Learning to make delicious pizza at home has not only been easy on my wallet but it’s saved me from eating frozen grocery store pizza all the time. At first, I was put off by the idea of making the dough from scratch, but once we had perfected our recipe there was no turning back. Usually we will make a large batch and freeze one or two pizzas worth so that there is always dough ready. And as long as you have cheese in the fridge, you can top it with almost anything you’ve got around! Our combinations always vary depending on what we’ve got on hand, but they almost always include tomato and basil at the very least. We’ve also added things like sausage, leftover chicken, sun-dried tomatoes and even avocado and egg (just crack it in the middle of the pizza when there's about 5 minutes cooking time left)! Here’s our recipe for the dough and a few of the pizzas we’ve made lately:
Ingredients:
3 cups flour + additional for rolling out the dough
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 package rapid rise yeast
1 1/4 cups warm water
1 tablespoon olive oil
Herbs to taste
Directions:
Mix 3 cups flour with salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl and set aside. In another bowl, stir one packet of rapid rise yeast into warm water. Set aside for 5 minutes until bubbly. Pour the yeast water into the flour bowl and stir in olive oil. Mix well and then knead for about a minute. If the dough feels too sticky, add more flour while continuing to knead. At this point, feel free to add in any fresh or dried herbs that you like to give your dough more flavor. I often add in rosemary or a few sprinkles of dried herb foccacia mix. Next, coat the inside of a bowl with a splash of olive oil, and place the ball of dough in bowl, coating the dough with the oil. Cover with a towel and let rise for 1 to 2 hours. This will make two 14-inch thin crusts and can be frozen for later use. Now, the toppings are up to you!
Maria says
These look delicious!