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Home » HOW TO'S

Pizza Dough Recipe By Hand

Published: Jun 18, 2020 · Modified: Sep 9, 2020 by Meymi. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Pin of a pizza dough
rolled out and filled pizza dough pin
Pin of a pizza dough that is topped with cheese, tomato and olives.
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Pizza dough with toppings, with text overlay.
Collage of making pizza dough balls and proving.

You’ll love this easy pizza dough recipe by hand that requires no kneading. It takes almost 1 hour to make your pizza from start to finish with this homemade dough!

Pizza dough that is made by hand and rolled into a ball on a floured surface.

I am very happy to share my delicious pizza dough recipe that I make for so many years. It is a very easy recipe. You can let your kids involved. I made it many times with my niece.

It makes 9.5 inches (24cm) 3 regular pizza crust. If you are a thin crust lover, you can use this recipe as it works very well.

Making pizza dough by hand couldn’t be easier. Let’s see why you’ll enjoy this simple recipe.

Why you’ll love this recipe

  • It is a delicious crust; slightly crisp at the edges, soft and chewy in the middle.
  • No machine; no kneading required. This recipe couldn’t be easier. You’ll make this pizza dough by hand. You need a bowl and a spoon to stir the ingredients and use your hands at the end to bring the dough together. Seriously it is as simple as it sounds!
  • Your active time is very little; it takes only 5 minutes to prepare the dough. It’ll rise for almost 45 minutes and there is no second rise. After the first rise, it is ready to bake. In 12-14 minutes, your pizza is ready!

Ingredients You’ll Need

Ingredients for pizza dough on a white surface; flour, water, olive oil, fresh yeast and salt.
  • Flour-I use all-purpose flour. You may have heard before that bread flour is used for a chewy result but I am happy with all-purpose flour.
  • Water-We need warm water to activate the yeast.  You can simply mix ⅓ of the boiling water with ⅔ of room temperature water that the recipe states to make warm water.  The water shouldn’t be hot as it will kill the yeast and the dough won’t rise.
  • Salt-Controls the activation of the yeast and adds flavor to the dough.
  • Yeast-You can either use fresh yeast or instant yeast. I show both ways in this post. Usually, I see yeast recipes with instant yeast but using fresh yeast is also simple and also it doesn’t have additives. You’ll find how to replace these two with each other in the recipe card.
  • Olive oil-I just use a little for flavor.

How to make pizza dough at home

Mixing

Instant yeast version:

First place the flour, salt and instant yeast into a large bowl, stir with a wooden spoon.

All purpose flour, salt and instant yeast in a glass bowl.

Next, add olive oil and water. Start to stir with a spoon and then use your hands to bring the dough together. You can flour your hands or/and add a little extra flour if the dough is sticky while making a ball.

Collage of adding wet ingredients into the flour mixture, stirring the mixture and forming a ball.

Fresh yeast version:

Place the fresh yeast in a small bowl and crumble. Then add almost ¼ of the warm water that the recipe states and mix it with a wooden spoon until it is completely dissolved.

Collage showing the process of dissolving fresh yeast with water in a small bowl.

Place flour and salt in a large bowl and stir. Next add the dissolved yeast, olive oil and water.

Collage for adding olive oil, water and dissolved fresh yeast into the flour mixture.

Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon and then use your hands to bring the dough together. You can flour your hands or/and add just a little extra flour while making a ball if the dough is sticky.

Collage of stirring mixture with a wooden spoon and forming a ball out of the dough.

Next steps are same for both version.

Proving

Place the dough on a floured work surface and cut into 3 pieces. This recipe makes 9.5 inches(24 cm) 3 pizza crust. If you want a very large pizza, cut the dough into 2 pieces. Then form a ball out of each piece by folding the dough over itself a couple of times until you have a smooth dough. Then reverse the dough and tuck the edges towards the middle.

Collage showing the process of folding dough over itself and tucking edges towards the middle.

Cover the top with stretch film and let it rise for almost 45 minutes. During this time you can prepare your toppings. Preheat the oven in the last 10 minutes.

Collage of three pizza dough balls that are covered with plastic film before and after proving.

Deflating and shaping the dough

When the dough almost doubles, deflate the dough. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle flour or cornmeal( to have something similar to a pizza texture). Place the dough on the baking sheet. It will already be a soft and round dough which will be easy to give a circle shape with your hands.

I simply press to the dough with my fingertips to stretch it out and keep its circular shape. Each dough makes around 9,5 inch (24 cm )round regular pizza crust. Don’t press too much to the edges as we will create a rim. I pinch the edges by placing my hands inside and outside of the dough’s edge.

