There is no reason to order out! Just keep shredded mozzarella and pepperoni in your freezer, a jar of sauce in your pantry, and, of course, some dough in your fridge. It’s easy and it only takes 5 minutes of hands-on work to put the dough together. Forget about it for an hour or two while it rises, and then toss it in the fridge.
Need pizza dough for tonight? Try our easy pizza dough. For an authentic experience, you have to try our Italian-style pizza dough.
Why Our Recipe
- Dough comes together in 5 minutes, no mixer required! Mix it right in the container.
- Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks so you can have dough ready to go anytime!
- Makes enough for four large pizzas, but can easily be doubled or tripled.
It’s a rare day that you won’t find pizza dough in our fridge. Sometimes we need a last-minute meal, and pizza is our favorite go-to. You can put almost anything on a pizza and make it good. This dough is great because you can make a batch (or double batch), toss it in the fridge, and then know that you’re covered for dinner emergencies for the next two weeks. You can pull it out of the fridge and have dinner ready within 15 minutes. We showed this trick once for a group cooking lesson, and everyone was amazed.
Ingredient Notes
- Water: Use lukewarm water (100-110℉) to help activate the yeast. We like to say it should be warm to the touch, like a baby’s bath water.
- Olive Oil: Extra virgin olive oil is preferred for better taste, but any olive oil will work.
- Brown Sugar: Light or dark brown sugar can be used. You could even use granulated sugar in a pinch.
- Salt: Use regular table salt or kosher salt.
- Instant Dry Yeast: Make sure your yeast is fresh for the best results. Active dry yeast can also be used interchangeably in this recipe.
- All-Purpose Flour: You can substitute with bread flour for a slightly different texture if desired.
The Container
For this refrigerator pizza dough, you’ll want a large Tupperware-type container, also known as a food storage container or food prep container. You can see examples using our affiliate link on Amazon, but you can find these types of containers at many stores. They come in various shapes like circular, square and tall, or rectangular and shorter. Ideally, you’ll need a 6 to 8-quart container to give your dough plenty of room to rise. Pick one that fits best in your fridge.
Vent Your Dough
It’s important to vent your container because the dough produces gases as it rises. Yes, your dough continues to rise in the fridge, albeit slowly. These gases need to escape otherwise the lid pops off. Use a container with a lid that fits securely but isn’t airtight, or leave the lid slightly ajar. You can also cover the container with plastic wrap, poking a small hole for ventilation.
I just made your pizza dough recipe tonight with a bunch of teenage girls in the youth group I lead. It was an absolute hit! Everyone raved about it. I would love to share this recipe on my blog, Sweet as Sugar Cookies. Is it alright if I do so?
I once shared this recipe with a youth group as well! If you share the recipe, please do so with proper attribution and your own photo. Thanks!
When "yeast" is called for in a recipe, I never know what kind to use. Fresh, active dry, instant, rapid rise, quick rise??? Please specify.
Modern recipes call for simply yeast because pretty much all of the varieties of yeast you can buy nowadays produces about the same result. Technically active dry yeast should be added to warm water first, and instant can just be mixed in with the flour, but in the end the way yeast is produced and sold today the result will be the same. Rapid rise or quick rise will just cut your rising time. In the end, almost any kind of modern yeast you use will be fine.
My experience was the opposite. Made the dough first time with breadmaker yeast and it turned out great. Second time was with active yeast and it was a disaster.
Do you use regular all purpose flour? Have you tried with whole wheat?
I usually use all purpose flour because I like it that way. I've tried half all purpose, half wheat which is good, though it does change the texture. I have done all whole wheat and I can tell you it kind of ends up like cardboard. So, I'd say that if you were going to add whole wheat, make it half and half.
Can you put the ingredients list in metric units? I don't have a cup to measure with. Thanks!
Your question is actually really hard because there is no true conversion calculation for items measured by weight. You may find a website like this helpful:
http://www.jsward.com/cooking/conversion.shtml
For this particular recipe the conversions appear to be as such:
2 3/4 cup water = 660 mL
1/3 cup olive oil = 80 mL
1/4 cup brown sugar = 60g
1 1/2 tablespoons salt = 30g
1 1/2 tablespoons yeast = 22.5 mL
6 1/2 cups flour = 780 g
OK, thanks, i didn't knew how to convert the flour from cups (volume) to grams.
My new favorite recipe. My family demanded pizza night. We like ours thin so we cook crust 10 minutes then put toppings on and cook another 8. Perfect crust!
Does the water have to be hot or cold for the yeast,
Do you think that this dough could be frozen for later use? Thank you for the easy recipe!
No problem! Yes, the dough can be frozen. I recommend checking out my perfect frozen pizza post for some great tips for freezing pizza dough.
https://thestayathomechef.com/2012/02/perfect-frozen-pizzas.html
I am so excited to try this, but I don't have a pizza stone.. if you were to make this on a regular pizza pan, how long and at what temp would you recommend baking this? Thanks!
Thanks for stopping by! Without a pizza stone you won't that wonderful crispy crust. If you are just using a regular baking pan I'd still recommend backing it at 500 degrees (or the hottest your oven will go. Keep the crust thin and it will bake better. Because you don't have the additional heat source from the pizza stone, you'll be more towards the 10-12 minute area.
I use a cast iron skillet instead of a pizza stone
Should work!
I cook my pizzas in a cast iron pan. Deep dish, Chicago style (except I do add cheese to the top) and they always turn out wonderfully.
I cook my pizzas in a cast iron pan. Deep dish, Chicago style (except I do add cheese to the top) and they always turn out wonderfully.
I made the dough yesterday and pizza today. WOW! This is amazing!! So easy! Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for stopping by and I'm so glad you liked it! I actually had one tonight myself. I really shouldn't admit how often we have it because it is embarrassingly frequent. I can't help it! I'm a pizza-holic!
This looks like a great recipe! One that I will definitely be trying. Have to be honest though…kind of scares me that you say it can be kept in your fridge for up to 2 weeks. I never eat any food that has been in my fridge for longer than 6 days. I grew up with a mother who worked in the food service department of our local hospital and I learned alot about food and bacteria from her. I would caution anyone who plans to keep the dough raw in their fridge for that long.
Thanks for stopping by!
If you look at the ingredient list you'll see that there really isn't anything in it that will produce the kind of bacteria or mold growth that would happen with others foods over 2 weeks. It works on the same principle as sourdough bread. In fact, after two weeks the yeast will begin to ferment and there might be a slight sourdough taste which I absolutely love.
I kept it for 2 weeks and was good to eat, tasted a bit like sourdough which was greatx.