I did not make my own pizza dough for the longest time. But like fresh tortillas, once you go there and do things the fresh way, you can never go back! This Oregano Garlic Pizza Dough is one of my favorite variations to make. Oregano is a classic ingredient in pizza, and who doesn’t love garlic?!?
You can avoid the drab, bland, and boring dough by using this Oregano Garlic Pizza Dough. This dough is the perfect foundation for any flavor combination that you want to throw on it since it sticks to the classic ingredients of pizza and Italian cooking.
This post contains affiliate links.
The dough does need a little prep time as it has to sit to rise, but other than that it is so incredibly easy and tastes SOOOOOO GOOD!
I make pizzas (affiliate links) with a stone that goes in my oven and I use a handy pizza peel that you see in the pictures. (This pizza peel is pretty close to what I have, and this pizza peel is just GORGEOUS). I think it is worth it to have these gems because the stone makes my pizza crisp up beautifully and the peel makes it so easy to get the dough/pizza in and out of the oven. But you can also use a plain cookie sheet if you want.
One batch will make either two thin crust 12″ pizzas or one thick crust. I always go for the thin crust as I like to make my pizza all about the toppings and sauce without too much dough getting in the way. Do you prefer thick or thin crust pizza?
Doesn’t this sucker look good?!?? Check out my recipe for this Red Wine and Oregano Pizza Sauce here! Check out the recipe for this Roasted Vegetable Pizza here, as well as a Balsamic Caprese Pizza not shown here!
If you do a thicker crust, you will want to blind bake it (the first step of baking without the toppings on it) longer to make sure that it cooks all the way thorough and you do not end up with a doughy center. And as always, the exact times will vary with your oven since each one seems to be a snowflake and cooks differently than all the rest, so just keep an eye out as you go along to make sure nothing is burning.
Find the rest of our pizza recipes here! From dough to sauce to toppings, we have you covered.
This recipe is slightly adapted from this site.
Oregano Garlic Pizza Dough
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water (105-110 degrees F)
- 1 envelope active dry yeast (not instant) (1/4 oz)
- 1 Tablespoon honey (optional)
- 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon dried oregano
- 1/2 Tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- yellow cornmeal (for dusting and rolling)
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl combine the water, yeast, honey, and olive oil. Stir to combine and let it sit until it starts to foam, approximately 5 minutes.
- Add the oregano, garlic powder, and salt to the yeast mixture. Add 1 1/2 cups of the flour, mixing gently until incorporated. Add the flour a little at a time, working the flour into the dough after each addition, until the dough is a little sticky and smooth. You will likely not need all of the flour.
- Remove the dough and knead on a floured surface for 3-5 minutes until the dough is still a little tacky but smooth. You will know it is done when you press on the dough and it bounces back. You can also stretch it while holding it up, and you should be able to make it very thin where you can see light through it without it breaking.
- Cover the inside of the large mixing bowl with some more olive oil. Put the dough in the oiled bowl and turn dough to coat with the oil. Keep the dough in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit in a warm place for approximately 90 minutes until the dough is doubled in size.
- When you are ready to start making the pizza, place your pizza stone (or a large baking sheet) in the oven on the center rack. Preheat to 450F.
- Dust your pizza peel with some cornmeal. The cornmeal will give the crust a great texture and bite while also preventing it from sticking to the surface you are working on. Cut the dough in half for two thin crust pizzas.
- Roll out one piece of the dough to your desired size, approximately 12" is what I aim for, on the pizza peel and make sure that the size and shape will fit onto your stone or cooking sheet that is in the oven.
- Using a fork or knife, poke holes in the dough everywhere except for the crust edge. This will allow air to escape and prevent the dough from bubbling up too much.
- Make sure that the dough is loose on the pizza peel by shaking it gently. The dough should move around. If the dough is sticking anywhere, pull up that area and throw some more cornmeal under it until nothing is sticking.
- When the oven is done preheating and you are at 450F, open the oven door and throw some cornmeal onto the stone or sheet. Use the pizza peel to shimmy the dough onto the stone/sheet. If you have the cornmeal under the dough, this should be rather easy to do.
- Blind bake the dough (without toppings or sauce) for approximately 5 minutes. Pull out the crust using your pizza peel when the dough is not soft to the touch anymore and it is just starting to get some color on it.
- Brush the crust edge with some olive oil and sprinkle with some garlic salt, parmesan, and/or oregano to give it some flavor.
- Add your sauce and toppings. Put the pizza back in the oven and cook approximately 10-12 minutes longer until the cheese is melting and starting to brown. Let the pizza rest just a couple minutes before serving.
What a wonderful flavor addition to the typical pizza dough. We love making pizza around here, so this fits right in. Thanks!
