Multipurpose Dough Recipe
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Looking for a simple dough that you can use for many different purposes? Here’s the multipurpose dough recipe that I’ve been making lately!
Multipurpose Pizza and Bun Dough Recipe
Since we moved onto our off-grid land, our menu looks a bit different. Right before we moved here I had the kids help me decide on some weekly “theme” nights for meals to make my life easier. Of course, pizza night was one of those meals!
I’ve made several different pizza dough recipes in the past and while they were good, my mom shared this multipurpose dough recipe with me before we moved and I’ve been making it ever since! We love when this is made into a pizza crust and I’ve also been using it to make buns for when we have burgers so I’ll share how to do that as well. You could probably use it for many other things, it’s a great basic recipe to have on hand!
Ingredients in Multipurpose Dough Recipe
- Bread Flour or All Purpose Flour – I’ve been buying bread flour but you can make this recipe with either type of flour.
- Egg – This really helps gives the dough some good flavor and color.
- Yeast – I use dry active yeast. Always store your yeast in the freezer so it lasts as long as possible!
- Warm Water or Milk – I use water or milk depending on what I’m using the recipe for.
- Vegetable Oil – I use olive oil because that’s what I always have on hand.
- Sugar or Honey – I’ve used both interchangeably in this recipe based on what I have on hand.
- Salt – Just a small amount is needed.
Step by Step Instructions for Making the Multipurpose Dough Recipe
Start by combining the wet ingredients. It’s super important to make sure that you do not overheat the water/milk or you will kill your yeast. Yes, I’ve done this and it’s not fun to realize it when suppertime comes around!
I like to add in the flour slowly. First I’ll add 1 1/2 – 2 cups and combine that well before adding in the rest and kneading the dough. I use about 3 cups of flour in this recipe but am at a very high elevation so you will likely need to add more to make it not sticky.
Once you’ve kneaded the dough for about 10 minutes, place it in a bowl and let it rise for about 2 hours. This picture is of slightly overrisen dough because on the day I made this one, I let it rise for about 3 1/2 hours. Still works perfectly, just adds more bubbles in the final product!
Divide this dough into 2 crusts.
Do not half this recipe as it will not work the same (you can’t use half an egg ;)). When I make this recipe for just our family, I will use one crust for pizza dough and the rest of the dough to make cheesy bread. When we have company, I make 2 separate pizzas.
If you use it to make 2 pizzas it will be a fairly thin crust (which my family prefers). When I make pizza and cheesy bread I will use more dough for the pizza crust and then less for the cheesy bread.
Add your toppings to your crust and bake!
Bake the pizza for about 25-30 minutes at 375 degrees. Again, you may need to adjust this as I’m cooking this in my off-grid stove at a high elevation.
The crust should be evenly brown and done in the middle when it’s finished.
This is my cheesy bread! I just roll out the crust, add some olive oil, sprinkle that with garlic salt, and top it with mozzarella and parmesan cheese and bake only slightly less time than the pizza. I cut it into breadstick shapes when it’s done. My kids love this and dip it in Marinara Sauce. 🙂
I use this same recipe to make buns for our burgers. For this, I replace the warm water with warm milk. Then After I mix the dough, I immediately form it into bun shapes and let them rise on a baking sheet for about an hour before baking. They will need to bake for about the same amount of time as the pizza crust.
You could make 12 medium sized buns with this recipe but I like to make 10 slightly larger buns so they fit burgers better.
I’m quite sure that you could use this recipe to make many more things as well, but these are our favorite uses so far!
Multipurpose Dough Recipe
This easy to make yeast dough can be used for pizza, buns, and a variety of other purposes!
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water use milk instead for buns
- 1/3 cup oil I use olive oil
- 2 tablespoons dry active yeast
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons sugar or honey
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups bread flour may need more or less depending on your elevation
Instructions
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In a bowl, combine the water, oil, yeast, sugar, and egg. Make sure your water is warm, not hot or you will kill your yeast and the bread won't rise.
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Add in the remaining ingredients and 2 cups of the flour. Stir until combined.
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Add in the rest of the flour and knead until combined. If the mixture is sticky you might need more flour depending on your elevation.
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Place the dough in a covered bowl and let it rise for about 2 hours (unless you are making buns).
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Punch down the dough and shape into pizza crusts on a greased pizza pan.
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Add pizza sauce and toppings. Bake at 375 degrees for about 25-30 minutes or until crust is evenly brown and done in the middle.
For Buns
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Be sure to use milk instead of water in the recipe. The milk should be lukewarm.
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Instead of putting the dough aside to rise, shape it into 12 buns (or 10 slightly larger buns) and put them on a baking sheet to rise.
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Let the buns rise for at least an hour before baking. Bake at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes until buns are no longer doughy.
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Wait until the buns have cooled to slice them.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition values based on each full pizza crust. Divide by your amount of slices to get an accurate nutrition for your slice of pizza.
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Merissa Alink
Merissa has been blogging about and living the simple and frugal life on Little House Living since 2009 and has internationally published 2 books on the topic. You can read about Merissa’s journey from penniless to freedom on the About Page. You can send her a message any time from the Contact Page.
This Multipurpose Dough Recipe was originally posted on Little House Living in November 2024.
Do you think a gluten-free flour mix would work in place of the bread flour?
I’ve not tried this recipe gluten free. If you have a really good gluten free flour blend that works good with yeast products you could always try it.
Just wondering if I can make this in my bread machine. I’m assuming you are not using your bread machine right now because of the power situation you are dealing with. Since this is a lot like the Pizza dough recipe and that one can be made in the bread machine…could this one work too? I love the pizza dough and would like to use this one for buns. Just want to say, I trust your recipes so much. I haven’t had a failure with one yet and they have lived up to expectations cost and taste wise. Also, prayers for you and your family these days as you manage pregnancy and the move to your new home.
Yes, I’m not using my bread machine right now but I do think this could be made on the dough cycle in a bread machine. 🙂
Can this be made ahead and frozen?
I haven’t tried it yet with this recipe but I don’t see why not since it’s similar to other dough recipes that I’ve frozen. 🙂