This is a fool proof guide to making your own delicious bread machine pizza dough! Soft and light, yet crispy on the bottom.
Pizza night is our favorite night of the week! Every week we have Friday Pizza Movie Night. When the girls were toddlers we’d pick up pizza from Papa Murphy’s and watch a Disney animated flick. Nowadays we are working our way through the new age “classics” and since our Papa Murphy’s shut down a couple years ago, we’ve been mastering making our own pizza from scratch. After so much practice, I feel confident in telling you that we’ve mastered pizza dough… with the help of our bread machine that is!
Items that will help make at-home pizza night a success:
- A Bread Machine – At the time of this posting, bread machines are sold out in many places. I’ve been scouring the internet to find good and available options, and there are not many. For reference, I have this model and really love it, but it has been sold out for some time now on all online retailers. You may be asking if it’s worth buying a bread machine just for pizza dough, and I’d agree that’s a good question, but if I did the math on how much we’ve saved by making our own dough every single week versus buying take out, it would easily be worth it.
- A Kitchen Scale – The other secret to creating perfect pizza dough (or any other baked good for that matter) is having an accurate kitchen scale. It does not need to be expensive, I recommend this model. I thought I was a terrible baker for years, but switching to measuring ingredients by weight instead of cups made all the difference in the world.
- A Pizza Stone – We keep ours on the lower oven rack at all times. It’s important to preheat it before putting the dough on it so it can help maximize that crispy pizza crust.
- A Good Pizza Peel – a thin, beveled front edge makes a difference, as does using corn meal to create a nonstick surface when putting the dough in and out of the oven.
- A Dough Scraper – this thing makes clean up from any baking project such a breeze. It’s my favorite kitchen tool because I use it for everything.
Ok, from there, it’s really quite simple. For the best bread machine pizza dough you’ll need a quality all-purpose flour (you can also use bread flour, but we use all-purpose and like it just fine). You’ll also need sugar, salt, olive oil, and yeast. That’s it!
In a bread machine, the order of ingredients matters and so follow what you’re brand specifies. We always start with the liquid ingredients, then add the flour and the rest of the dry ingredients. The yeast should be poured into a little nest on top to keep it from mixing with the water until the proper temperature is reached.
Here’s a quick breakdown of how we make our pizza.
ONE. Since we eat a lot of pizza, we make two batches of dough. Each dough cycle takes one hour and 50 minutes, so I start the first batch of dough around lunchtime. When it is complete, I transfer it to a lightly oiled mixing bowl and start the next batch.
TWO. 30 minutes before we’re ready to bake the pizzas, I preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
THREE. Using a rolling pin and a lightly floured surface, David rolls out the dough until it is about 1/4″ thick. I feel like it’s worth noting that he has also mastered the air toss.
FOUR. Before sliding the dough into the oven, we poke it with a fork all over to minimize air holes. Then, using a light dusting of corn meal on the pizza peel, we slide it onto the preheated stone.
FIVE. After about 5 minutes, we pull the half-baked crust out of the oven. We run a stick of butter around the outer edge to create a golden crust, then top with our desired toppings. We are currently on a weekly mission to not repeat a pizza topping combination, but can tell you red onions and fresh mozzarella are two of our household favorites.
SIX. Once the pizza is dressed, we put it back into the oven for another 5-10 minutes until it is cooked through and the cheese is bubbly.
SEVEN. We then pull it out, transfer it to a cutting board where we let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing it up. Viola; that’s it!
Fool-Proof Bread Machine Pizza Dough Recipe
Description
This is a fool proof guide to making your own delicious pizza dough! Soft and light, yet crispy on the bottom.
Ingredients
1 1/4 c (300 mL) water
1 1/2 Tbsp (20 g) olive oil
3 3/4 c (480 g) all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp (17 g) sugar
1 1/2 tsp (8.4 g) salt
1 1/2 tsp (4.2 g) active dry yeast
Instructions
Place ingredients in the bread machine in the order listed above (or in the order specified by your machine), making sure to nestle the yeast in a small nest on top of the flour.
Place in bread machine and set the cycle to dough cycle.
When cycle is complete, preheat oven to 450 degrees. Roll the dough out into desired shape and thickness on a lightly floured surface.
Poke the dough with a fork all over and put it on the preheated pizza stone for 5 minutes. Once firm, remove from oven and top as desired.
