This is the best pizza dough recipe because it's my pizzeria-style, overnight pizza dough. A few basic ingredients and a slow overnight rise give this dough its wonderful flavor and texture.
Do you like pizzeria pizzas? Of course, you do. That flavorful yeasty dough smell and crisp edges. Want to know how to make that pizza? Well, this dough will give you a similar pizza. It's similar to how you get at a pizzeria.
Yes, most pizzerias make their dough overnight, not an hour before they want to make pizzas like us home bakers. The slowly developed flavor of bread in this dough is a pizza you will not forget. And, the best part? It's also simple and easy to make.
Therefore, while I use my homemade pizza dough from scratch, often, when I plan ahead of time I use this dough.
About this pizza dough
The big difference between this overnight pizza dough and our classic pizza dough is that this one has less yeast. So, it relies on a slow rise that takes between 6 hours to overnight to double in volume. However, the disadvantage of overnight dough is that you have to wait for hours. And yet, the benefit of a slow rise is that the dough develops extra flavor. So, if you can plan ahead of time, I highly recommend trying this dough. It's very flavorful and delicious.
In addition, it makes a soft chewy base with crusty edges. Since it is a lean dough, with basic ingredients of water, flour, and salt, it gives us a crispy crust. And, a little bit of olive oil helps keep the inside soft and supple.
The process for making pizza is also simple and easy.
- Make the dough - 10 mins
- Let the dough rise - 6 hour up to 24 hours
- Divide the dough and let it rest - 30 mins
- Preheat oven - 20 mins before
- Roll the pizza dough - 15 mins
- Add the toppings and bake - 15 mins
For this pizza, I have made my white pizza sauce, but you can also use homemade pizza or tomato sauce as we did when we made our Classic Margherita Pizza. Read my 10 tips to making better homemade pizzas.
Ingredients and substitutes
- Flour - While bread four is highly recommended for pizzas, when making my overnight pizza dough, I prefer plain all-purpose flour. You can, of course, also use bread flour.
- Yeast - I'm not a slave to any particular brand, but I use instant dry yeast or fresh yeast. We have discussed yeast here - baking with yeast a beginner guide.
- Water - The temperature of the water you use for yeast has to be warm - not hot, nor cold. Almost the temperature of the liquid you give a baby. Approximately 105 to 115 F.
- Sugar - The sugar here is not for sweetness, but to feed the yeast. This helps the yeast grow and nurture the bread. So, don't omit it, and no it will not make your dough sweet. And, if you don't fancy sugar, try honey or agave syrup.
- Oil - Like sugar, oil is also food for our yeast. It helps the yeast grow and develop flavor. We also use oil to brush the edges, which gives us a nice crisp edge.
- Salt - Use fine grain salt, which will dissolve in the dough easily.
Step by step instructions (save/pin)
Prepare dough
- In a measuring cup, combine warm water, yeast, sugar, and oil – and mix well.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the flour and salt.
- Next, pour in the yeast mixture into the flour mixture.
- Today, I am kneading by hand, but you can also use a stand-mixer as I shared in my other classic pizza dough recipe.
- Combine with a spatula or your hands.
- Once all the flour is incorporated, transfer the dough to a well-floured surface.
- Knead for three minutes until you have a soft elastic dough.
- Bring all the dough into a ball and do the finger test.
- Tip – finger test – when you stick a finger in, the dough should spring back.
- Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel.
- Then, place into the refrigerator overnight - up to 24 hours.
Divide, rest, and roll
- Preheat oven with pizza stone for at 200 C / 390 F for about 30 minutes.
- Lightly punch the dough to remove all air.
- Divide the dough into three (for 3 x 12-inch thin-crust pizzas) or two (for 2 x 12-inch thick-crust pizzas).
- Tip - Let the dough rest again for 10 minutes (it will become easier to stretch).
- Roll one piece of dough to about 12 inches.
