Best Pizza Dough Recipes
Pizza is a classic dish that is loved across the globe, and if you’ve ever had a really good pizza, you’ll know that it’s worth putting the time and effort into making this meal the best you can.
Children and adults alike tend to be fans of pizza, and it’s enormously versatile in terms of the toppings, so all you need to do is crack the perfect dough for the base.
We’re going to look at the best pizza dough recipes, including ones that use very few ingredients. We’re also going to cover a yeast-free option, a gluten free pizza dough recipe, and how to make pizza dough in a bread machine for maximum ease. You’ll soon be a pizza dough pro, and you can tell everyone that you make it yourself from scratch.
Best Pizza Dough Recipes
So, what’s a great pizza dough recipe? Let’s find out how to make the dough yourself at home.
You are going to need:
➔ 3 ¾ cups of white bread flour
➔ 2 tablespoons of olive oil (extra virgin)
➔ ½ tablespoon of golden caster sugar
➔ ½ teaspoon of salt
➔ 2 ¼ teaspoons (7 grams) of dried yeast
➔ 1.37 cups of warm water
Method:
Step 1) Mix up the oil, the sugar, and the yeast.
Step 2) Add 1.37 cups of lukewarm water and allow a few minutes for the yeast to activate.
Step 3) Meanwhile, sieve your flour and your salt together, directly onto a clean and clutter-free work surface. Make a well in the center of the flour.
Step 4) Pour the water and yeast mixture into the well, and use a fork to pull the flour in from the edges, swirling it into the liquid. Keep doing this until the dough has started to come together and turn into a workable substance.
Step 5) Thoroughly wash and dry your hands, and then dust them with flour. Use them to knead the dough into a ball, making it springy and smooth.
Step 6) Dust a large bowl with flour and place the dough ball in the bowl. Sprinkle some flour on the top.
Step 7) Use a slightly damp tea towel to cover the bowl and then put it in a warm place for around an hour. This allows the yeast to act and the dough will rise to around double its previous size.
Step 8) Dust your kitchen surface and place the dough ball on it, and then knead the air out of the ball (knock back the dough). You can now either turn the dough into pizza bases, or wrap it in clingfilm and place it in the fridge or the freezer until you are ready to use it.
Step 9) To use it, divide it up into three or four balls and stretch the pizza bases out. You should allow these to rest for about 20 minutes before cooking, but don’t leave them for longer as the dough will begin to dry out and become less pleasant.
The dough can be wrapped and put back in the fridge once it has been stretched out if you don’t want to use it straight away. If you are ready to use it, add a tomato-based sauce to the top of it in a thin, even layer, and then add the other toppings, finishing with cheese.
Bake at around 400 degrees F for about 20 minutes, or until the edges have turned golden and the cheese is melted and bubbling.
Ingredients For Pizza Dough
A recipe for basic pizza dough will usually just include flour, a raising agent, oil, and water. It can be that simple. If you’re using yeast, however, you will need a bit of sugar and salt to help it activate.
Some dough recipes do call for more complicated things, like special flours or additional raising agents, but in general, they will just depend on these four things. You can keep it that simple, or go for something more interesting.
You can include all sorts of other things in your pizza dough if you decide to, although you need to be careful not to break up the dough too much with large chunks of things, or you may find that the pizza falls apart.
You could add garlic or onion or chili to the dough, or try a stuffed crust option. Whatever you do, it doesn’t have to be complicated and it can be very fun!
Pizza Dough From Scratch
Making pizza dough from scratch is surprisingly easy, and many people do it themselves.
You can even purchase special metal balls for rolling the pizza out more easily, which will give you a much more spherical pizza than if you work with a rolling pin or your hands. However, a rolling pin does also do the trick, and gives you a rustic look!
Let’s further explore how you can make pizza dough from scratch in many different styles, so you can find one that suits you to work with. Nobody will fail to be impressed when you tell them that you make your own pizzas by hand, and yet it really is quite easy!
Pizza Dough 2 Ingredients
If you want an ultra-simple approach that takes almost nothing from your cupboard, a duo ingredient pizza dough recipe is perfect. You will still need some toppings, of course, but the dough itself does not require a trip out for groceries!
You can make pizza dough with just flour and Greek yogurt. The yogurt serves to bind the recipe, and the flour is something you probably have in stock most of the time. Make sure you use self-rising flour, however, because otherwise the pizza base will be very heavy and won’t rise at all; you aren’t including yeast this time.
This is the simplest pizza dough recipe you’ll find, and because it doesn’t require time for the yeast to rise, it is also super quick. It only takes as long as you need to mix the two ingredients into a dough and stretch them out into a circle, plus baking time. Perfect for a quick and also reasonably healthy dinner!