Return to oven for another 5-10 minutes until dough is crisp and cooked through and cheese is bubbly.
Notes
*If you are using rapid rise yeast, use 2 tsp (6 g)
Sarah says
I love my bread machine! I’ve been making our bread for the last 15 months or so, and I almost gagged last time I had packaged bread. I could taste the chemicals! It definitely saves money and it’s so easy. My 5 year old loves to help make our loaves! We also make pizza dough in our machine most weeks. I haven’t mastered the double batch system but want to. We never have leftovers and I would like to. 🙂 Do you just leave batch 1 in the mixing bowl on the counter the whole time batch 2 is being made? I tried putting it in the fridge and that was a definite bust…
Brittany Dixon says
I tried making a double batch too and it doesn’t work as well, so yes, once the first batch comes out, I put it in a slightly oiled mixing bowl and over it loosely with a kitchen towel. It gets even bigger and fluffier before we roll it out 🙂
Anne says
Thanks for inspiring! We made our own pizzas tonight and the red onion topping was fab.
Brittany Dixon says
Red onion is always one of my favorite toppings, too! 🙂
Liz says
Thank you so much! I have been meaning to try making pizza doughin my bread machine and this is my inpetus to try it. Looking at your pizza stone I think I need to upgrade that as well!
Brittany Dixon says
Please let me know what you think and come give it a rating once you have; thank you!
K says
I have a question about the measurements. I used my scale and measuring spoons. The only measurements that matched up were the salt. None of the Other volume measurements matched up to the weight. Ie. the sugar 1.5 tsp only weighed 7gm. Everything else was close enough that I didn’t worry. But the sugar seemed way off. Any advice? Should I follow the volume or weight measurements? Thanks!!
(It’s currently in the oven, fingers crossed)
Brittany Dixon says
I hope it worked out for you! If you have the option, use weight over measurements. That’s what I do. The measurements match up pretty well for me when I measured ingredients by spooning them in instead of scooping. Let me know what you thought!
Marc Soffer says
I can’t wait to try this! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Alice Tanner says
Thanks. I am trying it now. Dough is in the machine. I can’t wait!!!
Brittany Dixon says
Wonderful! I can’t wait to hear what you think!
Claire says
SO Easy roll out- delicious!
Jo-Anne Stang says
I made this tonight. I don’t have a pizza stone so rolled it very thin and then baked it on a pizza pan in the oven at 550*F until done.
My family raved about it. It’s the best I’ve ever made.
Rebecca says
Does the water need to be heated?
Brittany Dixon says
It does not; the machine warms it to the necessary temperature. So easy!
Kimnberly says
How long can the dough sit on the countertop in an oiled bowl before it shouldn’t be baked because it won’t rise correctly? How long ahead of time have you made this dough? I thought of starting it now because I haven’t used the dough function in my machine before and wasn’t sure how long it will take.
Brittany Dixon says
Your best bet is to use the delay start function on your machine to set it to the time you need it, but I’ve also made it and let is sit in a oiled bowl for several hours (covered) before baking and it’s been fine!
Suzanne says
Excellent recipe! Pizza came out so good! This was our first time making pizza dough in our bread machine. Thank you!
Suzanne
Brittany Dixon says
I’m so thrilled it turned out so well for you! Thank you for the review 🙂
adam says
The sugar, salt and yeast specify 1 1/2 tsp. Yet the weight is17,8.4 and 4.2g prospectively?
Brittany Dixon says
Correct. The weight of the substances is different that the measured amount. I recommend weighing, because all salt and sugar might be a little different, but the measurements are there in case you don’t have a scale.
Rosey says
The pizza base tasted amazing – as described crunchy on the under and chewy inside. However, the dough was extremely sticky to work with 😩 I struggled a lot to get it under control and shape the pizza. Would you know what went wrong? I did proof the dough longer but that usually helps to make it easier to work with I think? Or should I not do that? I would love to try this recipe again but the thought of dealing with a sticky dough is putting me off 🙈
Brittany Dixon says
It might have been the overproofing, but I’ve overproofed before and it didn’t make it a big issue. Did you measure or weight ingredients? Sometimes that can make a difference! And did you use a floured surface for rolling/shaping? I’m so glad it still tasted great for you!