I love your site and I tried the pizza recently. I don’t have a pizza stone, but used a standard metal baking sheet thinking it would be all right. Things were going well until I put it in the oven at top temperature (500 degrees) and the top of the pizza cooked beautifully, but the bottom hardly cooked at all. I checked the oven to make sure everything was working correctly, and it is. What am I doing wrong? I’d love to be able to cook like you, and if I can’t handle the pizza then I dread what could happen if I were to try the english muffins (which look YUM). Thanks for any help you can offer!
I am also a newlywed and totally relate to so many of your posts! This pizza looked awesome, I just had to try it out. I used your pizza dough recipe and it came out perfect! My husband was so impressed and I was so proud of myself. I love your blog and it is inspiring me to try to diy instead of doing my usual semi-homemade. Thanks!
Hi Deb,
I’m looking forward to trying your pizza dough recipe! Sounds like this is the pizza dough i’ve been looking for! i just had one question, my oven is a bit complicated. Should i put the setting so that heat is coming from both bottom and top or only bottom? my oven has those pictures on the sides which suggest and require me to put it on either setting… thanks a lot!
Sam
Hi Deb–
As I’m writing this, my pizza is resting until it’s not too hot to touch. It looks beautiful! I used a variation on your roasted-tomato sauce (just a pint of grape tomatoes, garlic and olive oil roasted for 20 mins) with some basil and mozzarella, and I can’t wait to cut into it.
I wanted to chime in on the pizza stone issue — I took Alton Brown’s advice and went to a building supply store and bought a box of unglazed quarry tile (I got 6″ x 6″ x .5″) and laid out two layers of three by three tiles — so I now have an eighteen by eighteen by one inch makeshift pizza stone on the floor of my oven. All in, it cost me $8.40, and I still have ten tiles left over — enough to replace the top layer if I have a “caramel incident”. I don’t plan to remove them from the bottom of my oven. I also used the sheet-pan-parchment-paper trick, and it worked like a charm.
Oh man, just took a break to get the first slice, and it’s amazing. The crust is nice and crispy. Forget Sur La Table, go to Home Depot!
Thanks a million to you and to Heels for the excellent advice about being able to fridge the dough for the day (while I’m out earning so I can buy more toppings) or freezer it before the 20-min rise; then defrost and use it on a week night. I’ll try that and it will be all pizza all the time in this house, I’m sure.
Deb, this is the first pizza I’ve ever made and I always make it 1/2 wholewheat flour + 1/2 plain flour. Because I am that lazy (and I have an oversized oven), I make two crusts by rolling out very thinly. Then, to make a sauce-like layer I spread a little sun-dried tomato oil on the rolled out rounds, then smear tomato paste on top. Then I add toppings. Despite it being rife with such short cuts, me and my guy LOVE this pizza. We call it smitza as in, “Smitza tonight? Let the salivating commence!”
Oh, and I finally bought a pizza stone after making the pizza four or five times. The damage? It cost 99 euro (it’s oversized to fit my oversized oven). I returned to the store THREE precious Saturday mornings before I convinced myself to buy it and haul it home on my Dutch bicycle. The benefit? I keep the stone in the bottom of the oven. I get gorgeous pizza crust and it heats the oversized oven e v e n l y every time I use it for any reason (which was a problem that I was just living with before). *fab*
Hi Deb
I love making pizza but have yet to make a realy good base so I will give your pizza dough a try this weekend and let you know. Oh am thinking of buying a pizza stone any sugestions.
this is a great recipe! I am going to make this tomorrow! Wish me luck :)
Koopa
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http://blog.sillica.com
So I tried the whole “put it in the fridge” thing to see if the dough would rise while I was at work, since I really wanted pizza tonight, but I also really didn’t want to eat at 8PM. It didn’t rise at ALL. Which meant that I had to take it out when I got home from work, and let it rise … and … well, we ate at 7:45, which is barely under the mark. Not sure the husband will let me back in the kitchen this week. Lesson learned: save this for a weekend meal!
