Elevate your next pizza night with this homemade chewy pizza dough. This pizza dough comes together quickly in the KitchenAid stand mixer, with minimal simple ingredients and no fancy techniques. This easy pizza dough recipe is the perfect base for any pizza recipe with all of your favorite toppings - even controversial ones like pineapple!
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- No hand kneading: The KitchenAid mixer dough hook does all the hard work for you. Set the machine, and let the dough hook knead your dough into a beautiful, smooth ball. No manual labor is needed! Making your own pizza dough is not complicated!
- A blank canvas: This homemade pizza dough recipe is a blank canvas for anything you want to add to it. Whether you are making a fancy BBQ pizza flatbread, a classic Margherita pizza, or even a special calzone, this recipe will work for all homemade pizzas or pizza-inspired recipes.
- Perfect texture: This pizza dough makes a delicious, chewy crust with just the right balance of a crispy crust. It is the best of all worlds, and so easy to make at home.
Ingredient Notes
- Active dry yeast: The key difference between instant yeast and active dry is that active dry yeast needs to be bloomed or activated in water before adding to dry ingredients. Active dry yeast rises slightly slower than instant yeast, which helps develop even more flavor in the dough.
- Extra virgin olive oil: Olive oil is the better choice for pizza dough because it adds a fruity flavor to the dough. You can use the same olive oil you usually cook with.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar is mainly used to feed the active dry yeast. You will not taste the sweetness from the sugar in the dough - don't worry!
A full list of ingredients with measurements is located on the recipe card, below.
Substitutions
- All purpose flour: You can substitute all-purpose flour with bread flour, which will add an even chewier texture to the dough. Bread flour has a higher gluten content, which is what gives you that chewiness. This can be substituted at a 1:1 ratio.
- Granulated sugar: Use honey in place of sugar to help bloom the yeast. Avoid using other sugars like brown sugar, as this will add a more distinct flavor to the dough.
- Garlic powder: Use granulated garlic, or omit the garlic altogether if you prefer.
Variations
- Sweet: Omit the garlic powder and salt, and add a touch more sugar to the dough to make a dessert pizza, or use in sweet recipes like homemade cinnamon rolls.
- Whole wheat: Substitute part of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour for some added nutrition and nuttiness. Take note that you may need to add some extra water to the dough.
- Cheesy: Add some grated parmesan cheese to the dry ingredients, for a cheesy pizza crust recipe.
- Keto: For a keto take on pizza dough, give this Fathead dough recipe a try!
Step-by-Step Instructions
Prep Work Before Cooking
Collecting all ingredients: This will make cooking so much easier. Gather all the spices you will need, and keep them nearby.
Add the water, dry yeast, and sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer. Let the mixture sit for 5-10 minutes until the yeast has started to bubble and foam at the surface of the water. [photo 1]
While the yeast is blooming, combine flour, kosher salt, and garlic powder in a large bowl. Set aside.
Add the olive oil to the bloomed yeast mixture, and top with the dry ingredients. [photo 2]
Using the dough hook attachment, mix the dough on level 2 low speed until the dough is roughly combined. Increase the mixer speed to level 3 and continue to knead the dough until the dough has formed into a smooth ball and comes off of the sides of the bowl. This should take 3-5 minutes. [photo 3]
Drizzle olive oil onto the dough ball in the mixer bowl, and cover it with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Place the bowl in a warm place and let the dough rise for 2 hours. [photo 4]
Once the dough has risen, punch the air out of the dough. If using the dough right away, place it on an oiled sheet tray and let the dough sit for 1-2 hours covered, to let the dough rest. If using later, place it in the fridge or freezer.
How to Make Pizza with Homemade Dough
- Preheat your oven to 400°F. If you have a pizza stone, keep the pizza stone in the oven while preheating. If you do not, you can place an upside-down cookie sheet in the oven.
- Lightly flour your work surface to help work with the sticky dough. If you have a pizza peel, you can build the pizza directly on there.
- Place the dough on the lightly floured surface, and stretch the pizza using your hands or a rolling pin. If baking on a pizza pan or baking sheet, it may be easier to stretch the dough directly on the pan.
- If the dough is still a little sticky, sprinkle extra flour on the rolling pin or your hands. Roll or stretch the pizza dough to your desired thickness. If you like a chewy pizza crust, you will want to keep the pizza a little bit thicker than you would for thin crust pizza dough.
- Top the dough with your favorite pizza sauce and your favorite pizza toppings. Transfer to the hot pizza stone or place the baking sheet into the hot oven.
- Bake the pizza for 30-45 minutes until the bottom of the crust is golden brown, and the surface of the dough has browned nicely.