I like the idea of making my own pizza dough because you can choose exactly what you want in it. Your combo of oregano and garlic sounds wonderful. 🙂
This looks perfect! Homemade pizza is the best. I love the extra flavour you added to this dough, it sounds so tasty 🙂
Nothing beats homemade pizza dough. You added such good flavors to the dough to truly elevate the whole pizza.
I love homemade pizza dough but never had one with flavors in it. This looks amazing.
KIIIIIIIM! You’re killing me here. C’mon I’m trying to diet and get my life right and then you hit me with the oregano garlic dough AND THEN make a pizza outta it? It looks so good!!!!! Send some my way please *insert puppy dog eyes here*?
And I prefer thick pizza! =]
Hi Danielle! It IS pretty amazing! No dull dough here 🙂 If you have a cheat day then you have to make it worth it!
Your pizza looks stunning! It’s a good idea to add some garlic too! Never though of it! I’ve been adding oregano or other fresh herbs before but the garlic will be a nice addition too! THanks for the inspiration!
I have never made home made pizza before. It was magnificent! Now it’s my quick go to. It was wonderful with the instant yeast.
Thank you!
I am so glad that you enjoyed it! Thank you for sharing!
Can you mix the dough up the day before and store it in the fridge with good results the next day?
Hi Aimee,
I have not tried it yet with this specific recipe, however I have seen fresh dough in the grocery store. If you try it out please let us know how it goes! I’ll update the post when I am able to test it out as well 🙂
How would you go about freezing this dough?
Hi Jessica,
You could freeze it in its raw state in a ball, just make sure to pull it out of the freezer a day ahead to make sure it thaws completely before you bake it.
You could also roll it out and par bake it the first time (when you bake it for 5 minutes before adding toppings) and then freeze it as a crust. Then all you need to do is thaw, put toppings on it, and finish it off. (You could also freeze it with the toppings on, but before the final bake. Then let it thaw before that final bake and you are ready to go). But if you make it large, it will require some creative wrapping to keep it protected in the freezer. I would use multiple layers of plastic wrap encasing the entire thing.
It should work no matter which step you are freezing at! Hope you enjoy it!
Can a bread machine be used for mixing and rising dough for this recipe?
Hi Victoria,
I have not tried it, but I would think so. Check your machine to see if it typically only works with one type of yeast (instant or “regular”) and I would use that one for it.
Always trying a new recipe and found this for my meatless Monday night. LOVED the flavor in the crust even though it is a challenge to get dough onto hot pizza stone without the pizza peel. BEST ONE SO FAR and I even have another crust in freezer from this since I did the thin crust. THANKS
Thank you so much, Bev! I am SO glad you liked it 🙂 You could always try shimmying the dough onto the stone from a cutting board, just need a lot of cornmeal under it so it does not stick!
My family LOVES this recipe! It’s our go-to every Saturday night!
Thank you so much, Jen! I am SO glad you and your family love it 🙂 What are your favorite toppings?
Can I replace the honey with sugar? I have twin babies that are under 1 year so I have to avoid honey for them (no honey for babies under 1…ugh!) 🙂
Hi Kristi,
Yes, you could replace the honey with the same amount of sugar. Or you can skip it all together! 🙂
Was really looking forward to this recipe but after 24 hours my dough is still sticky, didn’t rise and tears a part. This is only my second time making pizza dough so I admit I’m not an expert my any means. Today I tried to make dough using another recipe and that worked so well. I went back to this recipe because the herbed dough smells amazing and I really want to see how I can fix it. I notice that it lists 3 cups flour in the ingredients but in the steps says you may not even need 1.5 cups. So there’s some confusion there. I added more flour and letting it rest a little more so hopefully that works.
Hi,
Yes, it can be tricky! The amount of flour needed will vary with most dough recipes, even if it does not say that. I just had a friend that learned this the hard way! The reason is that your flour might absorb more or less moisture depending on how dry the flour is as well as the moisture in the air. So you honestly need to just add a little at a time until it comes together. The dough after mixing should be slightly tacky but not full on sticky. If it is sticky, you need to add a little more flour. If you go beyond tacky to where it is too dry, it will not rise properly and be rather dense.
I would also normally say to check your yeast but if you used it in another recipe and it rose just fine, it is likely not that.
Sounds like you need a little more flour so it is tacky, not sticky, and make sure you knead it well to get the gluten going for the yeast to help it rise. When you are done kneading, it should bounce back when you press a finger into it (like a memory foam pillow or a marshmallow) and you should be able to stretch the dough very thin to where you can see light through it without it tearing.
You could bake the dough as you have it, it just will likely be rather flat/thin and might be crisper than normal. Dough definitely can be finicky and takes some practice. I hope this helps!