I made the same pizza dough yesterday with double the ingredients to make a round pizza the size of my pizza stone. I stayed away from the cheese and other bad stuff and went ahead and smothered it with romaine lettuce, shreaded carrots, diced tomatoes, diced green peppers and finely cut red onion on top. What I did was to put the pizza dough (shaped of course) on the stone and bake it for 5 minutes on 450 degrees F. Then I took it out and put a thin layer of pizza quick sauce on it and put it back in the oven for another 7-8 minutes untll it was nice and lightly browned. I pulled it out and put all the salad ingredients on top oh yeah and I almost forgot the black olives! I then made a balsamic vinegarette to top it off. I used some white vinegar, balsamic, vinegar, olive oil, garlic powder, sugar and oregano. Oh my god it was to die for! It was my first time trying this and it was scrumdiddlyicious! Its a must try!
i have a deep dish pizza stone i used a few times but it seems to give the crust a dry/stoney taste – is there something i can do about that? i love the way the crust bakes in the stone otherwise. was i supposed to do something to the stone before its first use? i have tried several crust recipes and still get the taste of stone. is it supposed to taste that way?
so timely! I’m taking 10 of my friends out to a beach cabin on the coast this weekend and plan to make individual pizzas for our grand Saturday night dinner! Thanks Deb!
Deb, I love this, I love you (yes, you should have babies so we have a fighting chance of more humans like you), but is it possible to do without plastic wrap?
I’ve baked bread – thanks to Maggie Glezer, I’ve done this and all that – with plastic wrap and hating myself.
I’m not saying that anyone else should, but I do… What I am saying, however, is that Italy is still in Euro 2008 and I’d like to commemorate that occasion with pizza a la Deb, but without pretend jelly fish.
*salivating patiently*
– j
I am new to this blog but the food looks awesome and is inspiring. I would love to try a pizza but would like a whole wheat crust. Do you have a favorite recipe for it? I don’t know if i should mix flours so it does not become too dense or grainy. Any suggestions?
Becky — I note in the recipe that you can swap some of the flour with whole wheat flour. You can start at half or maybe up to two-thirds; see if you like the taste before going all the way up 100%. Whole wheat flour has less gluten in it than white flour, so it can end up less tender/chewy if used exclusively.
I tried this recipe last night in place of the the usual focaccia-style crust I usually make and I have to say I like this one much better. It gets much crispier and wasn’t soggy even though I stuffed my stromboli full. Thanks!
You saved me! :D I have been going crazy trying out about 25 different recipes for pizza dough!!! My family was about to move out if I served them one more pizza – and then I promised this would be my last… and yours was PERFECT. I can’t thank you enough!
i made the pizza for dinner tonight, and my family loved it!
i had to make my pizza slightly rectangular shaped, because i couldn’t find my pizza pan, nevertheless, the square pizza was very well-appreciated by the whole family.
thanks :)
this is the second time i’ve used your pizza dough recipe, and it’s amazing! i’m currently living in boston, where delicious pizza just does not exist. not a problem anymore. thanks so much!
Have made this twice now this week–so easy!–and topped w/ gorgonzola, eggplant and onions. Will have to try one of your variations next. As well as the Pizza Bianca! Thanks for the great recipe(s)!
I have risen my pizza dough. How can I keep it to use tomorrow?
Deb, omg. You have no idea how much bravery it took for me to purchase yeast today and get to work on this pizza crust of yours. But I am SO glad that I did!!! I made something with yeast, and it worked! haha I’m a little proud of myself. I used instant yeast because that was all I could find and I did what another commenter mentioned in sticking the dough in an oven that has been preheated and then shut off to let the dough rise. Every step of the way I was thinking, I must be doing something wrong, this is too easy, it’s not going to turn out… And then it was perfect. I topped mine with buffalo chicken, mozzarella and green onions, and it just blew my mind how good it was. Thank you a million times for such a foolproof and delicious recipe. This is my first time commenting but also wanted to let you know that I adore your site and have also made your pumpkin butter (amazing) and have several other recipes bookmarked to try. Thanks again!!
Hi
This recipe listed in so many places when searching for pizza recipe but have a problem as can’t read the quantities. First time have ever had problems with this site. Any suggestions?
