Yes, you can use your Instant Pot to proof your homemade pizza dough!
Friday night pizza night will never be the same, thanks to Instant Pot pizza dough!
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Every Friday night in our home is pizza and movie night. We make homemade pizza and settle in on the couch for a movie.
It’s such a fun family tradition, and it’s a great way to incorporate theme nights for dinner!
My recipe for making homemade Instant Pot dinner rolls was such a hit that I wrote a whole tutorial about how to proof dough in the Instant Pot.
Then, I went on to create homemade pretzels proofed in the Instant Pot, an Instant Pot naan bread recipe, as well as Instant Pot French bread.
I have also “baked” a loaf of no-knead bread Instant Pot bread!
So it only seems reasonable to also share a recipe for Instant Pot pizza dough! You can use it to make traditional pizzas, or enjoy a blast from the past with rectangle slices of homemade school cafeteria pizza!
Need the ultimate shortcut? Try air fryer naan pizzas for dinner!
How to Proof Pizza Dough in the Instant Pot
Sometimes I think people are deterred from making homemade pizza dough because they think it will take a lot of time, and that the dough will need to rise for a couple of hours.
But actually, you can use your Instant Pot to speed up the rising process for your pizza dough!
The trick is to use the Yogurt setting of your Instant Pot. It’s already programmed to be the perfect temperature for culturing the bacteria in yogurt–warm enough, but not too hot.
It also works well for allowing yeast to metabolize sugar and produce carbon dioxide, which is what causes the dough to rise.
How to Make Instant Pot Pizza Dough
It’s really easy to put your Instant Pot to work here!
Ingredients You’ll Need:
- Water
- Sugar
- Salt
- Yeast
- Oil
- Flour
- Sauce and toppings of choice
How to Make It:
(Full printable recipe is available below)
Activate the yeast. In a medium-large mixing bowl, combine warm water, yeast, salt, sugar, and oil. Allow the yeast to dissolve and just begin to foam, about 2-5 minutes.
Stir in the flour. Next, you’ll add in the flour, stirring to create the dough.
Knead. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes. You can do this by hand, or you can use a stand mixer with a dough hook if you have one.
Rise. Spray the insert pot of your Instant Pot with cooking spray or wipe it with oil. Transfer the ball of dough to the insert pot and turn it to coat it with oil (you can also give it a spritz with your cooking spray).
Use the Yogurt setting to let the dough rise for an hour.
Roll and top. Now the dough is ready to be punched down and rolled out and placed onto a pizza pan or stone!
Or you can also divide the dough and press it into greased cake pans or small cast iron skillets to make personal pan pizzas (this is what we almost always do!).
Bake. Top as desired and bake at 500F for about 10-12 minutes.
Can I Make Pizza Dough Ahead of Time?
Yes, you can make the dough ahead of time and refrigerate it for 2-3 days. I recommend covering the surface of the dough with plastic wrap so it doesn’t dry out.
When you’re ready to use it, let it warm up to room temperature. Set it out for at least an hour before you need it.
If you prefer to freeze the pizza dough, you can wrap it with plastic wrap and freeze.
When you’re ready to use it, simply thaw the dough to room temperature first.
Can I Use Whole Wheat Flour in this Pizza Dough?
Yes, you can use whole wheat flour (or a combination of all-purpose and whole wheat) if you prefer.
You will likely need to add a little more water, because whole wheat flour tends to absorb more water.
Recommended Equipment:
- Instant Pot with a Keep Warm function (I have the DUO60 model, which I love)
- Pizza pan or pizza stone (for full-size pizza)
- 8″ Cake pans or small cast iron skillets for personal pan pizzas
Instant Pot Pizza Dough
Use your Instant Pot to speed up the process of proofing your homemade pizza dough!
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup warm water
- 1 Tbsp active dry yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- In a medium-large mixing bowl (or int he bowl of a stand mixer), stir together warm water, yeast, sugar, salt, and oil. Let sit for a couple of minutes while the yeast starts to soften.
- Stir in the flour, mixing to combine.
- Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes (you can also use the dough hook attachment on a stand mixer to do this).
- Grease the insert pot of the Instant Pot. Transfer the ball of dough to the insert pot and turn to coat with oil.
- Close the lid and turn on the yogurt function. Let the dough rise for 1 hour.
- Remove the dough from the insert pot and roll out onto a pizza pan or divide and press into greased cake pans or small cast iron skillets to create personal pan pizzas.
- Top the dough as desired and bake in a preheated 500F oven for about 10-12 minutes.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 208Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 294mgCarbohydrates: 34gFiber: 2gSugar: 1gProtein: 5g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and is not guaranteed for accuracy.
Stock Your Freezer!
2. No need to thaw before cooking in the Instant Pot--meals can cook from frozen!
3. Easy-to-use plan includes shopping lists, labels, recipes, and instructions!
This was wonderful! I never thought to use my instant pot to proof dough! I took it to the next level and made it a stuffed crust pizza
I will never buy store bought pizza crust again! (think Pillsbury)
Thank you for your kind words, Julie! I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed it–what a great idea to make stuffed crust pizza–now I’m hungry! 🙂
Can this be made in a smaller pan don’t have a pizza pan size thanks
Hi Rhonda! Yes, you can divide the dough into smaller pans. I often divide it into 8″ round cake pans for personal pizzas. You can use cast iron skillets as well, or even stretch the dough out over a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Enjoy! 🙂
What is the max amount of dough you have ever tried?
Hi Tommy! For this specific recipe, the written amount (for one large pizza) is the most I’ve done at a time. However, I think you could safely double it (for two pizzas) and still have room for it to rise, because I’ve risen larger amounts of dough in the Instant Pot (for soft pretzels) before and it’s worked fine. I hope that helps! 🙂