Make Your Own Pizza: The Basic Recipe for the Perfect Pizza Dough

Step 1 : Make the pizza dough

Pour the flour and salt into a large bowl and make a well in the center. If you sift the flour for your pizza into the bowl, the dough will be even smoother.

Mash the yeast into the water with a fork, then pour the mixture into the well. (Please mix the dry yeast with the flour and salt first, then add the water.)

You can now mix the mixture by hand or with a wooden spoon until it forms a soft, smooth dough. If the dough is sticky, you can add a little more flour.

Next, knead the dough on a floured work surface for about ten minutes until smooth. (If using a stand mixer or hand mixer, use the dough hooks and knead for about five minutes.)

Then shape the dough into a ball and place it in a bowl lightly greased with olive oil.

Cover the bowl with a dish towel and place it in a warm spot where the dough can rise for about 1 hour. The volume should roughly double.

Next, flatten the dough with your hand and roll it out with a rolling pin on a floured work surface. The pizza crust should be about half a centimeter thick. Then place the pizza crust on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and lightly greased with oil.

Now you can spread the pizza sauce and toppings on your pizza—for example, on a pizza with anchovies. It’s important to leave a 1–2 cm border around the edge.  

Tip

Knead the pizza dough by hand for ten minutes

Step 2 : Here's How to Make Your Pizza Dough Perfectly Round

A pizza dough that’s as perfectly round as the ones at Italian restaurants—that’s what many people want for their homemade pizza, too. It takes a little practice. Here, we’ll show you two ways to do it.

With a small rolling pin: It’s best to use the smallest rolling pin you can find and roll the pizza dough all the way around, from the center to the edge. 

Using gravity: Grab the dough by the edge with both hands and lift it up. As you do this, gravity will pull it downward. Now rotate the dough a few times by shifting your grip—just as if you were constantly shifting your grip on a steering wheel while taking a curve. Italian pizza makers (pizzaioli) do something similar. Except that they pull the dough over the backs of their hands and quickly spin it horizontally in the air.

By the way, there’s no difference in taste between a round, square, or cloud-shaped pizza. While presentation is always part of the experience, the right recipe and good ingredients are much more important. This mindset is especially appreciated in Italy. Just like a cold beer with pizza or other carbonated drinks. So, wine doesn’t belong with authentic Italian pizza! At most, a white sparkling wine. Cin cin!

Step 3 : It's better to use fewer ingredients for the topping

The foundation of a good pizza is a good yeast dough. On top of that goes a flavorful pizza sauce made from tomatoes and the pizza toppings—classically olive oil, tomatoes, and mozzarella. Of course, there are countless variations of pizza featuring fish, meat, and vegetables. Just make sure not to use too many ingredients for your pizza toppings. That way, each individual ingredient stands out better, and the dough doesn’t get soggy. You shouldn’t use more than five ingredients. For the anchovy pizza recipe, these four are enough: tomatoes, mozzarella, anchovies, and provolone cheese.