Crazy Dough for Everything (aka Universal Dough) – make one miracle dough, keep it in the fridge and use it for anything you like: pizza, focaccia, dinner rolls, pretzels , crescent rolls etc
My mother got this recipe for Crazy Dough from her friend over 20 years ago. At the time it was called “Universal Dough”, but now it is often referred to as “Crazy Dough” (UPDATE November 2014: I’ve seen some food bloggers have used this recipe and called it “Miracle Dough”). This friend was so thrilled with the recipe because it was very simple to make and you could use it for almost anything you wanted. Just mix all ingredients together, keep the dough in a plastic bag in your fridge for up to 3 days, and take out as much as you need for whatever you need: pizza, focaccia, panzerotti, dinner rolls, buns, scones, crescent rolls, pretzels, doughnuts, etc. For Vegan Crazy Dough click here.
A neighbour of mine said she always keeps it in the fridge and, whenever she has any kind of leftovers, she uses them as a stuffing for panzerotti. Another friend told me Crazy Dough is the best pizza dough in the world. I was a bit skeptical about it, but when I tried it, I must admit it is true.
From this batch you will get 4 lb (1.8 kg) dough which is quite a lot, enough to make 4 pizzas (10 inches / 25 cm diameter). If you don’t need that much, just use half the batch.
Crazy Dough freezes well, too. You can always have it prepared and easily make fresh snack or a dinner in no time. When you need it, take it out of the freezer, let it thaw and then use it in the same way as you would use fresh dough.
Do you use Crazy Dough in your recipes? What has been your experience? Please share in the comments! Thanks!
UPDATES:
No 1.
I made Crazy Dough using WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR and I can confirm that it does work.
No 2.
I created VEGAN Crazy Dough for all those people who cannot eat milk, yogurt or eggs and GLUTEN-FREE Crazy Dough fro gluten-intolerant.
No 3.
I FROZE Crazy Dough and thawed it several days later. Then I baked it in the same way I bake fresh dough and it turned out just as good.
No 4.
I get a lot of questions about YEAST quantity. I always use 80 g of fresh yeast. When I was writing this blog post I tried to convert it to Active Dry Yeast or Instant Yeast measures. For that purpose I consulted various online Yeast Converters, but each of them gave me different results, which was pretty frustrating.
That is why I bought all kinds of yeast that I could find on the market and made conversions myself.
I wrote down my results and made an Yeast Conversion Chart infographics out of them so that both you and me can refer to it any time we need it.
Also, I baked Crazy Dough using Active Dry Yeast and Instant Yeast, so now I know for sure that it works and that quantities are correct.
Yeast Conversion Chart
See how to make Crazy Dough for Everything (video shows just 1/4 batch):
Crazy Dough for Everything (aka Universal Dough) – make one miracle dough, keep it in the fridge and use it for anything you like: pizza, focaccia, dinner rolls, pretzels , crescent rolls etc
- 1 cup (220 ml 220 g) milk, lukewarm
- 2 tsp sugar
- 80 g fresh yeast or 4 tsp active dry yeast or 4 tsp instant yeast
- 6 2/3 cup all-purpose flour 1 kg
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 3 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cup (360 ml 360 g) plain yogurt
- 2 whole eggs
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In a small bowl, combine lukewarm milk with sugar and yeast. Let stand until yeast activates. It will become foamy and start expanding.
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Put the yeast mixture together with all other ingredients in a bowl of your mixer or food processor. Mix well. You should get soft dough, similar to pizza dough. If the dough is too dry, add a little bit of milk or water. If it is too soft, add just a little bit of flour.
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You can use miracle Crazy Dough immediately. Shape it into whatever shape you like, wait a little bit (15-20 minutes in the warm kitchen) until it starts expanding, then pop in hot oven.
Recipe Video
Put Crazy Dough in a plastic bag, squeeze the air out and close the bag. Just to be safe, you can put it all together in another bag because the dough will continue expanding and the first bag could burst.