Deb, this dough was amazing! I’ve been trying various recipes for months w/ no luck. One was close, but not like this one. I made a simple pepperoni pizza with all purpose four and no pizza stone, so the bite of the dough was warm and tender =) I’m going to take Alton Brown’s advice and make a pizza stone from quarry tiles. I’m thinking about using this same recipe for focaccia bread. Should I keep it the same or can I add whole milk?
I want to make extra dough and put it in the freezer. How should I go about this and how long does it keep? And why do some people season the pizza stone? Sorry for so many questions. Great Recipe =)
Made this for dinner last night and it was super easy and tasty! The counter cleanup was very quick, too, which is usually why I use a bread machine instead of kneading by hand. Love the suggestion of leaving the counter as is until the rolling out (which was really easy), and the parchment paper tip is genius. When I was eating my first piece of pizza, I was already wondering when to make it again!
I’m somewhat of a new blog-stalker but check your site daily and always look here first for recipe ideas. I love your writing…so witty and clever. We made this pizza tonight and I was shocked that it actually turned out since it was SO easy to make! Thanks!
Just wanted to say–I’ve used this recipe over and over and over since November, and it never fails. SO easy, SO good–we love it every single time!
Thanks, Deb!
Love your blog — the writing, the pictures and, of course, the recipes. You’ve got my vote for the Blogger Awards. A couple of questions about this recipe: I used 1/2 whole wheat (King Arthur’s White Wheat) and found my pizza to be too squishy in the middle. It blistered a bit around the edges, though. Do you think that baking the crust for 5 or 10 minutes before putting on toppings would help? If so, what temperature do you think would work? With or without parchment paper on top? I baked my pizza (with toppings) on a stone at 500 degrees for about 15 minutes. Or maybe I used too many toppings — layer of caramelized onions, dollops of ricotta, fresh tomato slices and dusting of romano. I tend to go heavy on toppings (and quesadilla and sandwich fillings for that matter), without trying to. But if that is the reason for the squishyness, then I don’t understand why the crust crisped near the edges, which also had plenty of toppings. Lastly, can the salt be omitted or cut in half? I believe I used the called-for 1 tsp, but the crust tasted salty to me. I used to omit salt regularly from recipes, not knowing that it sometimes serves a purpose other than adding a salty taste. Thanks for any thoughts you can provide on these questions.
By the way, I love your hoisin barbeque sauce (I make it in a double batch and keep it in the fridge for everything from tofu to fried rice) and smashed chick pea recipes (already, my husband and 2 yo son are big fans).
Hi Jennifer — There are a lot of reasons things can go different ways. If your pizza was too “squishy” in the middle, it could have been too thick, underbaked (esp. if you oven temperature is off), too heavy with toppings to have baked through; it may have risen too much … the edges will always bake first because they’re exposed more to the heat. You’re probably baking it at the right temperature but only you can get to know how your oven works at different temperatures and how you get the best pizza. If you don’t like salt, by all means skip it.
Hi!
I just ready your easy pizza dough recipe, and I wondered if it could be made with whole wheat flour for a healthier option?
Thanks so much!
Rebecca
The recipe says (first ingredient) that you can swap up to half the flour with whole wheat if you wish. I don’t recommend going higher, you can, but it makes for a more brittle/coarse pizza crust.
I make this every weekend…we love it!
I was making 2 pizzas tonight and accidentally doubled the water but not the rest of the ingredients!!! I had to keep adding flour when I was mixing it but didn’t realize why until I looked back at the recipe…any luck they will still turn out??? I hate to throw it all out…
I’m wondering if you have any advice on how to handle this dough in a KitchenAid Artisan Stand mixer. I’ve just acquired one (to make the process of mixing doughs easier), and I simply CANNOT get this (or any other pizza dough recipe) to achieve a baker’s windowpane. I’ve decreased speed and time, increased time, added water, added oil…I also checked out your delightfully explicit instructions for kneading pita dough (exact speeds were a tremendous help), but still no luck. Any tips? I’d hate to think this shiny $250 piece of equipment was more trouble than it’s worth.