Pizza Dough Recipe Without Yeast
You might be wondering how to make pizza dough without yeast, especially after the last section (assuming that recipe doesn’t take your fancy). Yeast is an annoying ingredient because it loses its effectiveness after time, and if you use dead yeast, your dough won’t rise.
The easiest way is to use self-rising flour to replace the need for yeast. Alternatively, if you don’t have any self-rising flour to hand, try adding a couple of teaspoons of baking powder, or a little bit of baking soda to your pizza dough. This should work beautifully to ensure the dough is airy.
If you don’t get a good enough raising ingredient in your pizza dough, it will still cook, but it will be dense and crunchy, rather than soft and chewy. Don’t overbake, either; this causes a brittle and hard crust.
Pizza Dough With Yeast Recipe
Many pizza dough recipes call for yeast because it’s the best way to get a really light, airy dough that has plenty of spring in it. You can almost always include yeast in a pizza recipe; if your recipe calls for self-rising flour or another raising agent, simply omit it or use plain flour, and add a bit of yeast instead.
The disadvantage of making pizza dough with yeast is that you have to wait for the yeast to activate, and this can mean it takes a while to make the pizza bases.
You will often want to make them in advance and then refrigerate them until you are ready to finish the meal. Other raising agents can make a faster pizza base, but it may not be so enjoyable.
Pizza Dough Gluten Free Recipe
If you are gluten free, you’re probably already missing the rich, golden, cheese and tomato tang of a great pizza, and while some pizza chains are starting to offer options, nothing really beats a great homemade pizza.
Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to create gluten free pizza dough. You will need some all-purpose gluten-free flour and a bit of xanthan gum (which many gluten free foods use as a binding alternative, since wheat is not there to hold the whole thing together).
Combine this with a standard pizza recipe and you’ve got a delicious gluten free pizza, perfect for joining in with everyone else. You can also just mix gluten-free flour with Greek yogurt and a raising agent, as in the yeast-free recipe above, but this tends to create a somewhat denser crust.
Pizza Dough New York Style
Photo Credit: Freepik
You might prefer a slightly thicker crust, but not a deep dish one – in short, a New York style pizza, which is somewhere between the traditional Italian thin crust and the popular thick edge that some people love.
You might think you can just stretch your dough a bit thicker, but this isn’t the case; the dough will end up dense and you’ll get a hard, unappetizing crust instead. To keep the crust tender, you want to add a bit more olive oil to the recipe.
You don’t need a lot more, but just a bit should help to make the dough springy and stretchy, and ensure that the finished crust is tender and chewy, rather than hard and crunchy. You may also want to give it more time to rise, so that the dough is a bit airier and lighter.
Recipe For Basic Pizza Dough
There are lots of homemade easy pizza dough recipes, so you can try the one we first shared, or attempt another option. It’s also easy to bring all the ingredients together in a food processor, rather than mixing by hand, and this is a great way to speed the process up if you’re in a hurry.
Basic pizza dough can be extremely simple and does not require any obscure ingredients or challenging baking methods. There is no whisking or beating or coddling here – it’s all just about bringing together the flour and liquid to make a simple base.
Pizza Dough In Bread Machine Recipe
Making pizza dough in bread machine is an easy way to knock the recipe together quickly without having to do too much work. The machine will do all the mixing, kneading, and timing, so all you have to do is measure the ingredients into the machine and stretch out the dough when it has finished.
You can use a basic recipe, or find one specifically tailored for bread machines, which will probably give you better results.
FAQ
Q: How make pizza dough at home or how do you make pizza dough?
A: You can make pizza dough at home by combining flour, water, oil, and a raising agent. Knead them all together and then stretch out, top, and bake the pizzas.
Q: How to make home pizza dough?
A: It’s very easy to make pizza dough at home. Combine the ingredients in a food processor for the fastest option, or turn to your bread machine for a quick, no-fuss, hands-off approach. If you don’t have either machine, it’s easy enough to knead by hand too.
Q: How to stretch a pizza dough?
A: Since the best pizza dough is stretched, it’s a good idea to know how to do it. Start by washing your hands and removing all jewelry. Dust your work surface and your hands with flour. Next, start gently pressing your pizza dough and pushing your hands away from each other to pull it outward.
Aim to keep it as circular as possible, leaving a centimeter of untouched dough at the edge for the crust. Next, start turning the dough, pulling your hands away from each other as you work.
Finally, pick your pizza up (the dough is strong) and start turning it and pinching around the edge (not where you want the crust to form) to thin out any thick parts and make a great, even pizza base.
Hopefully, we have given you some great ideas about the best pizza dough recipes and how you can make superb homemade pizza with very little effort and no fancy ingredients at all!
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