Fluffy and Crusty Pizza Dough Recipe

This Fluffy and Crusty Pizza Dough Recipe provides a fluffy interior and crusty exterior which makes me come back to this pizza dough recipe. I can’t remember a time this dough recipe didn’t turn out when making pizza. It’s super quick to prepare and bakes away to fluffiness! 

I have a lot of pizza dough recipes that I enjoy but this one is easy, fluffy, and slightly crusty on the outside, which is what I like when making pizza. I’m assuming the baking powder contributes to the texture of the crust because when I make pizza dough without it, my pizza can get fluffy all around creating more of a bread-like texture than a classic crusty and fluffy slice of pizza.

Is pizza stone needed?

I must say that a pizza stone helps to achieve that kind of crust as well. But the good news is you can create a pizza stone right at home. I used two old cookie sheets that I placed upside down on the lower half of my oven. I then preheat the oven with them in it, creating a hot surface for the prepared pizza. This baking technique creates a nicely browned crust. I hope this may become your staple pizza dough recipe as this Fluffy & Crusty Pizza Dough Recipe is my current go-to recipe for pizza.

Ingredients for the Fluffy & Crusty Pizza Dough Recipe:

• 3 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 1/2 tsp dry yeast
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/3 cup warm water

DIRECTIONS FOR BREAD MACHINE:

1.) To begin, add all the dry ingredients into the bread machine pan; add the oil, and then pour the warm water over. After that, set cycle to dough settings and allow the bread machine to do its thing. (My cycle was 1 hour and 30 minutes.)

NOTE: You will not detect the parmesan cheese or the garlic powder in the pizza dough but feel free to omit.

DIRECTIONS FOR STAND MIXER:

• Dissolve the yeast in warm water and set aside.
• Place the dry ingredients into the bowl of the mixer; add the oil.
• Turn the mixer on low speed and slowly pour in the water/yeast mixture.
• Knead the dough for 10 minutes. Cover and allow the dough to rise for 1 hour or until doubled.
• Roll the dough out; top with toppings and allow another hour or so to rise before baking.

2.) Cut out two (16″ wide) pieces of parchment paper. Place on a flat surface; dust with flour and set aside.

3.) Once the dough cycle has finished (or when the dough has finished rising after kneading) transfer dough onto a floured surface.

4.) Cut the dough into two equal pieces and flip over. Take the ends of each piece and pinch together to form a ball.

5.) Roll the dough out into an 11″-12″ circle. Transfer onto parchment paper; top with desired toppings and allow prepared pizzas to rise for 45 min.

6.) Place two baking sheets upside down onto the bottom rack of the oven. Preheat the oven to 415 degrees F with the baking sheets inside. While the oven is preheating allow the dough to rise an additional 15 min (about  the time the oven preheats.)

7.) Slide the parchment paper with the pizza on top onto a large tray or cutting board. Then carefully slide the parchment paper onto the preheated hot baking sheets and bake one pizza at a time for 14-16 minutes.

8.) Remove the pizza by dragging the parchment paper onto a cutting board and slice.