Hi Shannon — I’m baffled; I’ve never made anything but lovely doughs in mine. It is possible that you’re not letting it knead long enough.
Late to the party and all, but here’s my two cents for those who want to make pizza on weekdays. You can definitely do the rise in the fridge, the trick is to do the first 30 minutes (or up to an hour) at room temp and then put it in the fridge. My husband heads out the door 30-45 minutes after I do, so I mix it up and he pops it in the fridge on his way out the door.
late to this posting, but quick question. i have a pizza pan with air holes in the bottom not a pizza stone, should i still preheat the pan in the oven before baking? will this affect the deliciousness of my pizza pie?
I haven’t worked with such a pizza pan before. You should probably use the directions it came with instead.
hey deb, been a lurker on you site for ages, tried a few (or many)of the wonderful recipes posted up. Just gotta say, the pizza dough worked perfectly, lovely crust with a crisp bottom. I let it rise for 1 1/2 hours and baked it on a pizza tray with some topping, and it was DELISH. Just wondering if you could freeze/refrigerate the dough for later use? thankyou dear
Any bread or pizza dough can be frozen or refrigerated at any point in the process. Simply wrap it well, and when you’re ready to pick up again (no more than a day or so in the fridge, if longer, lower the yeast content) bring it back to room temperature and pick up where you left off in the recipe.
A pizza pan for a wonderfully crisp bottom crust….just to experiment I bought a grease splatter cover ..the largest one they had..it is in essence a large frying pan cover made of a screen mesh..(like a colander but flat)…. with a long handle.they come with a metal handle covered in a hard plasted …I just broke the hard plastic off the handle and was left with a sold metal handle that is oven proof…. I spray it with cookng spray (over the sink so as not to make a mess) then place your already shaped dough on top ..you can stretch it out to your size preference..put your favorite toppings on it and “VOILLA” you will make the crispy bottom you have craved for ..use your pot holder to grasp the handle when puling out your deliciously baked pizza ..place on heat resistant surface..slide out for ease of slicing .
Oh my word, Deb — I just made this tonight. I wanted to make pizza tonight with the leftover roast chicken I had, but hadn’t found a good dough recipe yet. So I came to your site and found this one. There are simply no words for how good my pizza turned out tonight. I doubled the recipe since I was feeding a sailor of rather large scale to make a 16″ pizza. I stretched the pizza dough over the back of my old metal pizza pan, using the parchment paper and corn meal trick, slid it off onto my preheated pizza stone, and baked for 15 minutes to allow for the larger crust. It was, in a word, amazing. Plus I love how awesomely my hands smelled after kneading the crust earlier in the afternoon. Thank you so much for posting this. My husband thanks you as well!
i can’t wait to try this one and another that you have published. i have NEVER been able to have a yeast connection, so with a new house and humid summer, i’m hoping for the best . here’s to success
thanks
Wow – I made this for dinner last night and was so surprised at what a snap this was to make! Plus, this was my first successful homemade pizza (all those times of silly pre-made crusts that never baked properly in my oven are now blissfully behind me). Oh, and I made a recipe for blondies (with chocolate chips) also from this site for dessert. My fiance and I ate ourselves silly and loved every minute of it! Thanks!
Have you perfected the El Zabar’s crunchy health salad yet? I’m in CA so I have no access to El Zabar. Please do it, or have you already and it’s one of your slaw recipes where I’m not making the connection? I love what I see on the plate.
Never mind..I found it! It’s your pickled coleslaw!
Quick question, Deb, (and I know I’m late and I hope you remember) – how small is a “small pizza”? We have six people, and I’m trying to figure out if I should make two or three batches.
It’s small, 10 to 12 inches, tops, but thin. If this is your main course, you probably want three to be safe.
thanks~
Hi, I’ve tried this recipe last week and it came out well. I used the rapid rise yeast instead of active dry yeast and the dough did not rise at all. I was still able to roll it out with some difficulty and it turned out pretty good. Thanks for the recipe. I’m not sure if it’s ok to post the recipe in my blog with link and attribution but I just did.
