This Pizza Dough is quick and easy! The perfect crust for the toppings you love.
The key to any good pizza is a good crust. A good crust comes from good dough and you know what? I’ve got your back.
Living on the East Coast and having *real* pizza forever changed my life. IT-IS-SO-GOOD. If you ever find your self near New Haven, Connecticut do yourself a favor and go visit Modern Apizza. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. You can thank me later. Yum. 
Pizza is a staple in our home, we have it once per week (usually Fridays!). I love that it is so versatile and can taste completely different every time I make it. I also love the fact that kids devour it. Done and done. I’m sold.
This dough comes together quickly and only rises for 30 minutes in your Instant Pot! (It can rise in a warm spot on your counter for 60 minutes if you don’t have an Instant Pot.. but really, you should have one! Here is a link to one!)
Pizza Dough Tips
- Make sure your yeast is active before adding in any flour. Proof your yeast by adding the yeast, water and a little sugar to a bowl. If it is active, it will start to bubble and foam!
- Knead for 5 minutes after everything is mixed together, you want smooth dough!
- After it is done rising, don’t flatten the dough. Just dump onto a floured surface and gently form it into your circle
- Add a little extra kick to your pizza by brushing on some butter and garlic to the edges of your crust.
- If you don’t have a pizza stone, (like me!) use the backside of a cookie sheet. It works great!
More Bread Recipes
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Easiest Pizza Dough, Ever!
Ingredients
- 2 cups very warm water divided
- 3 tsp yeast or one packet
- 1 1/2 tsp sugar
- 4 T butter melted
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 5 cups flour
Instructions
- Add 1 cup of warm water, yeast and sugar to a small bowl to proof the yeast. To make sure your yeast is alive and kicking, it should start to bubble and foam in a few minutes. If it doesn't, your yeast is dead so try again.
- While the yeast is proofing, add the remaining 1 cup of water, melted butter, flour and salt to the bowl of your stand mixer.
- Once the yeast has proofed, add it to the stand mixer. Mix slowly with the kneading hook until it comes together. Once it has come together continue to knead for 5 minutes. The dough will stick to the bowl but shouldn't be so sticky it can't be worked with.
- After the 5 minutes is up the dough is ready to rise! Before rising you need to decide how much dough you need. This recipe will make 4 small pizzas, 2 medium/ largish pizzas or 1 extra large pizza. Divide the dough as you'd like. The unused dough can be used to make breadsticks or frozen for next time.
- If rising in the Instant Pot, spray the pot with non-stick spray and then add the dough to the pot. Hit the yogurt button and make sure it is on 'normal'. when the timer reaches 30, your dough is ready to be shaped!
- If rising on the counter top, rise in a covered bowl in a warm spot for 60 minutes or until it doubles. Your dough is now ready to be shaped!
- Pre heat oven to 425° and place pizza stone inside. (Or if your cool, like me, and don't have one, use the backside of a cookie sheet!)
- Shape dough onto parchment paper for easy transfer to the hot pan. Shape dough and top with your favorite toppings. Carefully slide onto the hot pan in the oven and bake at 425° for 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
SandyToes says
Hi Karli,
Can’t wait to try this dough, because faster pizza is good! Which photo is the dough after 5 minutes of kneading? Is it the small dough ball in the Instant Pot, or the dough ball sitting so prettily amidst the flour on your countertop?
Which number setting did you use to mix and knead?
I know these are silly questions, but I’ve only ever made pizza dough in my Zo bread machine and frankly, my honking big KA mixer still intimidates me, even after more than 10 years.
karlibitner says
Hi Sandy! After the 5 minutes of kneading it is put into the Instant Pot. So the picture that correlates there is the small ball in the Instant Pot.
I usually mix and knead on medium to medium-high. As long as flour isn’t flying out I’m good! ?
Don’t let your mixer scare you!! I love mine and use it almost daily! Ps. Here is a tip- next time you need to shred chicken, toss it in your big mixer after it is cooked and slowly ‘mix’ it using the paddle attachment and it will shred the chicken in seconds! ❤️
Monia says
Best Pizza dough ever 🙂 Just love it and it will be the only one I will make from now on. Thanks for the recipe.
karlibitner says
So glad you loved it, Monia! ❤️
Elizabeth Duong says
If you IP doesn’t have the yogurt function is there another way to proof the dough ?
karlibitner says
You can proof on the countertop, or turn your oven on for 5 minutes to heat it up a bit, TURN THE OVEN OFF, and then proceed with the Instant Pot directions. ?
Trish says
Can I make ahead and the freeze single serving portions of the dough?
karlibitner says
Yes! That would work great. Just allow 4-5 hours for it to come to room temperature and rise from frozen.
Emily says
It was good but definitely needing more salt. With that amount of flour the salt was lacking.
karlibitner says
Hi Emily! thanks for your feedback, I am sure it will be helpful to others. Thanks for taking the time to comment. I hope you have a Merry Christmas!
Isilda Amaral says
Can I use olive oil, and how much thanks
karlibitner says
Sure! I would use the suggested amount.
Cris says
This dough is awesome. So soft and light. Very easy to work with. Thank you.
Sandra says
Our family can eat two pizzas at a time 🙂 Can I double this recipe and still use in the IP?
karlibitner says
You definitely can!!
Ginger Soule says
So I’m a tad concerned. I used my inherited KA to knead but it was still pretty sticky when it was done. I noticed you said on medium in another comment, so that may have been an issue. In the recipe I saw mix slowly and stuck to that (I’ve always used bread machines for making my crust, too). I dumped it in my pot and I’m hoping I can cut it into 2 pieces when I take it out. In the future, if it is too sticky, add more flour? Thanks!
karlibitner says
Hi Ginger- how did it turn out?? The dough is very sticky, that means it will yield a tender crust. If the dough is stiff and uses a lot of flour your crust will end up very dense. Hope you enjoyed the final product!
Ginger Soule says
The taste was great. I am going to put wet ingredients on the bottom of the mixer bowl next time. I think that will help. I dumped the dough onto a floured surface but tried not to add too much and that seemed to work. Thanks for the reply!
Mario Stewart says
Looks simple will show the finish 🍕 soon
Tessa Wong says
Hi! Does this work with instant yeast, and if so how much of it should I use? (And how much water?)