Pizza Crust
What a treat—hot homemade pizza, with exactly the toppings you like. And this crust adapts to YOUR schedule: make the dough now, and serve fresh pizza up to 2 days later. Please read this recipe all the way through before starting. It gives you a lot of baking options, and you want to choose the one that best fits your schedule.
Our guarantee: This flavorful pizza crust is crisp when rolled ultra-thin, and chewy when made thick.
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast or instant yeast
- 7/8 to 1 1/8 cups lukewarm water*
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- *Use the lesser amount in summer (or in a humid environment), the greater amount in winter (or in a dry climate), and somewhere in between the rest of the year, or if your house is climate controlled.
Directions
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1) If you're using active dry yeast, dissolve it, with a pinch of sugar, in 2 tablespoons of the lukewarm water. Let the yeast and water sit at room temperature for 15 minutes, until the mixture has bubbled and expanded. If you're using instant yeast, you can skip this step. |
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2) Combine the dissolved yeast (or the instant yeast) with the remainder of the ingredients. Mix and knead everything together—by hand, mixer or bread machine set on the dough cycle—till you've made a soft, smooth dough. If you're kneading in a stand mixer, it should take 4 to 5 minutes at second speed, and the dough should barely clean the sides of the bowl, perhaps sticking a bit at the bottom. Don't over-knead the dough; it should hold together, but can still look fairly rough on the surface. |
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4) To make pizza now: Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl, and allow it to rise till it's very puffy. This will take about an hour using instant yeast, or 90 minutes using active dry. If it takes longer, that's OK; just give it some extra time. |
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5) To make pizza later: Allow the dough to rise, covered, for 45 minutes at room temperature. Refrigerate the dough for 4 hours (or for up to 24 hours); it will rise slowly as it chills. This step allows you more schedule flexibility; it also develops the crust's flavor. About 2 to 3 hours before you want to serve pizza, remove the dough from the refrigerator. |
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7) Divide the dough in half, for two pizzas; or leave it whole for one pizza. |
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8) If you're making a rectangular pizza, shape the dough into a rough oval. For a round pizza, shape it into a rough circle. In either case, don't pat it flat; just stretch it briefly into shape. Allow the dough to rest, covered with an overturned bowl or lightly greased plastic wrap, for 15 minutes. |
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9) Use vegetable oil pan spray to lightly grease the pan(s) of your choice. Drizzle olive oil into the bottom of the pan(s). The pan spray keeps the pizza from sticking; the olive oil gives the crust great flavor and crunch. |
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12) Allow the dough to rise, covered, till it's noticeably puffy, about 90 minutes (if it hasn't been refrigerated); or 2 to 2 1/2 hours (if it's been refrigerated). Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 450°F. |
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15) To serve pizza up to 2 days later: Remove the untopped, partially baked crust from the oven, cool completely on a rack, wrap in plastic, and store at room temperature. When ready to serve, top and bake in a preheated 450°F oven, adding a couple of minutes to the baking times noted above. Your goal is a pizza whose crust is browned, and whose toppings are hot/melted. |
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16) Remove the pizza from the oven, and transfer it from the pan to a rack to cool slightly before serving. For easiest serving, cut with a pair of scissors. |
Recipe summary
- Hands-on time:
- 20 mins.
- Baking time:
- 18 mins. to 30 mins.
- Total time:
- 3 hrs 8 mins.
- Yield:
- 1 or 2 standard round pizzas, or 1 large rectangular pizza, about 12 servings
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- Recipe comments (54) »
Tips from our bakers
- Make pizza any shape or size or thickness you like; the above guidelines are simply suggestions. Understand that the thickest-crust pizza will need to bake longer than the thinnest-crust version.
- To freeze partially baked pizza crust: Bake crust as directed in step 13. Remove from the oven, cool to room temperature, wrap well, and freeze for up to 3 months. When you're ready to serve pizza, remove the crust from the freezer, and allow it to thaw, loosely wrapped, at room temperature. Once it's completely thawed, complete pizza by starting at step 15 above.
| Nutrition Facts | |
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Serving Size 1/12 crust
Servings Per Batch 12 |
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| Amount Per Serving | |
| Calories 130 | Calories from Fat 25 |
| Daily Value* | |
| Total Fat | 2.5g |
| Saturated Fat | 0g |
| Trans Fat | 0g |
| Cholesterol | 0mg |
| Sodium | 240mg |
| Total Carbohydrate | 22g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1g |
| Sugars | 0g |
| Protein | 4g |
| * The nutrition information provided for each recipe is determined by the ESHA Genesis R&D software program. Substituting any ingredients may change the posted nutrition information. | |
Reviews
02/05/2010
I have just started baking and was thrilled with this recipe. I was so impressed I could make a really good pizza. The dough went together very easy. I had no problem stretching it at all. I made one round pizza one day and a large rectangle the next (refrigerated half the dough). While I did not manage to make a real thin crust pizza the crust was crisp and delicious.
