Recipe: The Best Homemade Pizza Dough

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best homemade pizza dough

It took me 6 years to find a basic pizza dough recipe that I actually liked. Six years! 

Most were either too bland, too yeasty, too something, and I often resorted to the kind that comes in a can because it was easy, and tasted better than anything I could come up with.

But I still felt guilty for buying a product I knew I could make myself. So, I found this gem of a recipe hidden in my Taste of Home cookbook for Sausage Calzones, and put it to the ultimate test – using it as our Bacon/Mozzarella ‘Zones dough first, and then trying it as a pizza base.

There are so many good qualities about this dough, but one of my favorites is the pillowy softness it maintains even after it has fully risen and baked. 

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The flavor is perfect too, and really doesn’t need any seasonings, although if I’m making pizza, I do like to sprinkle a little garlic powder on the dough before the sauce – just to give it a little something-something.

To make pizza

Spread dough into a greased round pizza pan or stone and sprinkle with your favorite toppings. Put in the oven at 400 degrees F for 18-22 minutes, depending on how crispy you want the crust.

This pizza does not last long around here – hence, I didn’t get a picture until half of it was eaten!

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To make calzones

Calzones are not that much harder to put together than pizza, they just take a few more steps.

First, cut dough into fours and spread each section one at a time on a greased pan.

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Fill one side with your favorite toppings, then fold over and press the seams so none of that yummy goodness comes out.

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I also like to sprinkle my calzones with a little bit of Parmesan on the top before I bake. Then pop them in the oven at 400 degrees F for about 15-20 minutes, until they start turning golden brown.

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They come out so cheesy and gooey….it’s carb heaven!

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Next on my list is to experiment with bread sticks using this dough. I’m imagining Parmesan cheese, with perhaps some basil, and toasting it to a crispy brown on top. Oh, and with lots of butter. I’ll be sure to let you know the results!

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The Best Homemade Pizza Dough


  • Author: Kalyn Brooke
  • Total Time: 15-22 minutes
  • Yield: 4 servings 1x

Description

It took me 6 years to find a basic pizza dough recipe that I actually liked. You don’t have to wait that long.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 package active dry yeast
  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 3/4 cup warm milk
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 11/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 3 to 3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Instructions

1. In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the milk, oil, salt, sugar, and 2 cups flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

2. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

3. Punch dough down. Turn onto lightly floured surface; divide into 4 pieces if making calzones, or keep whole and spread on a round pan if making pizza. Sprinkle with favorite seasonings and toppings.

4. Bake at 400 degrees for 18-22 minutes (for pizza) or 15-20 minutes (for calzones).

5. Serve with marinara sauce, if desired.

  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15-22 minutes
  • Category: Dinner
  • Cuisine: American

Keywords: pizza dough, calzone dough

Recipe adapted from The Taste of Home Baking Book

Kitchen Tip: Make a double batch of calzones and freeze the extras to have an easy meal later. They still taste yummy!

Total Cost: $.85 or $.21 per serving (not including toppings)

You can also download this recipe for The Recipe Binder from Creative Savings!

Full Size Recipe {8.5″ x 11″} | Half Size Recipe {8.5″ x 5.5″}

Don’t have The Recipe Binder? Find out how I use this all-in-one tool to organize my recipes and manage everything I need to do in the kitchen. It’s the exact system I used to get my own cookbooks, loose pages, and recipe cards in order…and works like a charm! Read it HERE.

Recipe organization doesn't have to be difficult, or overwhelming. This all-in-one system helps you declutter, organize, and categorize your collection from start to finish!

What are your favorite pizza/calzone combinations?

Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. Read my full disclosure policy here.

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19 Comments

  1. I have made this recipe more times than I can count over the last few years. It makes great pizza, strombolis, calzones and bread sticks. Thanks for such an amazing recipe!!

  2. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this recipe! I can not say enough great things about this recipe. This is my #1 favorite pin of all time. It makes excellent thin crust pizza BUT can also make a great thick crust pizza. Super soft and easy to make dough. I use this recipe to make more then just pizza dough. I make bread sticks with this and want to make cinnamon pull apart bread with it too. Plus this dough is great to freeze. I make 3-4 batches of dough at a time and freeze them in quart size bags. The morning I plan to use some dough, I get a dough ball out of the freezer and place in a large bowl to thaw and rise throughout the day. It is ready to go then I return work from work then! I LOVE THIS RECIPE!

  3. The download-able recipe for the binder has the temperature shown as 350 rather than 400. I didn’t notice until after I baked the pizza. Kinda raw in the middle.

    1. Thank you so much for pointing this out!! I have corrected it and am going to be sending out a corrected copy to everyone who had already ordered.

      1. Yes, you should be able to keep the dough in the fridge 3-4 days, although I’ve seen others keep it up to 5 with no problems!

  4. I tried freezing this pizza dough and we used it yesterday – the Husband agrees its a fantastic recipe and we’ll definitely be making it again! …and again! We didn’t have any issues getting it out of the plastic bag after freezing, possibly because we used a bigger bag. But the best bit was how delicious and light it was! All the other recipes we’ve tried we haven’t been super keen on.
    We also managed to get two good sized pizzas out of it, so I’m not sure how thick your base is, or how large your pizza tray.

    1. Actually, I should say that I changed the recipe slightly. Since I didn’t have any Active Dry Yeast, I substituted Instant Yeast instead, which apparently only needs one rise anyway. This meant I didn’t really need to think about how many rises I needed. I googled how much yeast I would need and came across this website. It explains all the different yeasts pretty well: http://www.foodsubs.com/LeavenYeast.html

  5. I have made this dough a couple of times now for pizzas and it is my whole family’s favorite dough! We have stopped ordering pizza and just make it and bake it now!! Trying calzones tonight!

  6. My husband and I made this dough today for our BBQ Chicken pizzas. So delicious!! We topped the pizzas with, Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce, shredded chicken breast, and mozzarella cheese. I love that this dough stays fluffy. We only used half of the dough and made two mini pizza’s so now we have dough in the frezzer for next time. Thanks for sharing this recipe!!

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