- Tip - Place parchment paper on a pizza peel or you a pizza pan - (parchment is less messy than cornmeal or flour).
- Transfer pizza to the pizza peel or pizza pan (see video).
- Tip - Let the pizza base rest for 5 to 10 minutes - this will proof it a bit and make those edges puff when baked.
Top and bake
- Tip - Brush the edges of the pizza with olive oil. This will give a nice golden crisp crust.
- Next, spread pizza sauce and add your toppings (I've used a white sauce today with mushrooms in the video - see other pizza links below).
- Then, generously sprinkle with cheese – I like to use a mix of mozzarella, parmesan, and cheddar.
- Transfer the pizza to the preheated oven from the pizza peel to the pizza stone (or baking tray).
- Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes until the edges are crisp and golden and the cheese is melted beautifully.
- Lastly, top with fresh basil leaves.
- Pizza is best eaten fresh out of the oven. Be careful of hot melting cheese especially when serving kids.
Frequently asked questions
Pizza is always at its best fresh out of the oven, but it does have a long shelf-life and can be reheated and served again.
We have used very little yeast in this dough, just ¾ tsp compared to the usual 2 ¼ tsp. That's because we give the dough ample time to rise and develop flavor. If you want a pizza dough that will rise in an hour, use my homemade pizza crust from scratch recipe.
Traditionally, tomato sauce is very common. Today, I am using a white sauce. But, I also love to use pesto, BBQ sauce, roasted red-peppers sauce.
Tomato sauce and cheese alone make a great Margherita pizza. And yet, you can also use many other toppings like pepperoni, pastrami, sausages, mushroom slices, spinach, artichokes, olives, onions, feta cheese.
Traditionally, mozzarella is used. Personally, I like to use a combination of mozzarella, parmesan, and cheddar or other white cheese.
You can freeze homemade pizza dough. Punch down the dough and remove as much of the air. then place in a freezer approved zip lock bag and place in the freezer for a month or more.
To thaw, just place the bag in the fridge for a couple of hours before you need to use it. Let it come to room temperature for an hour before you use it.
To thaw, just place the slice from the freezer to the microwave. The condensation thaws into the pizza keeping it fresh. Usually, one minute on high for one slice works great for my microwave.
Yes, you can bake the pizza, cut the slices, cool them completely before you place the slices in a ziplock bag. You can freeze these for up to 3 months. They make a great snack for kids.
I often make mini pizzas and save them for the kids' school snacks. Freeze and thaw them the same way as the slices above.
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Overnight Pizza Dough Recipe
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Ingredients
Makes 3 x 12-inch pizza
Pizza dough
- 1 ½ cup (360 ml) Warm water 110F / 38 F
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tbsp Olive oil
- ¾ tsp (3 g) instant dry yeast
- 1 tsp Salt
- 4 cups (500 g) All-purpose flour
- ½ cup (60 g) All-purpose Flour for kneading
Toppings for 2 pizzas
- 1 cup Pizza sauce
- 1 cup Toppings mushrooms, peppers, onions, olives, basil,
- ½ cup (50 g) Parmesan cheese grated
- 2 cups (200 g) Mozzarella cheese grated
- 1 cup (100 g) White cheese Emmantel or cheddar grated, (optional)
Instructions
Prepare dough
- In a measuring cup, combine warm water, yeast, sugar, and oil – mix well.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the flour and salt.
- Pour in the yeast mixture into the flour mixture.
- Today, I am kneading by hand but you can also use a stand-mixer as I shared in my other classic pizza dough recipe.
- Combine with a spatula or your hands.
- Once all the flour is incorporated, transfer the dough to a well-floured surface.
- Knead for three minutes until you have a soft elastic dough.
- Bring all the dough into a ball and do the finger test.
- Tip – finger test – when you stick a finger in, the dough should spring back.
- Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel.
- Then, place into the refrigerator overnight - up to 24 hours.
