Date Published: July 13th, 2020 | Last Updated: July 29th, 2020
Author: Abby |Category: basics
Serves: 1 large pizza/flatbread or 6-8 small personal pizzas
Prep time: 5 mins | Cook time: 90 mins to proof

Jump to recipe | Watch the video

I used to hate making dough. Any kind of dough. No matter how hard I tried, it never turned out perfectly right – either my arms were tired from kneading or the dough would never rise properly. These days I’m singing a different tune. I’ve discovered the easiest way of proofing dough that always gives me fool-‘proof’ (hah!) results (click here to see how I proof my dough) and my awesome mother-in-law has been letting me use her stand-mixer which has made my life infinitely easier.

Apart from the stand-mixer and easy dough-proofing, this basic dough recipe is my easy go-to dough for almost everything from a quick snack to a main meal. I’ve used it for flatbread, pizzas, cheese pies, pizza pockets, wraps…etc – the possibilities are endless!

Do remember that this is just a BASIC dough. There’s no doubt hundreds of other fancier dough recipes out there, but this one was designed to be quick and easy. You can also easily customize it by adding spices, herbs, garlic…etc. to the dough for more flavour depending on what you’re making (be careful not to make it too heavy or wet) but I usually just keep it simple and then decide on my flavours later on when I’m making the dish rather than incorporating it into the dough.

Rolling the dough out thicker will give you a fluffier bread consistency great for pizzas and flatbreads, whereas rolling it out thinner will result in a crispier base (which is usually how I prefer some of my mini flatbreads).

This recipe is pretty straight forward but becomes a little wordy when I type it out so it seems like a lengthy recipe – I promise it’s easy. Watch the video below to guide you through it and you’ll see how quickly it comes together.

Ingredients:

You only need 6 basic ingredients that you likely already have in your pantry:

1 Tbsp active dry yeast
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 cup (250ml) warm water
3 cups (432g) all purpose flour + extra for dusting/kneading
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup (125ml) olive oil

This recipe makes enough for one big flatbread or pizza, or you can divide up the dough into 6-8 balls and make small personal pizzas/flatbread.

Directions:

Yeast mixture with a layer of white frothy microbubbles and some larger bubbles

First, activate the yeast by mixing it in warm water with the sugar. Stir until combined and make sure you have no clumps in your mixture. Leave this aside for about 5 minutes until it becomes frothy at the top. (If your mixture does not become frothy, your yeast may be too old or your water is too hot.)

Knead until all ingredients are incorporated and a ball forms

Fresh out of the stand-mixer, slightly moist

In a stand-mixer bowl (or regular bowl if you’re doing this by hand), add the flour, salt and olive oil. Mix on a low/knead setting for a minute until combined, then slowly add in the yeast mixture. Knead until you get a smooth damp ball of dough and all the ingredients are incorporated – see photo above. (You can add a bit more flour if your dough is too wet.)

Smooth non-sticky dough ball after kneading in some flour

Take your dough ball out of the mixer and knead it on a lightly floured surface for a minute until you get a smooth non-sticky soft dough ball.

Place your dough ball in a bowl and rub a little olive oil over it (this will help it stretch as it rises). Let the dough rise in a warm place covered with a damp tea towel until doubled in size (~1.5 hours) OR alternatively try out my favourite way of proofing dough here.

Risen dough. Note the bubbles below, forming a airy dough

Once the dough has doubled in size, punch and knead it for a couple minutes to release the air bubbles. Your dough is now ready to use! 👍🏼

If you aren’t using the dough right away, you can freeze it by wrapping it in cling wrap. Be sure to freeze it asap before the dough expands more. Just let it thaw out to room temperature before using it. I like to divide my dough into 6 portions and defrost a portion at a time for an easy late night snack by making a quick flatbread or Nutella pizza. Mmmmm. There are seriously SO many things you can do with this dough.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this recipe! If you have any comments or suggestions, I’d love to hear from you in the comment section! You can follow me on instagram, youtube and facebook to see all the recipes I post!

Happy cooking!

Recipes that use this dough:

Za’atar Manakish (Lebanese Flatbread)

Halloumi Cheese Pie

Watch the Video Tutorial!

Summarized Recipe:

My Go-To Basic Dough

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp active dry yeast
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 cup (250ml) warm water
3 cups (432g) all purpose flour + extra for dusting/kneading
1 tsp salt
1/2 (125ml) cup olive oil

Directions:

In a bowl, activate the yeast by mixing together the yeast, sugar and warm water. Stir to combine then set aside and leave for 5-10mins until frothy.
In your stand mixer bowl, add together the flour, salt and olive oil. Mix on low/knead setting and slowly add in the frothed yeast mixture until the dough forms a sticky ball. (If your dough is too wet and not a ball, add in a bit more flour.) Take out your dough and knead it on a lightly floured surface, dusting with more flour as needed, until you get a smooth non-sticky soft dough ball.
- If you don’t have a stand mixer, just mix the dough by hand.
Once your soft dough ball is done, rub some olive oil over it and place it in a bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in size (will take ~1-2hrs) or alternatively follow my favourite proofing method here.
Once the dough has doubled in size, punch and knead it for a couple minutes to release the air bubbles. The dough is now ready to use! If you’re freezing the dough, wrap it up in cling wrap and freeze asap.