Keep it in your fridge for up to 3 days. You can freeze it, too.
1/2 BATCH (for 2 lb / 900 g dough):
1/2 cup (110 ml, 110 g) milk
1 tsp sugar
40 g fresh yeast (or 2 tsp active dry yeast or 2 tsp instant yeast)
3 1/3 cup (500 g) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup (180 ml, 180 g) plain yogurt
1 whole egg
1/4 BATCH (for 1 lb / 450 g dough):
1/4 cup (55 ml, 55 g) milk
1/2 tsp sugar
20 g fresh yeast (or 1 tsp active dry yeast or 1 tsp instant yeast)
1 1/2 cup + 2 1/2 Tbsp (250 g) all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp (90 ml, 90 g) plain yogurt
1 whole egg
Recipes using Crazy Dough:
We’re just together, so 1,8 kg. Dough’s way to much for us! But i’ll cut the recipe in half as you suggested and i think it’ll be working fine for us! Thanks for sharing your lovely family recipe with us! Have a great summertime! 😉 <3. ;^)
Thank you, Marja! To save you the trouble, I’ve already cut the recipe in half. It goes like this:
Yield: about 2 lb (900 g) dough
1/2 cup (110 ml, 110 g) milk
1 tsp sugar
40 g fresh yeast (or 2 tsp active dry yeast or 2 tsp instant yeast)
3 1/3 cup (500 g) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup (180 ml, 180 g) plain yogurt
1 whole egg
Can i use this for an apple pie too? Just asking to be sure. Thanks in advance! Happy baking ‘n cooking to you! And thanks again for making the half recipe! It was so easy and tastes great!
I’m not sure that it would work for an apple pie because it is more like bread or pizza dough.
We made an apple crumble pizza with this dough, beautiful
Wow! Sounds great, Fiona!
Can it be made with white flour my husband Was told to stay away from wheat?
It can be made with white flour, but white flour is also made from wheat.
Thank you! Oh, thank you! I have needed an *everything* recipe for forever. This is sure to be it. I am excited just thinking of all the uses for this dough.
Thanks, Linda! I hope you like it as much as I do! 🙂
Hey, hi. Recipe looks great but I can t have dairy, can I change milk to almond milk and what can I use instead of plain yogurt?
You probably could use almond milk. Maybe soy yogurt could substitute plain yogurt?
I don’t know about the soy yogurt but the soy sour cream is better than real sour cream! I can’t wait to try this recipe. I love baking bread, pizzas and all sorts of bakery goods! Thanks for sharing KitchenNostalgia!
You’re welcome! 🙂
yes
Hi! I don’t even know where to start to thank you for sharing this recipe!
I’m italian and I have to tell you, this dough makes a base for pizza and focaccia that it’s on par with some of the best ones that I can find in Italy.
Plus, me and yeast never been best friends, always tried different recipes and always failed! But yours!! So easy and so me-proof 🙂 !! I did it yesterday and I couldn’t believe the result!
Forever grateful for saving me from a life without handmade focaccia dough 🙂 !
Awesome, Laura! I’m very happy it worked for you as well! Coming from an Italian, it means even more to me 🙂
Wow – the foccacia looks great. I have a goto recipe for pizza dough already but I’m going to have to try this!
Thanks Bill! Give it a shot, I really hope this recipe works for you.
Is there a substitute for the yogurt? We’ll be heading to the store within the next few days, but I wanted to try this asap! If there is a substitute (hopefully other than sour cream- that’s another thing we need to pick up at the store), then please let me know!
I’ve tried it only with yogurt, so I can’t say for sure, but I suppose buttermilk would also be good. Maybe you will need to add a little bit more flour if the dough turns out too soft.
I substituted sour cream for yogurt and it turned out great!
Thank you for the post saying you used sour cream, as this was what I wondered, since I usually have this on hand. Anxious to try Crazy Bread!
Used kefir and it was great.