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This easy single serving pizza dough recipe just takes 10 minutes to make, rest for 30-60 minutes, and is ready to go in the oven. It’s perfectly chewy with crisp edges after baking, and is the perfect with your favorite pizza toppings!
Make your own single serving pizza dough recipe if you’ve got a few minutes to make the dough, and some time to let it rest. It’s a great way to decompress after work, and will leave you with a great crust for tasty pizza.
I often buy premade pizza dough at the store, but almost as easily as you can buy it, you can make it too. You just need to plan ahead. That’s the hardest part of this recipe. Starting about an hour or more before you will be hungry.
Homemade pizza dough is tasty, easy, and a great way to save some money. It’s also a fantastic way to use up ingredients from the fridge. I had some extra cheese, pepperoni that my family had, and frozen cubes of tomato sauce.
A Note on Serving Sizes
The only note I’d add up here is about serving size. I haven’t talked much about servings in these recipes, but want to share a bit of insight, part from the recipe developer and part from the anti-diet dietitian in me.
This recipe was a bit tough to get right, a great size of dough for me was just too thin and was too crispy rolled out, so I added to it. This recipe may be perfect or leave you with leftovers = a great snack or part of a meal!
Another note on servings is that they’re so unbelievably arbitrary. There’s not really a standard in boxed or prepared foods, and they’re usually less than an adult would actually eat in a sitting.
Everyone has individual needs, and even day to day our appetite and food needs change. This is so important and helpful to keep in mind.
Cooking recipes with multiple servings gives you a bit of wiggle room, but when you make one serving of food, you don’t have as much. So as a general rule, use these and other single serving recipes as a starting point.
If you’re full, save leftovers for another meal or snack. If you’re still hungry, look for leftovers, add a side, or add a snack or dessert to your meal.
The anti-diet dietitian in me is always recommending listening to your own internal cues instead of serving sizes, because they are, well, kinda random.
Ok, now that I’m off my soapbox, enjoy this recipe. And the leftovers or added food to feel more satisfied. Take a deep breath, you’re doing great.
Ingredients
Scroll down to the single serving pizza dough recipe card for the amounts of each ingredient, but here’s a quick visual + description of what’s in this recipe.
- All Purpose Flour: You could use all purpose flour or bread flour in this recipe. Bob’s Red Mill has info on the different types of flour for pizza dough. Essentially the amount of protein in it will affect how chewy/crispy it is.
- Yeast: Yeast is the leavening agent in this single serving pizza dough recipe. It feeds on sugar and creates bubbles to make your dough light and fluffy. I used active dry yeast in my recipe testing. Here’s info about yeasts.
- Sugar: Don’t skip the sugar, your yeast needs it to work!
- Salt: Add kosher or table salt to add flavor and help the ingredients in your dough do their work, read King Arthur Baking’s article on salt in dough.
- Water: 110-ish degree F water will help activate your yeast. Too hot or cold water doesn’t work as well. I use an instant read thermometer to check the temperature.
- Olive Oil: Adds flavor, makes it easier to stretch, and other things! Definitely don’t skip.
Tips for a Better Rise
- If you store your yeast in the freezer, take it out a few hours before making your dough. It’ll work better.
- If you’re unsure if your yeast is fresh, you can bloom it with the water and sugar for about 5 minutes, before mixing in with remaining ingredients.
- The most unpredictable part about making bread and doughs is that kitchen temperature dictates how long the rise will be. The warmer your kitchen is, the quicker your dough will rise. If it’s not rising enough, let it sit longer.
- If your kitchen is cold (mine is like 66 in the winter, I get it), consider a cold rise in the fridge, finding a warm-sunny spot, or placing your bowl in the oven.
- The most fool proof way for your bread to rise is to do it in the fridge. But you’ll need 5-24 hours + a few hours to rise at room temperature. It requires planning and some time at home, but makes the tastiest dough!
- King Arthur Flour has a great guide on where/how to rise dough for best results.
Instructions
Scroll down to the recipe card for more detailed instructions. Here’s a quick overview + photos to see how to make this recipe in general.
1. Mix dry ingredients (all purpose flour, yeast, sugar, salt) together in bowl.
See tips below for suggestions for the best rise.
2. Add warm water and oil to dry ingredients. Stir until combined. Adjust flour or water to get a slightly sticky dough.
3. Turn dough out onto clean, lightly floured surface. Knead until a ball forms. Texture is fine if it’s slightly sticky-not sticky.
4. Spray same mixing bowl with cooking spray, or use oil to coat bottom half of bowl. Place your single serving pizza dough ball in bowl, spray top with spray. Cover with tight fitting lid or plastic wrap.
5. Let rest at room temperature for 30-60 minutes. Or until dough approximately doubles in size.
6. Roll out into crust, or freeze your single serving pizza dough for later.
In general, this dough cooked well at 425 degrees F for about 12-15+ minutes, depending on the toppings you add.
Italian herbs or garlic powder would be good sprinkled over this dough before baking.
Pizza Recipes for your Dough
Storage/Reheating Tips
You can make your single serving pizza dough recipe ahead of time. I’m no pizza expert, but King Arthur Flour has a few recommendations in their pizza dough recipe.
