Last Updated on July 16, 2024 by Michelle

We love homemade pizza crust in this house. “Come hell or high water,” as my southern Daddy used to say, Friday night is pizza night in these parts.

So today I’m sharing my #1 go-to recipe for homemade pizza crust.

I do have a fool-proof sourdough pizza crust recipe that I love, but today I’m sharing the recipe I use when I forgot to plan ahead. I still toss in some sourdough discard… cause of course… but that is totally optional with this recipe.

So, yes, if you’re just searching for a good, regular-ole homemade pizza crust recipe, you’re in the right place.

If you have a little yeast and a few cups of flour, you got this.

This recipe makes one very generous sized pizza, for filling this favorite pan. But I always double it and make 3 medium-sized pizzas, with different toppings. The dough also keeps very well, so feel free to double the recipe and wrap 1/2 of the dough in saran wrap and tuck it in your fridge until next week’s pizza night. Seriously. It keeps a week in the fridge.

Homemade Pizza Crust

Ingredients

2 tsp yeast

2 tsp sugar

1 and 1/3 cups warm water

1/2 cup sourdough discard (totally optional)

up to 3 cups flour (I often use fresh milled flour, but any all-purpose flour will do fine) *

1 tablespoon oil (I use this avocado oil for everything)

1 tsp salt (I always use this one)

Garlic powder (optional)

Oregano (optional)

Directions

1. Proof water, sugar & yeast by placing yeast in a large bowl then adding sugar and the water (I call it “bathwater-warm”) on top. Let this sit, unstirred and untouched until it’s foamy. Usually about 5 minutes.
2. If you have sourdough discard, add that in here, after water has turned foamy. (But, again, trust me, this is totally optional. And feel free to add more or less than 1/2 cup as well. Trust me. This recipe is very forgiving.)
3. Add oil, salt, optional garlic powder and oregano, and flour. But add your flour slowly. Most likely you will NOT need all 3 cups. You may need as little as 2 cups. *
4. Knead dough just enough so it’s all together and somewhat smooth. (This just takes a minute or two. This is the stage the dough is at in the photo above.)
5. Turn oven to 100 then turn off. Oil glass bowl and roll dough oil in bowl, so it’s covered in light coating of oil. Cover bowl with a towel and set it in the TURNED OFF oven (or non drafty, warm location) until it doubles in size. (Usually this only takes 1/2 hour, maybe even less.) The photo below is the risen dough, ready to be turned out and shaped into pizzas. (Those lovely bubbles in the dough are thanks to the sourdough discard I tossed in.)
6. Turn out and shape dough and wrap and refrigerate any extra. (I shape dough on parchment paper and then use a peel to transfer the pizza, on the parchment paper, to my pre-heated pan, in the oven.) Add sauce, toppings, and cheese, and bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes.

*If you’d like to incorporate fresh ground flour into this recipe (I love making my own fresh flour with this grain mill), read more below.

Special Instructions for using fresh flour

If you’re using fresh flour to make this homemade pizza crust (with or without the optional sourdough discard) here are some additional tips:

Out of 3 cups of flour, I will use 1- 1.5 cups fresh flour. One cup hard white wheat berries makes 1 1/2 cups fresh flour if I’m using this grain mill. For the rest of my flour, I’ll use 1-2 cups of organic flour.

The most important thing to do if you want to incorporate fresh flour into this recipe is to be sure to add the fresh flour first, lightly mix everything, and then let your shag set for 10 minutes before adding the rest of the flour. This is because fresh flour absorbs more moisture than standard flour will and you want to give it time to incorporate the moisture so you know how much more flour is needed.

Also, with fresh flour your dough will always be a little more sticky. That’s okay. You don’t want to over-add flour, so slightly sticky is okay. Just use a little oil on your fingers if you need it to knead the dough.

If You’d Like to Know More About Fresh Flour…

 

My favorite products for making homemade pizza crust with optional sourdough discard:

 

Other articles you’ll love:

Super Easy Way I Make Sourdough Bread without Discard

Why & How I Mill My Own Fresh Flour

How I Make Bread Bowls for Soup

Tools I Wouldn’t Want to be Without in my Farmhouse Kitchen

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“He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” Psalm 107:9

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