Pizza Dough
A quick and easy homemade pizza dough recipe is ideal for making hungry bellies happy! Pizza is a crowd favorite no matter the age group you’re serving. One question that I hear a lot is “Can you freeze homemade pizza dough?” With this recipe, you can!
Make it into personal sized pizzas for a fun pizza night. Or serve with rootbeer floats, a green salad, and garlic bread twists for a fun pizza night.
While there are a lot of gourmet pizza options out there, I love having just some standard pizzas made up and in the freezer, ready to be pulled out at a moment’s notice for pizza night. Don’t you?
If you answered “Yes” then this is the crust for you. It is so easy to make, and freezes really nicely. This is a very versatile, and works from frozen, which makes it our go-to crust for Friday night pizza night, because after a long week, I don’t want to worry about making pizza from scratch, and I don’t have to.
We love this dough because it is:
- Great chew.
- Easy to make.
- Make ahead.
- Versatile.
Pizza dough is so cheap and easy to make, and usually is made with ingredients you already have on hand, making this an economical and delicious dinner option.
Can You Freeze Homemade Pizza Dough?
Yes! I particularly love this dough because it can be frozen as a dough, and then you can let it thaw in the fridge before using. Or you can roll it out and par bake a pizza, top it with your favorite ingredients, and freeze it. Then when you are ready to eat it, just pop it in the oven like you would a frozen pizza you buy at the grocery store.
Tips On How To Make The Best Homemade Pizza Dough:
There are a couple tricks with this dough. If you want a great pizza to freeze, or a dough that works well from frozen, or just fresh, you are going to want to take the time to make it right:
- Don’t skip the sugar: I know sugar can be a hidden culprit, but it does serve a purpose here. It activates the yeast, and it makes the crust crispier, so don’t try to eliminate it.
- Let it knead: Kneading the dough is what makes the gluten activate, which is what gives you that nice chew. But do not over-knead of your might get tough pizza dough. The dough should start out sort of shaggy looking, so knead until it is cohesive and firm. I am not one for hand kneading, so I use a kneading hook on my kitchen aid mixer. But I keep a close eye.
- Roll it Thin: Roll it out nice and thin. It is going to puff up a bit while cooking, so unless you want to be eating a breadstick consistency, thin is good. If you are good at it, hand toss instead of roll it out, this will help. I stick at it though.
- Preheat your Pizza Stone: Preheating your stone in a 500 degree oven will mean you get a crisp bottom. This is really key to good pizza. So do not neglect this step.
When it comes to toppings, the sky is the limit, meaning put whatever you want on it. Just remember if you do not want a sloppy, messy pizza, do not over dress it. A few quality toppings can go a long way. When we were in Italy, we took a pizza making class, and the chef told us the Italians never put more than two or three toppings on. And then some fresh herbs to finish it off.
Fresh herbs like a nice torn basil is always a good idea.
There are tons of fun ways to top this dough, so if freezing it, I suggest making a double batch, and then make 4 pizzas with whatever toppings you love. Whether you are going with a traditional Hawaiian or Pepperoni pizza, or getting more creative with a BBQ chicken, or Cowboy Pizza, enjoy!
More great pizza recipes:
- Portobello Mushrooms Pizza
- BBQ Chicken Pizza
- Tandoori Chicken Pizza
- Grilled Pizza
- Keto Pizza
- No Yeast Pizza Dough
- Calzones
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 21/4 tsp. instant yeast
- 4 cups bread flour 22 oz. plus more for dusting
- 11/2 tsp. salt
- 11/4 cup water at room temperature
- 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
- Optional: Add extra zing into your pizza dough with rosemary thyme, or other seasonings and spices.
Instructions
- Measure 1/2 cup warm water into 2 cup liquid measure and sprinkle yeast on top
- In separate mixing bowl, combine flour and salt.
- Add room temperature water to yeast water, stir it around.
- Add water to flour mixture, while mixing with a paddle attachment.
- Mix until a cohesive ball of dough has formed. Then replace paddle attachment with dough hook.
- Knead on low speed for 5 mins, dough should be smooth and elastic, and come away from the side.
- Oil a bowl
- Put dough in bowl, and turn over once to coat.
- Cover with plastic wrap
- Let rise 1.5-2 hours til double in size
- Punch down dough
- Transfer to floured work surface, and make into two balls.
- If freezing dough alone, freeze at this point.
- Otherwise, pre-heat oven to 500, and put pizza baking stone in oven (for about 20 minutes)
- Let dough relax five minutes
- Sprinkle work surface with some cornmeal, then roll out to form crust (about 18 inches in diameter)
- Place on hot stone, bake 3-5 mins
- Remove dough and top with your favorite toppings
- Freeze pizza as a whole, or Bake at 425 for 10-15 mins, until crust is lightly browned and cheese is melted.
- If cooking from frozen, turn down to 400 and bake 17-19 mins
Notes
Nutrition
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
Want to use this recipe in a meal plan?Try PrePear, my FREE Meal Planning App that allows you to save your recipes, plan meals, shop for groceries, and cook simply in one place. Join Here!Pin to your Pizza board on Pinterest
Leave a Reply