01/17/2010
King Arthur FLour does it again! I used this recipe last night to make homemade Hawaiian pizza. Over the years I have been trying a few different pizza crust recipes and this was far and away the tastiest.... and I even messed it up! I didn't read the instructions very well and thus, only allowed it the first rise. After that, I pressed it into the pizza pan on top of a piece of parchment and let it rest for about 15 minutes while I prepared the pizza toppings. At this stage, I didn't have time for another 90-minute rise, as it was already 8 p.m. The crust, which I prebaked for about 10 minutes, then topped and baked for an addition 10-12 minutes, rose well, and was crispy and chewy. It also had plenty of flavor and enough salt that it didn't taste bland. I can't wait to experiment with this crust and also use the other variations to have pizza crust ready to go in my freezer. Thanks, KAF! I used KAF Unbleached all-purpose, instant yeast and regular idodized salt. A question for KAF: If I want to use kosher salt or sea salt, would I simply double the amount of iodized salt? Thanks!
Do not double the salt. When using kosher-style or sea salt just use a very lightly rounded measure, the grains are only slighty larger. Frank @ KAF.
01/03/2010
great crispy thin crust.Followed directions and rolled it out and baked on a pan with holes in it.Brushed olive oil in pan and baked according to recipe and topped with veggies.Great taste and crust! Will definitely be making this again!
01/02/2010
perhaps due to holiday-new year overload but wasnt apparent that dough should first be baked before adding the toppings. upon a second read there is a reference to removing "it" from the oven in step 14 and the directions do indicate to read the recipe all the way to the end however. Very good taste and despite a little too much softness in the middle everyone enjoyed it very much.
12/10/2009
I absolutely love this crust. I make a 14 inch pizza using bread flour (not KAF) and it makes such a wonderful crunchy crust with a nice chew. Like to make this and let it sit overnight in the refrigerator for the best flavor. For a quick sauce sautee 1 onion and 1 or 2 garlic toes in 1/4 cup olive oil. Add 1 small can tomato sauce (no salt). 1 can diced tomatoes(with oregeno, basil and garlic), and 1/2 small can paste. Add black and red pepper, red pepper flakes, a little salt and some chopped jalepenos. I usually make a homemade sauce (substitute 10 tomatoes for the can of sauce and keep all of the other ingredients the same) and freeze some for later. After pre baking the crust add sauce, sliced mozz. cheese, mild italian sausage (cooked and drained), pepperoni, purple onions, bell pepper, black olives and top with shredded mozz cheese and more jalepenos. Baked in my pan on top of pizza stone. It takes a while to make but it is excellent and tastes great reheated in microwave too.
12/07/2009
I made thin-crust versions with this recipe and both came out excellent! Since I was only cooking for two, I made pizza dough on a Friday night then when it came time to divide up the dough I refrigerated 1/2 for Saturday. The crust was good both days but the second day had even better flavor. Also, do NOT skip putting olive oil on the pans before the dough, it gave the crust a fantastic flavor. This is now my stand-by recipe for pizza crust.
11/20/2009
Turned out great! I used the regular whole wheat flour (not white whole wheat) and it was still very good. I only wish I had paid more attention to the recipe and made two pizzas with this recipe. Instead we had one very large pizza and it was still thicker than we prefer. But for our family of four it was perfect, delicious and lots of fun! Thank you so much for all of these wonderful recipes!!
11/16/2009
While I was making this recipe I could tell just by the feel of the dough it would be excellent. It felt so silky and smooth. And it tasted great. I am finding that KAF recipes all seem to turn out good!
10/08/2009
Used AP flour & instant yeast. Baked after shortest amount of rising time possible and it turned out great! Sprinkled corn meal on the bottom of the baking pans to give it a little x-tra crunch. This one is a definite keeper!
09/12/2009
I've made pizza at home, over the past 30 years, but only recently tried this recipe, and it's now our favorite. I add 4 tsp. of KAF Pizza Dough Flavor. So far, I've used A-P flour, but intend to try bread flour next time, as I like a slightly thick and very chewy crust. Will also try White WW Flour, Italian Flour, and/or a mixture. I divide the dough for two pizzas. I've done the pre-bake and freeze, and have also frozen raw dough, after the first rising. Either way works. When my schedule allows, I make the dough the day before and refrigerate it about 24 hours--it does improve the flavor. I use instant yeast and the dough puffs nicely. I bake the pizzas on a stone. Worth the effort for pizza aficionados!
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