Better late than never – I finally tried this yesterday!
I used Mark Bittman’s pizza dough recipe because it was almost the same as yours, but double quantity, and let it rise in the fridge for 8 hours. Used my stand mixer to knead the dough and it worked out just fine (paddle attachment first, then dough hook).
I took it out of the fridge to come to room temp while pre-heating the oven. made 4 small pizzas by pressing the dough out on a piece of foil (should have read the reviews and used parchment instead), and topped 2 with grilled zucchini, onions, buffalo mozzarella and pine nuts; and the other two with tomato sauce, smoked salmon, shrimp and danish mozzarella.
I slid the pies directly onto the oven racks (still on the foil) and baked for 10 min.
Tasted great, but no crispy bottoms!! Then I came back here to re-read and realised I need a Pizza Stone!!
Moral of the story – always read comments first.
Anyway, it tasted great and I can’t wait for Sunday so I can make more.
Thanks for converting this breadbaking-phobe.
I made this last night (with the lemony zucchini goat cheese topping from your more recent post!) and had a little trouble with the crust. It ended up pretty tough on the edges – do you think I overworked it? I tried to follow the recipe pretty carefully, but I’m not exactly the best baker in the world :)
Everything still tasted great so it was no problem, but I’d love to figure out a way to get the edges to be as airy and thin as the middle.
Thanks for a great dinner, Deb!
do you think i can still get a crispy crust if i cook it on a pizza stone
You can get a crisp crust with or without a stone. Check out my pizza tips here.
What an easy recipe! I never used yeast before, and I think I broke every rule/guideline, and it still turned out amazing. I followed the recipe (tripled it, actually) and then refrigerated the dough, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, overnight. I brought the dough to room temp, formed it into rectangular pizzas, placed them in unheated baking sheets (on greased tin foil and cornmeal), and baked at 450 degrees for 5 minutes before adding toppings and baking another ~8 minutes. It turned out fantastic! And it couldn’t have been easier.
i just made this crust and it’s delicious! i don’t have a pizza stone, but used the back of a baking pan and it came out crisp and lovely! thanks!
Thanks for the great recipe. I added 1 tbsp vital gluten flour (my bread baking secret :), also let it rise for a little more than 3 hours. The crust was great, especially the edges. We baked at 500 for 10 minutes with crust and sauce, then added toppings and baked another 5 to 6 minutes. Perfect pizza for 2 people. I’m going to try a calzone with the extra sauce I had.
Just wanted to say that this is absolutely my go to pizza recipe. I make it all the time and it’s always fantastic. I usually double the recipe and make two dough portions at time. After their done rising, I stick one in the freezer to use later. When I want pizza, I just defrost the dough in the freezer for a day or two, punch it down, roll it out, and it bakes up just fine. I’m afraid to order pizza out now because I know it will just not compare to homemade.
this pizza was amazing! My incredible wife jules made the dough and then my 2 1/2 year old son and i cooked it up … lovely recipe … thanks!
joshua jules and ocean
I just made 8x this recipe for a house full of grown-ups (roasted red peppers, spinach, caramelized onions, sauteed mushrooms) and kids (cheese, and pepperoni) and the crust turned out great. I’ve tried a lot of pizza crust recipes and am thrilled to find one that is so easy and delicious. Thanks!
I just had my test-drive with your recipe! It was a little thinner than I normally would do, but I found it to be the best homemade pizza crust I’ve ever done (and we’ve experimented with a LOT). My cheese got a bit on the burned side, so next time I will probably par-bake before adding toppings ;) Thanks for sharing the recipe!
this was my first attempt at a regular pizza crust (the only other one I’ve made was gluten free) and while I didn’t get a good rise out of the dough, it ended up coming out perfectly! so easy and convenient, this was a winner. Thank you soooo much for the recipe! :)
What a deceptively simple recipe for an excellent crust. I made mine with heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, smoked mozzarella and little dollops of fresh local chevre here and there. Heaven!
