If there’s one meal that pleases everyone in our family, it’s homemade pizza. For a mom who is used to hearing the complaints of one picky eater or another, it’s glorious. When I announce that we’re making pizza, everyone cheers and hugs me! That is not an exaggeration.
On the rare occasion that we purchase pizza, I am always flattered when the kids say, “This is okay, but our homemade pizza is so much better!” I couldn’t agree more! I love that the crust is thick and fluffy and not the least bit greasy. And the homemade sauce? Oh yum!
Besides eating homemade pizza, the kids love to help make the pizza from scratch. When the kids are helping, I divide the dough up so that the kids can make their own pizzas in the whatever shape they want with whatever toppings they want. They love being independent and creative.
Homemade Pizza Dough
We’ve used a lot of pizza dough recipes. This is the winner, by far. It’s easy to make, easy to work with, and best of all, turns out great every time, even when the kids are making the pizzas themselves. To save you the trouble of spending years finding the right recipe, I’ll just proclaim this one the best.
I’ll start with a step-by-step photo tutorial. For printable instructions, scroll to the bottom.
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon yeast
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 2 1/2 cups warm water (105-110 degrees Fahrenheit)
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil (canola or vegetable oil works too)
- 1 Tablespoon salt
- 6 cups flour
Instructions
In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar into the warm water. Wait for ten minutes for the yeast to get bubbly and creamy.
Add olive oil, salt and 4 cups of flour. Mix. Gradually add in the remaining 2 cups of flour. Dough will pull away from the sides of the bowl. Knead on a floured surface. Dough should be smooth and elastic.
Note on flour: I often use a mixture of white and freshly ground whole wheat flour. Other times I use all white or all wheat. This forgiving recipe turns out delicious pizza dough every time.
Cover your bowl with a damp cloth and leave it in a warm place to rise. After an hour, the dough should have doubled in size.
Punch dough down and knead on a floured surface. Divide the dough into two balls. Cover and let the balls rest for ten minutes.
Coat pan with cooking spray and roll dough out. We usually use a large jelly roll pan for each pizza and the dough still cooks up thick and fluffy. Alternatively you could use three small round pans.
Spread your favorite pizza sauce on top of the dough. We use homemade tomato sauce made from tomato puree that I bottle each year. It’s simple and delicious. You might want to eat it with a spoon.
Sprinkle cheese over the sauce.
Add your favorite pizza toppings. Our go-to toppings are ham and pineapple. I usually buy pineapple in #10 cans at Sam’s Club and freeze it in smaller portions. I either use pineapple tidbits or I cut pineapple chunks in half. I freeze cubed, cooked ham in portions that are just the right size for a family pizza night. If I don’t remember to take the pineapple and ham out of the freezer, they defrost nicely in the microwave.
Bake at 425 degrees for around 18-24 minutes. The cheese should be melted. You can also peek at the underside of the crust to be sure it’s golden. The center of the pizza is the last part to cook, so be sure to check the center to tell if the pizza is done.
Allow pizza to cool slightly before attempting to cut and serve.
Any leftovers can be stored in the fridge and eaten cold or warmed up later. The leftovers are wonderful!
I often double this recipe to make 4 large crusts so that we will have plenty of leftover pizza. It’s seriously the easiest thing to pack in lunches. I just wrap to slices (face-to-face) in plastic wrap.
- 1 Tablespoon yeast
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 2½ cups warm water (105-110 degrees Fahrenheit)
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil (canola or vegetable oil works too)
- 1 Tablespoon salt
- 6 cups flour
- In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar into the warm water. Wait for ten minutes for the yeast to get bubbly and creamy.
- Add olive oil, salt and 4 cups of flour. Mix. Gradually add in the remaining 2 cups of flour. Dough will pull away from the sides of the bowl. Knead on a floured surface. Dough should be smooth and elastic.
- Cover bowl with a damp cloth and leave it in a warm place to rise. After an hour, the dough should have doubled in size.
- Punch dough down and knead on a floured surface. Divide the dough into two balls. Cover and let the balls rest for ten minutes.
- Coat pan with cooking spray and roll dough out. We usually use a large jelly roll pan for each pizza and the dough still cooks up thick and fluffy. Alternatively you could use three small round pans.
- Spread your favorite pizza sauce on top of the dough. We use homemade tomato sauce made from tomato puree that I bottle each year (recipe at https://www.sixfiguresunder.com/homemade-tomato-sauce).
