A super easy Homemade Pizza Dough recipe that kids can make, today’s simple pizza recipe is perfect for a fun family night or even a kids’ party activity. This six-ingredient pizza dough can be used for everything from pizzas to calzones – or even to make your own homemade cheese sticks!

Homemade Pizza Recipe

For years, one of our family’s favorite Friday night activities is making our own pizza dough and coming up with creative pizza toppings to try out. (And now that a simple pizza delivery costs nearly $50 for a family of four, making your own pizzas is truly the only way to enjoy a pizza night on a budget.)

This recipe for homemade pizza dough yields a soft, tender pizza crust with no yeasty flavor that holds up perfectly to any amount of crazy toppings the kids wish to add. You can get a thin and crispy pizza crust if you toss the pizza dough really thin (don’t use a rolling pin) but that takes a bit of practice to get just right. Using bread flour instead of all-purpose flour will also yield a crispier crust.

At first, we just used a simple cookie sheet to bake our pizzas but once homemade pizza nights became a regular occurrence in our home we upgraded to a pizza stone to help us achieve the best possible pizza crust. While the pizza crust remains soft and tender, the bottom gets a nice golden crunch thanks to the pizza stone.

This tender and soft pizza dough can also be used to make homemade calzones, stromboli, panzerrotis or homemade cheese sticks/garlic sticks.

If you need to prep your pizza dough the night before, allow it to rise in the refrigerator overnight. (If planning on making pizzas with friends or as part of a birthday party, you may want to prep all of the dough or at least one batch of dough in advance as it takes about 2 hours to rise.)

You can also freeze the risen pizza dough for later use. To freeze pizza dough, shape into a ball and rub olive oil all over the pizza ball. Place in a freezer tiptop bag, ensuring all air has been squeezed out of the bag, and use within 3 months. When ready to use, allow to thaw overnight in the fridge.

Homemade Pizza Ingredients

• Lukewarm Water, between 90F and 110F
• Olive Oil
• Instant Yeast
• Sea Salt
• White Sugar
• All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 cup Cornmeal
• Tomato Sauce <– I like using passata, which is just strained tomatoes, so I can control flavor and texture
• Hot Sauce, optional
• Sun-dried Tomato Paste, optional
• Italian Seasoning <– grab our recipe for homemade Italian seasoning
• Shredded Cheese
• Additional Pizza Toppings, as desired

Scroll down to the printable recipe card for full measurements.

Tip: swap out the pizza toppings and sauce called for above for your own personal preferences.

Kitchen Tools You May Find Helpful

• Pizza Peel
• Pizza Stone
• Large Mixing Bowl
• Measuring Cups and Spoons
• Wooden spoon or spatula <– I like these spatulas because they are one solid piece and don’t have removable heads for bacteria to get trapped underneath. Plus they are heat-resistant and have a lifetime warranty.
• Cutting Board
• Rolling Pin, optional

How to Make Homemade Pizza

In a large bowl, combine the water, olive oil, yeast, salt and sugar.

Allow the yeast to proof and become bubbly for about 5 minutes. (If the mixture doesn’t become bubbly, your yeast is no longer active and you will need new, fresh yeast.)

Stir in the flour until well combined.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a clean kitchen towel.

Place the bowl in a warm spot in your kitchen for about 2 hours, until tripled in size.

Preheat the oven to 500F. If using a pizza stone, place in the oven as you prepare the pizza crusts.

Dust a work surface with flour.

Divide the dough in half. If the dough is sticky, knead for about 5 minutes, adding a bit of flour, as necessary.

Shape the dough into pizzas. I like to do this by tossing the dough in the air and pulling at the sides to form a rough circle shape. You can roll out the dough, which is easier for kids, but note that this can result in a denser pizza dough.

Once the pizza stone has heated for about 10 minutes, dust a pizza peel with a few tablespoons of cornmeal. Place the shaped pizza dough on the pizza peel and use it to place the dough onto the preheated pizza stone.

Bake for 5-8 minutes, until no longer doughy but not fully cooked as you will continue cooking the dough after the toppings are added.

While the crust is baking, combine the tomato sauce, optional hot sauce, sun-dried tomato paste and Italian seasoning.

Remove the pizza from the oven using the pizza peel and add your pizza toppings, as desired.

Place the pizza back on the pizza stone and continue cooking until cheese is melted, about 5 minutes.

Remove from oven and let sit for 1 minute before cutting and serving.

Pin this Easy Homemade Pizza Dough recipe for your next family pizza night:

Grab your free printable recipe card for our homemade pizza dough recipe:

I hope your family loves this easy pizza dough recipe as much as mine does!

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