Simple? yes. Delicious? yes. I think I’m ready to open an Italian pizza parlor! ;)
Dear Smitten,
I have for you what seems like the most un-answerable question in pizza-dom. I’ve scoured websites, called the best pizzaria’s in Vancouver, and ALL small to large food warehouses and grocery stores, and I’m now resorting to actually asking you.
It is about the flour: bread flour, high gluten flour, 00 flour. Which one makes that crust that is crispy on the outside and soft and semi-oily/delicious on the inside? Of does it even have to do with the flour at all? Perhaps I’m way off and it has to do with the olive oil, or the rising time…help!
Stuck,
Keely
Keely — Pizza aficionados have been debating the perfect flour type for eons and I’m afraid I don’t have one answer. I believe the 00 is most commonly used in Italy (and I’m sure someone will correct me if it is not!). I suggest playing around — this basic recipe is pretty standard. Try it with different flours and see which one you like best.
Made this yesterday with half whole wheat flour, and it turned out wonderfully! I didn’t even let it rise the whole time (45 min, then 20 the second rise) and it was tender and had a complex, nutty flavor–perfect for the margherita pizza my husband loves and which uses up tomatoes from my garden! This is my new go-to recipe. Oh, and I doubled it right away and froze one–so I can be a convert now too!
Yum I want to eat my monitor, lol! That pizza just looks so GREAT!!
OLivia
Can you freeze this dough immediately after mixing it (before rising), and simply thaw it, let it rise, and be ready to go with it? Thanks!
Just made this for dinner, with just a sprinkle of parmesan and some roast asparagus. It’s so easy and tastes amazing, thanks!
Made the dough yesterday to have tonight. Followed the directions to a ‘T’. Thing is for the two hours of setting it aside to rise the dough didn’t seem to double in size. Hmmm, I put the yeast in. The yeast expiration wasn’t past. Do I still try to bake it tonight for dinner? What possibly could have gone wrong?
Baked it…WOW, I guess its the pizza that does little rising.
Excellent! Phewwww. I am glad I didn’t have to resort to plan B.
Do i add the yeast to the DRY ingrediants? or mix with warm water first? my dough NEVER risessss ….and what speed shall I use for the dough hook on the KitchenAid? Thanks
Ok I just did a little research – Active Dry Yeast must be mixed with warm water until it foams…and Instant Yeast doesnt. But your recipe calls for active dry yeast…added to the dry ingrediants. Will the dough STILL RISE??? I would looove to perfect homemade pizza pls help
Yes, active dry yeast is usually mixed with warm water to make sure it is still good, and that it proofs. But, it won’t not work if you don’t foam it first. I had skipped that step accidentally when making this pizza dough one time, and realizing it wouldn’t stop the dough from rising, have made it that way since. It’s a great way to save some time.
Hmm, my dough has been sitting for an hour and a half, and it’s barely grown at all, definitely not twice the original size… Is there any way to know if it just didn’t come out, or could I bake it and hope it rises as it bakes? I hope that makes sense… I think I might have ruined it, I can still see little specks of yeast on the outside of the dough ball. I think that’s a bad sign?
Oh boy, you will never guess what I just did. I wanted to make calzones with this recipe, so I rolled out the lovely dough and then following so many comments, shaped & par baked it. Duh– I guess it was meant to be a pizza night after all.
I made a pan pizza of this dough and it was fantastic!!! Thanks a ton!!
Hello Deb,
Great blog. Have been watching it for a very long time. I made this dough today and although it was really good and everything looked right, I was wondering if my crust got too crispy. My husband and I like a crust that isn’t crunchy, but the bottom of the dough, and the sides, were a bit crunchy. Is it supposed to be that way? Or did I do something wrong. I’ve made a pizza dough from another recipe before and the bottom was also too crunchy. Does this mean I’m overcooking the pizza? I do bake it at a much lower temperature because when it’s on very high temp the bottom gets cooked but the sides don’t. Any ideas for me? I’ve been struggling with bread-baking for months now!
Thanks for any input and sorry for the many questions :)
Hi Deb. I just stumbled onto your website yesterday and have been drooling on myself ever since! I have been searching for the perfect slightly crusty but soft and chewy on the inside pizza crust for years. Every time I try to make my own it turns out tasting very heavily of raw flour. What am I doing wrong? Thank you and love your site.