- Sprinkle cheese over the sauce.
- Add your favorite pizza toppings.
- Bake at 425 degrees for 18-24 minutes. The cheese should be melted. You can also peek at the underside of the crust to be sure it's golden. The center of the pizza is the last part to cook, so be sure to check the center to tell if the pizza is done.
- Allow pizza to cool slightly before attempting to cut and serve.
How about you?
- What are your favorite toppings for homemade pizza?
- What meal does everyone in your family love?
You’ll Also Enjoy:
By the way- I roasted my squash and a giant sweet potato using your method
Hello,
I’ve just come across your web site . Looking for French bread-followed your recipe and texture was wonderful-thought I would try on my bread recipe (your method of times you punch down bread dough)
the texture best I’ve ever had on it.
Question-puzzled as to what would make texture so wonderful and you didn’t punch dough many times with pizza dough. Wondering what you would suggest using this method on want to improve my baking )
Also does bread dry out faster with this method and last who gave you this idea.
thank you for answers
Karen Quigley
I made your dough a couple weeks ago and it is so much better than the quick dough I usually make! And it really isn’t harder, just with the rising time I needed to plan ahead a little more, but so worth it! Delicious thick dough, not rubbery or chewy. I made a couple personal sized ones that were thin crust style and they were perfectly crispy. I’ll be making it more often!
Hi Stephanie,
I just stumbled on your blog via pintrest and your pizza recipe caught my eye, I was just wondering if you’ve ever frozen the pizza bases? It’s just myself and my partner at home, I’ve been on the hunt for a homemade pizza that’s tasty and easy but being only two of us we really need something freezable so we don’t end up eating pizza all week lol
Yum! Here’s a link to another pizza approach. It is delicious and easy. And it provides a great opportunity to talk about food chemistryif you have your kids take care of crust measurements.
Another thing – this is even better the next day. If you like cold pizza, this one tastes great.
http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2013/01/the-pizza-lab-the-worlds-easiest-pizza-no-knead-no-stretch-pan-pizza.html
I love leftover pizza too! 🙂
For those on the fence about this pizza dough recipe, I made it last night and it was a hit! I usually don’t cook too many things that involve yeast because I don’t have the patience but this wasn’t bad at all. I mixed it all together then helped kids with homework and prepared the toppings( Cooked turkey bacon, chopped onions, etc) while the dough was rising. I even forgot to knead the dough after getting it all mixed together and it still turned out great! I made a huge round pizza and let the kids make 3 mini pizzas. This is quite alot of dough, FYI, but after putting in this much effort I definately wanted leftovers. Turned out perfectly, definately a keeper. Thanks Stephanie!
I’m glad your pizza turned out great Jennifer! I bet the kids had fun making the mini pizzas too. Mine always to!
I use a very similar pizza dough recipe, except I use honey instead of sugar. We also have an herb garden, so I routinely add fresh basil or oregano to the sauce. And, I always use spaghetti sauce instead of pizza sauce. It tastes the seem, and I seem to typically have a little left over in the jar most weeks. Hmmm….I may have to make pizza tonight.
Fresh basil and oregano adds a nice touch! 🙂
What’s the difference between jarred pizza sauce and spaghetti sauce? Your pizza looks so delicious. Can’t wait to try !
So for the slow reply Jennifer. I think pizza sauce is a little thicker? Honestly, I think it just comes down to marketing. Back when I bought sauce (instead of making it) I always just bought spaghetti sauce and used it on pasta and pizza!
We are very spoiled and have a very good little pizza place just 2 miles down the road that we buy from almost every Friday night (I work full time, commute an hour each way, I refuse to cook on Friday night and this is one of our budgeted luxury items). However, I have a really good pizza dough recipe that I found in my breadmaker recipe book. We have been making more and more home made pizzas because they are just that good. While we really enjoy our local pizza, we really love our homemade pizza. I have found that Mid’s pizza sauce (I find it at Kroger) is our favorite sauce.
Our go to luxury pizza when we are feeling the need to be healthier is pesto pizza. I just spread homemade pesto that I freeze from our garden (we are very upset that the weeds took over and we didn’t get any basil this year) and then top it with fresh mozzarella. I have also been known to add caramelized onions and chicken, but I am usually too lazy for that extra work. Very fast and simple, but the flavor can’t be beat.
Ooo luxury pizza! Homemade pesto sauce is one thing I’ve never made!