Homemade Pizza

Homemade Pizza on cooling rack I remember watching my mother make pizza from scratch as a little girl. Rarely could we afford delivery or even a good freezer pizza, to be honest. But I couldn't care less, because pizza day was a day I could play with my mom in the kitchen. She liked to bake it in cookie sheets for the convenience, so we always had messy rectangles, haha! This year, the memories came back as I yearned to find a good recipe for pizza that could be frozen; something cheaper and healthier than cardboard pizzas in the freezer section.

These days, a quick online search is all you need. Turns out, you can freeze a homemade pizza after you par-bake the crust and add your toppings. I adapted this crust from Bobby Flay's recipe on foodnetwork.com

Total Time: 2 hours

Yield: 3-4 small pizzas

Source: Food Network

Link: Pizza Dough Recipe

Ingredients:

3 1/2 - 4 cup flour (I used a mixture of 3 cups all-purpose and ½ cup whole wheat flours.)
1 tsp sugar or honey
2 tsp yeast
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp olive oil, plus 2 teaspoons
2 cups grated cheese
seasoned tomato sauce
your choice of toppings

Steps:

Sprinkle yeast over ½ cup warm water and let sit 5 minutes to soften.

Add the sugar, salt, 2 tbsp. oil, and remaining cup of warm water. Next, whisk in ½ cup whole wheat flour and let rest 5-10 minutes.

You should notice the mixture has become softer, slightly puffier looking. At this stage, mix in 2 ½ cups white flour, stirring thoroughly after each cup.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead in the remaining cup of white flour, adding it gradually to prevent sticking. Knead about 10 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic.
Place dough into a large bowl coated with the last 2 tsp oil. Let rise in a warm, draft-free place for about 1 hour, until doubled in size.

plastic covered dough resting to double in bulk

Once risen, punch the dough down and reshape into a ball. Place on a lightly floured counter-top and let rest 10 minutes. Cut the ball into 3-4 equal pieces.
Flatten each piece with the palm of your hand and stretch into ½ inch thick rounds. Let rest a few minutes while you prepare your pizza stone and preheat the oven to 425 F (for smaller pizzas with thick crusts, lightly grease and flour 9 inch cake pans).

Stretch the dough to fit the shape of your pans. You can use a rolling pin or simply rotate the round as you gently pull the edges. Place in pan and shape the crust using your fingertips.

Prick the dough evenly, using the tines of a fork, to keep it from ballooning up in the oven. Par-bake the pizza shells for 8-10 minutes. When using cake pans, remove the shell from the pan after 8 minutes of baking and bake directly on the rack another 2-3 minutes. This ensures the bottom of each shell will be firm enough to hold the sauce and toppings.

Let cool completely before adding the toppings. Use your favorite pasta sauce and add in a pinch of chili powder for warmth. For the cheese, I prefer grating my own reduced-fat mozzarella from the block, but use whatever sounds best to you! (One thing, though, is if you want to use cheddar cheese, cut it with something else. Otherwise, it will crisp up to fast or burn at the high oven temperature.) Oh, and if you use mushrooms and bell peppers, make sure to sauté them first so they don't make the pizza soggy.

At this stage, you can either freeze your pizzas or finish cooking them. To cook, bake them at 425 F for another 8-10 minutes, or until the crust looks golden.
To freeze the pizzas, lay them flat on wax paper and freeze overnight (you will need to clear a good amount of freezer space). Once they are solid, you can wrap and stack them for long-term storage. When you are ready to cook the pizza, just cook it straight from the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes in a 425 degree F oven.

Add your voice! Click below to comment. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!

likekinds
Gold Post Medal for All Time! 523 Posts

November 25, 20170 found this helpful

Well, Holly,

You wouldn't need to serve appetizers before serving this pizza. The scent of fresh yeast risen crusts baking in the oven is all it would take, and that's something you wont find in the grocery freezer.

A lot of work, but your family must be so very appreciative.

Thanks

Doug

Add your voice! Click below to comment. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!