Essentially, if you’re making it ahead of time, let it rise at room temperature for 45 minutes, then refrigerate for up to 24 hours. But you’ll need to let it rest at room temperature for another 2-3 or so hours to rise and get puffy.
You can also freeze this dough for later. Either bake it for a few minutes, again see King Arthur Flour recipe instructions above, or freeze the dough. But you’ll need to let it rest/rise for 1-2+ hours before rolling out and baking.
Substitutions/Tips
- Here’s the thing, this recipe doesn’t use all the optimal tips But if you, like me, want a great recipe without lots of extra steps or time, this will be great. It’s really good enough.
- I am guessing that any type of yeast would work fine enough in this recipe. It’s a higher moisture dough, which is forgiving compared to others. See Serious Eats’ guide to yeast.
- Let your single serving pizza dough rise until it’s about doubled in size. This will give you a really nice pizza crust.
- Other great add-ins: I wouldn’t recommend making substitutions to this recipe, other than using the type of yeast and flour that you have. You can sprinkle herbs and oil/butter over the crust for added flavor, browning.
FAQ
About 1 ½ cups-2 cups of dough, after rising is perfect for a single pizza. This single serving dough recipe works really well.
If you don’t have time or the desire to make your own dough, your local grocery store will likely have some pizza dough. Harmons in Utah has delicious dough. Local pizza shops might sell dough too.
Short answer, no. But, you do want to plan out the timing. If your dough doesn’t get enough time to rise, or gets too much time, it’ll affect how it bakes and tastes.
If you’re unable to bake about 40ish minutes after starting dough, refrigerate for 5-24 hours, then let it rest at room temperature for a couple hours, then bake it. Or freeze then rest at room temperature a few hours.
What to do with leftover ingredients
When you’re cooking for one, you often have leftover produce, cans of whatever ingredient, etc. Here are a couple ideas on how to use up the leftover ingredients. It’ll help you save money by wasting fewer ingredients.
Did you make this Single Serving Pizza Dough Recipe? Leave me a comment & rating to share how it turned out!
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Single Serving Pizza Dough Recipe
This easy single serving pizza dough recipe just takes 10 minutes to make, rest for 30-60 minutes, and is ready to go in the oven. It’s perfectly chewy with crisp edges after baking, and is the perfect with your favorite pizza toppings!
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon yeast I used active dry yeast
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup water warm, about 110 degrees F
- ½ teaspoon olive oil
Instructions
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Mix together ⅔ cup flour, ½ teaspoon yeast, ¼ teaspoon sugar, and ¼ teaspoon salt in a medium sized bowl.
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Add in ¼ cup warm water (I used 110 degree water), ½ teaspoon oil. Stir together until incorporated. Add more flour or water until it’s slightly sticky. You can always add in more in the next step.
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Turn dough onto clean, floured surface. Knead until it’s all one ball. No need to knead beyond that. Adjust flour/water until dough ball is just barely sticky.
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Coat bowl with oil or cooking spray (you don’t need to wash it). Place dough in bowl, spray top of dough too, especially if you live in a dry environment. Cover with lid or plastic wrap.
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Let rest for 30-60 minutes. Or about 24 hours in the fridge. If it’s cold in your kitchen, rest in the oven.
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Your dough will be ready to use after it’s about doubled in size.
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To bake dough, roll it out, bake in a 425 degree F oven for about 12-18 minutes, depending on toppings.
Notes
- To measure flour, scoop flour with a spoon and add to measuring cup, scrape off top with level edged knife or leveler.
- To knead dough, press your palm into the center of the dough, and rotate, repeating until it forms a ball.
- No need to knead the dough any more than just to form a ball, I tested it both ways and it worked similarly.
- I recommend kneading by hand instead of using a mixer. I tested the dough hooks for my hand mixer and they did terribly. I had to mix it by hand to combine. I think this is just too small an amount to work with a mixer.
- If your dough hasn’t risen to about double it’s size, let it rest longer. It is likely a bit too cold to work quickly.
- Tips to get the most out of your rise:
- if your yeast is in the freezer (that’s where I keep mine), take it out a few hours before making your dough. I have tested it both ways and didn’t notice a huge difference. But if you remember, you could do it!
- If you’re unsure if your yeast works, instead of adding the water to your dry ingredients, combine the yeast, sugar, and warm water separately, let it bloom for a few minutes, then add to flour, salt, and oil mixture.
- Cover with a lid or plastic wrap instead of a towel, as the moisture builds up and is helpful for rising.
- The best temperature window for rising dough is 75-78 degrees F. Your dough will rise in about 30-60 minutes. Here’s what King Arthur Flour says about rising dough. It’s really helpful (the tips above and below are from KAF too).
- If your kitchen isn’t between 75-78 degrees, your oven with the light on, or microwave after boiling water in it, would work well. Test with a thermometer, if you have one.
- You can also let your dough rise, covered in the fridge for about 24 hours, then at room temperature for 1-2 hours after. This will allow for the flavors to develop more and get really tasty!
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