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 made the dough as directed but forgot to let it rest for 90 minutes. After forming a good dough ball I stuck it in the fridge thinking I was done. Do you think it will still be good or should I toss it out and start over?
The fridge slows down rising, but doesn’t stop it all together. Once it heats back up, it’ll start growing again.
I was an Army wife in 1967 when I found Julia Child on black and white TV. How refreshing she was! She taught me to bake bread. I especially remember two pieces of advice for bread making. 1) If you can’t coax the mass in front of you to form an acceptable dough, throw it in the wastebasket (not the garbage!) It’s cheap. Then start over.
2) In your kneading, It is important to develop strands or striations of dough. This shows you that the gluten has been sufficiently developed to give a good, masterful structure to the mass. In this great recipe I exercised the gluten by forming a boule of the finished dough. Hold the ball in your hand and stretch the top with determination. As you do this, tuck the excess you develop into the bottom of the ball with your fingers. Thumbs on top, fingers underneath, turning the ball a quarter turn as you go. You will quickly see you are forming strands (cords) across the top and your dough is getting firmer. This is how you form a ball (boule) if you want a round, free-form loaf. The crust will be excellent. But in this case, you set it in your bowl to rise. The drama continues in Act two. This is a great tasting, well behaved dough for pizza! Thanks!
hello just made this dough last night let it rise 90 min as recipe says then put it in fridge. Overnight the dough kept growing in fridge burst out of a very large zip lock bag I had placed it in. Is this normal? will it still rise when I cook it?
Yes, dough keeps rising slightly in the fridge. The cold only slows it down. Because it lets off gas, it can’t be stored in an airtight container, there has to be slight ventilation.
I made this pizza dough. It lasted really well in the fridge for over 2 weeks. the last couple pizzas I made had a slight hint of sourdough which just improved the flavor. I now have some in the making that has a cup of sourdough and some Italian seasoning herbs incorporated. Hope it works as well.
Excellent recipe
Thank you!
Is there a specific temp the water needs to be for the yeast? Other recipes I have tried say 110 or so.
Today's instant yeast is pretty resilient. Just slightly warm water is fine. No need to hit an exact temperature with today's modern yeast.
Yummy! Made with your pizza sauce some fresh basil and drizzle of olive oil…delicious!
This looks goooood 🙂 i definitely need to give making my own pizza a go soon for sure, so much fun too!
after the dough has been in the fridge for two weeks, can it be frozen at that time, and if so how long could it be frozen for.
Thanks for the help.
I wouldn't recommend freezing it after 2 weeks. Either freeze it right away, or keep it in the fridge for 2 weeks. It can stay frozen for a good 3 months.
Just mixed this together using 1/2 AP flour and 1/2 bread flour (which I usually do since I like how it rolls out). Hope it works!! Middle daughter is having a sleepover tomorrow night and requested pizza but I won't have time to make dough after getting home from work. Crossing my fingers!! 🙂 Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Sounds like it'll work out just fine! SO convenient! Happy sleepover! 🙂