Making Pizza Dough from Scratch

Going From Store-Bought to Handmade

Why We Had To Stop Buying Pizza

Our family loves pizza. Correction, our family LOOOOVES pizza. We have done a weekly pizza night since Matt and I first got married. We would go to the gym, order a pizza from Pizza Hut, and pick it up on the way home. We did that for years. Until, we couldn’t afford the gym or Pizza Hut anymore. If you don’t know our story, make sure to read this post about why we started down a frugal path.

So, we cut out the gym and decided to start buying frozen pizzas from Costco. We then did that for a while, until we started making our own bread in a bread machine. And just like any rabbit trail, we kept diving further in. The bread machine turned into oven baking bread, which then led to, of course, pizza dough.

Matts Pizza Obsession

Matt has a somewhat obsessive personality. When he gets into something, he GETS INTO IT. His social media algorithm became all about perfecting pizzas: how to get the best dough, how to get the best crust, etc. Our family was along for the ride and each pizza he made got better and better.

At first there was a learning curve, as expected. But what once took him over an hour to do, now takes no time at all. We also learned to make the dough ahead of time and put it in the fridge. This cuts down cooking time dramatically. You can store pizza dough in the fridge for up to 5 days. So, whenever we do go to actually make pizza, we just grab the dough and prep it.

The Ingredients

We get most of our bulk ingredients for dough, and other bakery items, at Costco, and we are able to keep it mostly organic as well.

• Dry Activated Yeast: 2 tsp
• Sugar: 1 tbsp
• Water: 1 1/3 cup
• Flour: 3 cups
• Salt: 1 tsp
• Olive Oil: 2 or 3 tbsp

Supplies You Will Need

• Stand Mixer: We have an Ankarksrum and love it
• Measuring Cups and Spoons
• Mixing bowls

Making The Pizza Dough

The first step is making your flour mixture. If you have a stand mixer, feel free to use that, or you can also do it by hand. Whatever method you choose, you need 2 teaspoons of yeast, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 1 and 1/3 cup warm water. Gently mix together these ingredients and let the water sit until a frothy layer forms on the top of the water, which takes roughly 5 minutes. Then add 3 cups of all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon salt, and 2 or 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Mix all of these ingredients until it turns into a flaky dough.

If kneading by hand, place your dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead the dough for no less than 10 minutes. If using a stand mixer, have it knead the bread for the same amount of time.

Once kneading time is over, let the dough rise for an hour and a half to two hours in a lightly greased bowl. Place a slightly damp cloth over the bowl to keep the dough from drying out.

Dough should have risen slightly and can now be separated into two pieces.

Put some olive oil on your hands and begin folding the dough together with your hands. The oil will help your hands not stick to the dough as easy. Pull the dough out and under itself over and over again. While you are doing this, you are folding air into the dough itself, which allows for a lighter more airy crust for your pizza.

Now place each dough balls into two lightly greased bowls in a warm spot on your counter and cover them with a lid or a damp towel. Let the dough sit for another 30 minutes or longer.

You can now either start making your pizza, or put it in the fridge for later.

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