This is the simplest pizza dough recipe, hands down. It consistently turns out great and is fairly forgiving, making it perfect for beginners or prepping for a weeknight dinner. The dough is ready in 15 minutes, no need to let it rise.
Prep Time15 minutesmins
Total Time15 minutesmins
Servings: 28-inch pizzas
Calories: 645kcal
Ingredients
Dough
¾cuplukewarm water110 degrees F
1teaspoonrapid rise yeast*see note
2cupsall-purpose flour10 ounces
1.5teaspoonsalt
Toppings
½cupmozzarella cheese
⅓cuppizza sauce
Your favorite toppings (nutrition info includes ½ lb of sausage)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 500 degrees
If you have a baking stone (highly recommended), preheat it in the oven now.
Make the dough
Put warm water in a large bowl and add yeast. Stir to dissolve.
Add flour and salt to the bowl and mix to form a shaggy dough.
Move the dough to a clean work surface. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. It gets less sticky as your work with it, and will still feel slightly tacky when done. But if it sticks like bubble gum, add flour 1 tablespoon at a time.
Set dough aside and prep pizza toppings.
Roll dough & make pizzas
Grab 2 pieces of parchment paper. Divide the dough in half. Stretch or roll each half into 8-10" circles, on the parchment paper (I prefer using a rolling pin). If it resists stretching or shrinks back, let it rest for 5 more minutes.
Cover in sauce, add toppings.
Bake
Slide pizza onto baking stone while still on the parchment paper.
Rotate pizza after 5 minutes and remove parchment paper* (see note).
Bake for another 3-5 minutes until the crust is browned and the cheese looks perfect.
Notes
Yeast: I've used active dry and rapid rise and don't notice a difference in this recipe.
Parchment paper: remove it when the recipe says or it might burn and crumble because the pizza stone and oven are so hot.