Divide, rest and roll
- Preheat oven with pizza stone for at 200 C / 390 F for about 30 minutes.
- Lightly punch the dough to remove all air.
- Divide the dough into three (for 3 x 12-inch thin-crust pizzas) or two (for 2 x 12-inch thick-crust pizzas).
- Tip - Let the dough rest again for 10 minutes (it will become easier to stretch).
- Roll one piece of dough to about 12 inches.
- Tip - Place parchment paper on a pizza peel or you a pizza tray - (parchment is less messy than cornmeal or flour).
- Transfer pizza to the pizza peel or pizza pan (see video).
- Tip - Let the pizza base rest for 5 to 10 minutes - this will proof it a bit and make those edges puff when baked.
Top and bake
- Tip - Brush the edges of the pizza with olive oil. This will give a nice golden crisp crust.
- Spread pizza sauce and add your toppings. (I've used a white sauce today with mushrooms in the video - see other pizza links below)
- Generously sprinkle with cheese – I like to use a mix of mozzarella, parmesan, and cheddar.
- Transfer the pizza to the preheated oven from the pizza peel to the pizza stone (or baking tray).
- Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes until the edges are crisp and golden and the cheese is melted beautifully.
- Top with fresh basil leaves.
- Pizza is best eaten fresh out of the oven. Be careful of hot melting cheese especially when serving kids.
Recipe Notes
Tips for making better homemade pizza
I have explained these tips in detail here, but I thought I'd give you just the main points as a takeaway.- Use a pizza stone.
- Pizza peel or pizza tray work better.
- Use parchment paper on the pizza peel for a less messy affair.
- Work with soft, room temperature dough.
- A well-preheated oven is best for pizza.
- Don't overdo the sauce and toppings.
- Choose the right toppings.
- Brush the edges with oil.
- Let the rolled pizza base rest.
- Hold on to the cheese for a crips pizza crust.
For a crisp crust
- Prebake the pizza without the cheese.Â
- Bake for 7 minutesÂ
- Then top with cheese and bake until crisp and golden
Equipment
Nutrition Information
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you
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Lydia
Hello, I love love the overnight pizza dough recipe, made for the family it was a hit the kids loveeeed it! I did one other thing to the dough (added some garlic, black pepper, and some mixed herbs to it), just know am doing this recipe again.thanks for sharing. God Bless
Lydia
Veena Azmanov
Thank you so much, Lydia. So happy to hear that. Your additions sound fun.
Riana
Hi! The overnight pizza dough recipe is absolute perfection!! I have tried so many recipes....because we love a good pizza! This is the first recipe that ticked off all the boxes! Thanks so much for sharing your recipe. We are going to make 100's of them!!
Thanks
Riana Fish
Veena Azmanov
Thank you so much, Riana. So happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you for coming back to write this feedback.
Binu
Great pizza dough 👌. We had pizza night here. All loved it.
Veena Azmanov
Thank you so much, Binu.
Tawnie Kroll
This dough was so amazing, I don't want to have pizza any other way again!! Thank you!
Veena Azmanov
Aww thank you, Tawnie. I am so happy to hear that
Toni
This was a huge hit at my house!! Definitely making this again!
Veena Azmanov
Thank you, Toni
Stephanie
What an awesome option for pizza night! My boys have been asking for pizza so much since we've been home lately, and this is a great option. I have everything on hand, so we will likely be making this over the weekend.
Veena Azmanov
Thank you, Stephanie. I think you will love it.
Dolly @ Thrifty in the Kitchen
I don't believe I've ever had a pizza with white pizza sauce on it before! It looks amazing. I've also never tried a long-rise or overnight pizza dough before. This looks like an amazing recipe and I love the thin crust. Looks sooo yummy.
Veena Azmanov
Thank you, Dolly. Yes, it is delicious
Angela
This crust is definitely worth the wait. Tasty!
Veena Azmanov
Thank you, Angela