The Best Place To Buy Pre-Made Pizza Dough Isn't Your Grocery Store

Pizza is a meal that screams easy satisfaction, and making it at home can be a breeze when you use pre-made pizza dough. There's no mixing or kneading — all the hard work has been done. But if you are buying your dough at the grocery store, you're missing out. The best place to buy raw pizza dough is at your favorite pizza joint — especially if it makes one of the 101 best pizzas in America. Many local pizzerias will sell you dough you can take home, roll out, and bake. You just have to ask.

Professional pizza cooks are experts at crafting pizza dough that, when baked, renders a chewy, crispy, soft bite. They typically use high-quality ingredients and have been perfecting their techniques for a long time. It's part of why restaurant pizza tastes better than homemade. The beauty of this hack is that you get to customize your pizza with sauces, cheeses, and toppings of your choosing that the pizza shop may not offer. You also get to bake it in your oven and take all the credit. 

Where to buy and how to store

Which pizza joints will sell you raw dough? You'll want to make a few phone calls to some of your favorite mom-and-pop pizza shops, or check a few local pizza forums to scope out your options.

When you are buying pizza dough from a pizzeria, you should ask about when it was made. This will help you determine if you need to use it immediately or if it can set in the fridge for a couple of days. Air and moisture are its enemies, so you should store it in an airtight container if you are not planning to use it the day you purchased it. The shelf life is between three and five days. Just remember, you will still need to let it rest at room temperature for a short time so it will be easy to stretch when forming your pizza into a pie or rectangular shape. If you need inspiration for toppings, check out our ultimate guide to pizza toppings.