The Easiest and Best Pizza Dough Recipe You'll Ever Make (2024)

I’m so excited to share my best pizza dough recipe with you! I’ve started making more yeast breads and doughs this winter, and I’ve been very happy with nearly all of my results!

While I make this as a Kitchenaid pizza dough recipe, you can definitely make it by hand with no problems. Keep reading and you’ll find:

• Instructions for making this pizza dough recipe with your Kitchenaid stand mixer.
• Instructions for making this pizza dough by hand.

This post was updated in November 2022 to add additional instructions for making the pizza dough with a Kitchenaid mixer. I also added a printable recipe card. Don’t worry, the recipe itself wasn’t changed!

The Best Pizza Dough

I was under the impression that making homemade pizza dough was difficult. It’s not.

In fact, I have better luck making the dough in my KitchenAid stand mixer with a dough hook rather than using the doughcycle on my bread machine.

I also get a huge sense of accomplishment from successfully making my own pizza crust. It’s so fun to know that I made it myself and it turned out really well!

These are some of the items I use to make the best pizza dough recipe:

KitchenAid Professional Bowl-Lift Stand MixerBUY NOWStainless Steel Mixing Bowls by Finedine, Set of 6BUY NOWOXO Good Grips Wooden Spoon Set, Set of 3BUY NOW14.75″ Pizza Stone with RackBUY NOW

Believe me, I’ve tried many different recipes for making my own pizza dough. Thin crust. Deep dish. Stuffed crust. Herb-seasoned.

I’ve tried making other homemade pizza dough recipes by hand and I’ve tried other Kitchenaid pizza dough recipes.

None of them were the right recipe until I combined several of them to make my own.

This really is the best pizza dough recipe. It makes a pizza crust my entire family loves, and my friends were seriously impressed when I made the same recipe for them.

Even better, while I consider it a Kitchenaid pizza dough recipe, it can absolutely be made by hand!

I also love using this pizza dough in other recipes. These easy cheese pinwheels are a family favorite!

Best pizza dough recipe Ingredients

You’ll find full measurements for these ingredients in the printable recipe card at the end of this article.

Take a look at this list and make sure you have your ingredients on hand so you can easily make this pizza dough.

• light beer*
• warm water
• yeast (I buy yeast in bulk and store it in my freezer. 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast = 1 packet of yeast)
• white sugar
• salt
• olive oil
• bread flour or all-purpose flour

*If you don’t have beer, you can substitute the same amount of white wine or water.

Like just about every yeast dough, the amount of flour you use depends on many different factors. Start with 2 1/2 cups and add more until you (or your mixer) are ready to start kneading the dough.

How to Make This Dough By Hand, Without a Stand Mixer

Combine beer,water and yeast in a large mixing bowl and stir until dissolved. Add the sugar, salt and olive oil, thenmix well to combine.

Add 1 cup of the flour and mix with a wooden spoon until it become a very loose, sticky dough.

Add more flour, 1/2 – 1 cup at a time, stirring and incorporating as much flour as you can with the spoon.

Add the rest of the flour and start mixing it with your hands, then turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead for 6-8 minutes, until your dough is smooth and firm.

Place the ball of dough in a clean, lightly oiled bowl and drizzle with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil. Cover with a damp towel and let rise until doubled, about 45-60 minutes.

How to Make this Kitchenaid Pizza Dough with your Stand Mixer

Combine the beer, water and yeast in the bowl of your mixer, and stir it with a spoon until it’s combined.

Add in the sugar, salt and olive oil and stir again.

Put your bowl on your stand mixer and attach the dough hook. Put 1 cup of flour in the bowl and run your mixer on the slowest setting to form your dough.

Add flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough is formed. Scrape the sides of your bowl with a spatula as needed.

When the dough is formed, let the dough hook run on low for 6-8 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Place the ball of dough in a clean, lightly oiled bowl and drizzle with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil. Cover with a damp towel and let rise until doubled, about 45-60 minutes.

How to make your Pizza Dough After it Rises

This makes a 16-inch round pizza crust. It can also be split into 2 smaller pizzas or 6-8 individual pizzas.

To bake: roll out your dough to 1/4″ thick and place on a hot pizza stone or a lightly greased round pizza pan.

Parbake at 425 for 4-5 minutes. Cover with desired toppings, then bake 8-12 additional minutes until crust is lightly browned and toppings are melted.

Serve and enjoy!

Speaking of serving pizza, I’ve had this pizza wheel cutter for over ten years and it’s the best I’ve ever used! It’s sturdy, it doesn’t wobble and it’s remained sharp for all this time. If you don’t like your pizza cutter, check out this one!

Photo Credit

Be sure to check out my recipe for hot pizza dip with cream cheese. It gets destroyed at every party I bring it to!