Expert Tips
Signs the dough is ready: You should be able to make a finger dent into the dough and have it spring back up within a few seconds. This means the dough has been well-kneaded.
Use lukewarm water: Yeast blooms best in a lukewarm environment. Avoid using very cold, or very warm water, as it can kill the yeast and prevent the dough from rising.
Help to rise dough: A great way to help dough rise is to keep the bowl in the oven, with the oven light on. This creates a warm environment for the dough to rise nicely.
Do not rush the kneading process: Part of what makes a chewy pizza dough is developing gluten. For best results, let your mixer do the hard work, and make sure you are kneading the dough enough.
Portion the dough: This recipe makes for one large dough ball, which can make a large pizza on a half-sheet pan. If making smaller or individual pizzas, portion the dough into smaller dough balls. Make even-sized balls using a kitchen scale.
Make Ahead & Storage
- This pizza dough can be made 2-3 days in advance. Store the pizza dough in an airtight container or freezer bag, and keep in the fridge.
- Remove the pizza dough from the fridge 2 hours before you are ready to use it to bring it to room temperature.
- This pizza dough can be frozen for future use. Place in a freezer bag, and remove all of the air from the bag before closing.
- Remove from the freezer to thaw and bring to room temperature before using.
Serving Suggestions
- Pizzas: Use this pizza dough recipe to make BBQ chicken flatbread, Italian cold-cut stromboli, or even a shortcut olive and onion focaccia recipe.
- Small Bites: This dough recipe is a great base for homemade appetizers like garlic bread monkey bread, or everything bagel pretzel mini dogs. If you are looking for a breakfast bite, stuffed bagel balls are a great use for this dough, too!
- Desserts: This dough is the perfect use for desserts like classic frosted cinnamon rolls, or cookies and cream cinnamon rolls too.
Recipe FAQs
Your pizza dough may have a dense texture because the dough did not rise enough. Be sure to give the dough time to rise, as this makes a big difference in the dough's texture.
If your dough did not rise despite letting it rest, chances are that your yeast is dead. Yeast is good to use if stored in the fridge for approximately 4 months, or 6 months if stored in the freezer.
If you want an even chewier texture, try substituting half of the all-purpose flour with bread flour, or simply use only bread flour for this recipe. This will give you the ultimate chewy dough.
More Italian Recipes
Chewy Pizza Dough (KitchenAid Stand Mixer)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ teaspoon Active dry yeast - one packet
- 1 ½ cups Water - lukewarm
- ½ teaspoon Granulated sugar
- ½ cup Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 4 cups All purpose flour
Instructions
- Add the water, dry yeast, and sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer. Let the mixture sit for 5-10 minutes until the yeast has started to bubble and foam at the surface of the water.2 ¼ teaspoon Active dry yeast, 1 ½ cups Water, ½ teaspoon Granulated sugar
- While the yeast is blooming, combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside.1 teaspoon Garlic powder, 1 teaspoon Kosher salt, 4 cups All purpose flour
- Add the olive oil to the bloomed yeast mixture, and top with the dry ingredients.½ cup Extra virgin olive oil
- Using the dough hook attachment, mix the dough on level 2 low speed until the dough is roughly combined. Increase the mixer speed to level 3 and continue to knead the dough until the dough has formed into a smooth ball and comes off of the sides of the bowl. This should take 3-5 minutes.
- Drizzle olive oil onto the dough ball in the mixer bowl, and cover it with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Place the bowl in a warm place and let the dough rise for 2 hours.
- Once the dough has risen, punch the air out of the dough. If using the dough right away, place it on an oiled sheet tray and let the dough sit for 1-2 hours covered, to let the dough rest. If using later, place it in the fridge or freezer.
✱Recipe Notes
- Signs the dough is ready: You should be able to make a finger dent into the dough and have it spring back up within a few seconds. This means the dough has been well-kneaded.
- Use lukewarm water: Yeast blooms best in a lukewarm environment. Avoid using very cold, or very hot water, as it can kill the yeast and prevent the dough from rising.
- Help to rise dough: A great way to help dough rise is to keep the bowl in the oven, with the oven light on. This creates a warm environment for the dough to rise nicely.
- Let the mixer knead: Part of what makes a chewy pizza dough is developing gluten. Let your mixer do the hard work, and make sure you are kneading the dough enough.
- Portion the dough: This recipe makes for one large dough ball, which can make a large pizza on a half-sheet pan. If making smaller or individual pizzas, portion the dough into smaller dough balls. Make even-sized balls using a kitchen scale.
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