How to make pizza dough in a bread machine

Step 1: load the pan in the right order

Add the ingredients to the bread pan in the order your machine's manual recommends — most call for the liquids first (water, oil), then the dry ingredients (flour, salt, sugar if any), with the yeast added last and kept separate from the salt and liquid until mixing begins, since salt and direct liquid contact can knock the yeast back. Use a pizza-dough recipe you trust for the quantities. Many pizza doughs include a little olive oil for a more tender, workable crust. Fit the pan into the machine and make sure the paddle is in place.

Step 2: run the dough cycle

Select the dough cycle(or a pizza-dough setting if your machine has one) and start it. The machine mixes, kneads and proves the dough through its first rise, then beeps and stops — it does not bake. During the early kneading, lift the lid and check the dough: pizza dough should form a smooth, supple, slightly tacky ball that clears the sides of the pan. If it looks dry and stiff, add water a teaspoon at a time; if it's a wet, sticky puddle that won't form a ball, add flour a little at a time. A properly hydrated dough is what stretches thin later. When the cycle finishes you should have a soft, risen dough roughly doubled in size.

Step 3: divide and rest

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently deflate it. Divideit into the number of pizzas you're making — portioning now gives each base an even size. Then, and this matters, let the divided dough restfor a little while under a cloth or inverted bowl. Resting relaxes the gluten so the dough stretches out and stays put instead of springing back and shrinking — skip it and you'll fight the dough as it snaps back to a small, thick round. A short rest is the difference between a dough that stretches easily and one that resists.

Step 4: shape the base

Shape each portion into a base by stretching, not rolling if you can help it — rolling with a pin presses out the air bubbles that give the crust its light, open edge, while gently stretching with your hands (or draping and stretching over your knuckles) keeps them. Start from the center and work outward, leaving a slightly thicker rim for the crust. If the dough resists and pulls back, let it rest a few more minutes and try again rather than forcing it. Get it as thin as you like your crust, on a piece of parchment, a floured peel, or a lightly oiled pan.

Step 5: top it lightly and bake it hot

Two rules make a good pizza in a home oven. First, bake it hot: pizza wants the hottest oven you've got, and a preheated pizza stone or steel(or an inverted heavy baking tray) that's had a good while to get scorching hot gives the base a crisp bottom the way a soft baking sheet can't. Second, go easy on the toppings: a thin layer of sauce and a modest amount of cheese and toppings bakes into a crisp pizza, while a heavily-loaded, wet pizza steams and goes soggy in the middle. Slide the topped base onto the hot surface and bake until the crust is browned and blistered and the cheese is bubbling. A hot oven and a light hand are what turn bread machine dough into pizzeria-style crust.

Tips for a better crust

A few extra habits raise the results. If you have time, a slow, cold rise improves flavor: after the dough cycle you can refrigerate the dough for several hours or overnight (let it come back to room temperature before shaping), which develops a tastier, more complex crust than an all-at-once rise. Use bread flouror a high-protein flour for a chewier, stronger crust that stretches without tearing, rather than a soft all-purpose flour. Don't overload a small machine with a big, stiff dough — split the batch if needed. And keep any dough you're not shaping covered so it doesn't skin over. The bread machine did the kneading and the first rise; the hot oven and a light touch do the rest. For other things the same cycle makes, see our cinnamon rolls guide and what you can make in a bread machine.