You can make it even larger if you want a thin crust. You may need to use a rolling pin after some point, at least this is the case when I make a paper-thin crust.

Collage showing the process of stretching out the dough and creating a rim.
Rolled out pizza dough as a circle.

Then top with your favorite sauce and toppings.

Unbaked pizza with shredded cheese, tomato sauce, tomatoes and black olives on top.

Bake in the preheated oven for 12-14 minutes until the edges are golden brown.

Baked pizza with cheese, tomato and black olives.

Enjoy!

Sliced pizza on a parchment paper.

Pizza dough faqs

How to stretch out the dough

You can press the dough with your fingertips to stretch it out.  Don’t press too much to the edges so you can create a rim. Pinch the edges by placing your hands inside and outside of the dough’s edge to create a rim.

You don’t need a rolling pin; you can use your hands to roll out the dough as long as you don’t want to make a paper-thin crust. 

How to freeze the pizza dough

After you make balls out of the dough, cover each dough with parchment paper and place them in a ziplock bag. Thaw overnight in the fridge before using them. Roll out and top as you like.

If you’ll use the dough in 2 days, instead of freezing, you can keep the pizza dough in the fridge as well.

You may also want to check my deliciously crunchy Pizza Crackers!

Other recipes with yeast!

  • No Knead Bread without Dutch Oven
  • No Knead Whole Wheat Bread
  • No Knead Soft Dinner Rolls

I love hearing from you!  If you try this recipe or my other recipes please leave a comment and give a star rating!

Pizza dough that is made by hand and rolled into a ball on a floured surface.

Pizza Dough Recipe by Hand

This pizza dough recipe by hand requires no kneading. You can make delicious pizza from start to finish in almost an hour!
5 from 1 vote
Print Pin Rate
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Proving Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 2 minutes
Servings: 18 slices
Calories: 108kcal
Author: Meymi

Ingredients

  • 490 grams (3 and ½ cup) all purpose flour, dip and sweep
  • 12 grams (2 teaspoons) salt
  • 20 grams (0.70 ounce) fresh yeast or 6,6 grams(2 and ¼ teaspoons) instant yeast
  • 310 grams (1 and ½ cup) warm water*
  • 15 grams (1 tablespoon and ¼ teaspoon) olive oil
  • cornmeal(optional)**
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Instructions

  • Fresh yeast version: Put the fresh yeast in a small bowl and crumble into small pieces. Add approxinaletly ¼ of the warm water that the recipe states and mix it with a wooden spoon until it is completely dissolved. Place the flour and salt in a large bowl and stir. Add the dissolved yeast, olive oil, water and stir with a spoon. Use your hands to bring the dough together. You can flour your hands or/and add extra flour while making a ball if the dough is sticky. Continue wth step 3.
  • Instant yeast version: Put the flour, salt and instant yeast into a large bowl, stir with a wooden spoon. Add the olive oil and water. Stir with a wooden spoon and use your hands to bring the dough together. You can flour your hands or/and add extra flour while making a ball if you find the dough sticky.
  • Place the dough on a floured work surface and cut into 3 pieces (this recipe makes 9.5 inch(24 cm) round dough. If you want a large pizza, you can cut into 2 pieces.) Form a ball out of each piece by folding the dough over itself a couple of times until you have a smooth dough. Reverse the dough and tuck the edges towards the middle.
  • Sprinkle a little flour over the dough balls and cover them loosely with a stretch film. Let them rise for almost 40-45 minutes until the dough doubles in size. You can prepare your toppings while the dough is proving. Preheat the oven to 480°F(250°C) in the last 10 minutes.
  • Deflate the dough gently with your hand. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle flour or cornmeal(to have some crisp texture and flavor). Place the dough on to the parchment paper. Press the dough with your fingertips to stretch it out.  Don’t press too much to the edges; pinch the edges by placing your hands inside and outside of the dough’s edge to create a rim.
  • Top the pizza with your favorite toppings and bake for almost 12-14 minutes.

Notes

*You can boil ⅓ of the water amount and add ⅔ of room temperature water to make warm water.
**If you like you can use cornmeal while stretching out the dough to give some crisp to the crust.
You can keep the pizza dough in the fridge for up to 2 days.  You can freeze the dough if you’ll need it later.
How to freeze the pizza dough: After you make balls out of the dough, cover each dough with parchment paper and place them in a ziplock bag. Thaw overnight in the fridge before using them. Continue with step 5.
The calorie information above is an estimate that is provided by an online nutrition calculator.  It calculates only the dough.

Nutrition

Serving: 18slices | Calories: 108kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 260mg | Potassium: 36mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Calcium: 4mg | Iron: 1mg
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