Lynn — Welcome. Have you made this one?
I have not, but will very soon. I think I’ll try it with my “baked potato” pizza toppings. I will let you know how it turns out!
I am having the same problem Sarah had. I have never used yeast before (a minor baking fear of mine) but the ‘h’ wanted home made pizza tonight so I gave it a go. I added the active dry yeast to the dry ingredients and then left it to rise (as per the directions). I even placed it in my warm (but turned off) oven and it did not rise. After two hours it wasn’t even noticeably larger. I could also see flecks of yeast in the dough (they looked exactly like the flecks in the yeast jar). I have just started the second 20 minute rise, but I don’t think it’s going to rise or turn out.
Is it okay to eat yeast bits that haven’t dissolved or whatever in the dough once it’s baked? Eep.
I was wondering what size (in inches) does this pizza crust recipe make? I know you say small but what is small to you? Thanks.
Hi Charlie — 12″ across if rolled pretty thin.
Hi Deb,
Made this pizza quite a few times already and each time — huge success!
Doubled it for 2 pizzas for dinner, kids raved it and husband said it is good, like from a bakery.
I want to make individual mini-pizzas for my son’s birthday.
Do you think it is better to divide the dough before the first rise, or divide it after the dough has been risen and roll out each part individually?
Thanks.
Hi Ilana — I’d do it after the first rise, as you would form the dough into a ball anyway. Just form it into the number of pieces you need. Perhaps four mini-pizzas from each yield?
Thanks, Deb, for your quick reply.
Yes, it goes about quarter pizza per child at our dinners. It means about 4 goes of double batches for ~30 kids. I am going to freeze them, one batch each evening before the party, and just reheat it in the oven in real time.
Once again THANK you, I just finished eating my third slice, I doubled the recipe cause I like mine thick, I brushed the borders with homemade garlic oil and next time ill brush the whole thing with it, Simply delicious!!!
Thank you for this recipe. Simple ingredients and doesn’t contain any egg, soy, or nuts that my son is allergic too. So helpful that it has such simple ingredients, makes it less of a challenge. Attending a get-together this weekend and they’re serving pizza, so now I can make one for my son, so he doesn’t feel left out!
Used your dough recipe last night and it could not have been simpler. I was so happy with the results. I doubled your recipe and made two thin crust pizzas, and they reminded me of pies I used to gobble up in NY & Jersey (now I’m a CA transplant). Thank you thank you thank you. You’ve cured me of my pizza-making fears. I never want to go out for pizza again (at least not here)!
I made this pizza dough last night! It was my first ever pizza dough. I subbed 1/2 c whole wheat flour for 1/2 c of the all-purpose flour. I winged the pizza toppings (mushrooms, onions, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, tomato sauce spruced up with herbs, shredded mozzarella) from what I had in the fridge and pantry. I baked the crust alone for 5 minutes on 500 degrees in my cast iron skillet, then added all the toppings in some kind of logical order, then put the skillet back in and lowered the temp to 400, then baked for 10 more minutes, checking every 5 for “done-ness.” It was fantastic!
My crust, however, was super-thick…like more than 1/2 inch thick. I like it that way, but I used the “thin-crust” version of the dough, instead of the doubled. Maybe it was that I was using a 9″ skillet. It was lovely! I love your website! I’ve been working my way through the most delicious-looking recipes–browsing your website really brightens my work day (and makes me hungry!).
Sarah and Stefanie–mine barely rose after 2 hours also, but my dough did rise in the oven while it was baking. I wondered if that was because there was no sugar in the dough for the yeast to snack on (the only other yeast product I have ever made is pita bread, and the recipe called for a bit of sugar).
Any idea how to substitute sourdough starter for the active yeast in this recipe? I have just painstakingly created a starter using Nancy Silverton’s 14 day method and have made great bread and pancakes so far. I really want to try pizza dough next, but am scared of getting the conversions wrong. And this recipe seems perfect. Any thoughts?