Semolina Pizza Crust
This simple pizza dough uses semolina flour, typically used for pasta, for a wonderfully crispy and chewy crust!
The funny thing about pizza is that the first matter of concern always seems to be about the combination of toppings, when frankly, a pizza is only as good as its crust.
I have tried quite a few pizza crust recipes and methods, and have compared pizzas that only rise for a few hours versus ones that have been aged in the fridge for a few days. And this is our holy grail, and absolute favorite pizza crust.
(Side note: I’ve also tested quite a few unconventional flour-free pizza crusts, and my favorite low carb one is this Fathead Pizza).
The secret ingredient here is semolina flour:
Semolina flour is typically used to make pasta, as it has a very high percentage of gluten-developing proteins, which is what gives the dough its stretch and elasticity. We want lots of gluten development for our pizza crust too, so the semolina does wonders in helping our pizza crust get a crispy bottom yet chewy texture.
To get started, combine hot water, a little bit of sugar, and yeast in a measuring cup:
Let it sit for 10 minutes until it’s bubbly, like this:
Add the liquid to the bowl of a stand mixer, and add olive oil and salt.
Then add the semolina and bread flour, and mix until smooth.
Let that sit for 2 hours until it has doubled in size:
After its rise, it should look all stretchy and webby, like this:
Now it’s ready to be shaped into a ball and rolled out into a circle, or rectangle. You know, however you like your pizza shaped:
You can either parbake your pizza crust, or put the toppings on and bake. Enjoy!
Semolina Pizza Crust
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups 115 degree water
- 2.25 tsp quick rise yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1.5 cups semolina flour (10 oz by weight)
- 1.5 cups bread flour (7.5 oz by weight)
Instructions
- In a measuring cup or bowl, combine the water, yeast, and sugar. Give it a stir and let it sit for 10 minutes, until the liquid gets bubbly.
- Place the measuring cup liquid mixture, olive oil, salt, semolina flour, and bread flour in the bowl of a stand mixer and use the dough hook to stir it together, until it’s roughly combined. Fit the mixer with the dough hook and knead on medium low speed for about 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth. The dough will be a little bit sticky, and that’s fine. Cover the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap and let it sit for 2 hours, until the dough doubles in size.
- Remove the dough to a floured board and shape it into a ball. It can now be rolled out and baked as desired. I like to split the dough into two halves since I like a thinner crust. I bake my pizzas in a 500 degree oven with toppings and sauce for about 15-20 minutes.
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
62 Comments on “Semolina Pizza Crust”
Love this recipe! Making boat life better! Thank you 😊
Loved it!! The dough was so easy to work with!
Thank you for this recipe 🙂
I love making homemade pizza. I have tried a lot of recipes. Your recipe is the best one I have ever tried. This now will be my go to pizza dough recipe
Hi Joanne. I am in the process of making your pizza dough for the second time. I have had a recipe that I’ve made for years and have always said it was so easy that I would never try another one. I can’t remember now what made me look at yours, but I am so glad I did.
I started doing something with yours that I have never done before but it makes pizza night so easy. I make the crusts ahead and bake them for about 5 minutes. Then I just stack them and let everyone grab a shell, put on the ingredients that they want and bake again for about 8 min.
I can have all the prep done early in the day and bowls of ingredients in the frig ready to go.
Thanks for a great recipe.
Hi Nancy, that is a wonderful trick that you’ve shared here. Thank you! Sounds like fun too.
Can the dough be refrigerated overnight?
Will the crust rise if you pre-bake it?
I am going to make this a day ahead. Do I need to let it rise for 2 hours or just put it in the frig and take out before I want to roll it out maybe an hour or so before?
I have a question. Is there much difference between “00” flour and bread flour?
Check out this article, https://www.simplyrecipes.com/the-best-flour-for-homemade-pizza-dough-5112947. It’s very helpful, but depends on what type of crust you’re going for. I started with all-purpose flour initially, but have since switched to `00 (it’s softer and if you add semolina to the exterior, gives a nice crunch).
Yumm-O. This was so easy, no hassle and delicious. I was out of bread flour – so I used regular AP and to my surprise, it was still a huge success! I made this in my food processor – hand-kneaded then let rise and and in a few hours I had a pizza that was dynamite. Seriously! I brushed on some Garlic EVOO onto the crust prior to baking and that worked wonders! I have actually added this recipe to my personal go-to recipes because it was that good! That easy! And kid approved!
Cheers!
Really good recipe. We made it in a vegan thin crust and vegan pan version and it was delicious either way. Our new favorite crust!
In step 2of the instructions, you say to place the liquid mixture, olive oil, salt semolina flour and bread flour in the bowl of a stand mixer and use the dough hook to stir it together, until it is roughly combined. Fit the mixer with the dough hook and knead on medium low speed for about ten minutes until smooth. ? Am I supposed to use a new dough hook at this step, or initially combine the ingredients with another tool? A novice cook and baker.
In order to not dirty another tool, I use the dough hook with my hand as if it’s a spatula to roughly combine everything. Then put the same dough hook on the mixer. Does that make sense? You can use a spatula if you prefer.
Followed recipe almost exact. Added an extra tbs of EVOO and 1 full tsp of salt vs. 1/2. My favorite dough recipe by far…so yummy! crispy and chewy thin crust. made 1 small personal pizza for child and larger pizza for husband & I. Had small piece left over that went into freezer for another quick kid personal pizza in future👍🏽 I like that it maintains shape after rolling out vs. shrinking like many dough recipes.
This dough is amazing!! I won’t ever use any other recipe, seriously. I weighed my ingredients which is what I always do. I didn’t need to add any more flour than the recipe called for and it was perfect.
Made the dough and immediately cut it in half without rising. I wrapped each piece in lightly oiled parchment paper, then in a freezer zip top bag and froze it.
Took it out of the freezer the day before I was going to use it. Put it on a new piece of lightly oiled parchment on a sheet pan and covered it loosely with Pam sprayed plastic wrap. It defrosted overnight and started a cold rise in the fridge.
I took it out about an hour before I was using it. I rolled it out and made pepperoni bread with each dough ball. I couldn’t believe how beautifully it rolled for me!
The end result was the best dough I ever used. I imagine it’s going to make excellent pizza too.
As a side note, I had 00 flour on hand and used it in place of the all purpose. I’m not sure if this made any difference. My plan is to make more and freeze them like described above so I have it ready any time I need it. I’m so thankful to have found your recipe….it’s EXCELLENT!!
At what point do I freeze this dough when making it ahead of time? I usually make large batches so I always have dough available. Great recipe. I just add a little more flour to make it more workable.
You can freeze the dough between step 2 and 3. Like the author of the article, I like to split the dough into two halves so at this point in the process, I’ll split the dough and freeze the two halves until I’m ready to use them. To thaw, I’ll put one of the dough halves in the fridge the morning of the day I want to use it. I try to give it at least a few hours to thaw in the fridge and then let sit for 1-2 hours at room temp before rolling out.