Pizza Dough

Don't get me wrong, I am all about a quick stop at Pizza Hut or other pizza joint (especially with this crazy $10 pizza sales at various places). But sometimes we just want homemade pizza. In fact, my kids love homemade pizza! I make the crusts ahead of time, freeze the dough balls and an afternoon on the counter, a quick roll out, top with our favorite toppings (or a fridge clean out) and viola...homemade pizza!

I have included our favorite pizza crust recipe, with my own take on it. I figure when I make this, and am making the "flour mess" (as I call it), I might as well make a few dough balls, freezing the extras. I am sure if one is skilled in math, tripling the recipe would be easy. I actually opt to make the recipe three times, make it once, finish the dough ball, start over and make the second dough ball, as opposed to tripling the ingredients in one batch.

My assembly line looks a little something like this.


Pizza Crust:
1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F.)
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups flour (I actually use 1. whole wheat flour, 1 1/2c. white flour to make it a little healthy)

Dissolve the yeast in the water.


Add the rest of the ingredients in and mix. Dump onto a floured surface.


Knead into a smooth dough (about five minutes).


Roll out and press down onto a greased pizza pan. Add toppings. We typically add pizza sauce, black olives, cooked ground beef and anything else in the fridge that looks appealing for a pizza. Be creative!

Bake at 450 degrees F. for around 12-15 minutes until the crust looks crispy and lightly browned.

FREEZER METHOD:
Once the dough is kneaded to a smooth ball, spray a piece of saran wrap with cooking spray (to avoid dough sticking to wrap), place dough ball on top and allow to rest while you make the rest of the dough balls.

Once you have completed making all the dough balls you like, wrap each of the dough balls tightly in their own piece of saran wrap.


Once I am through, I can fit 3 dough balls in one gallon freezer bag (as shown below).


On cooking night, remove the amount of dough balls needed for your family (one thawed dough ball will make a thin crust pizza the size of a jelly roll pan). The balls take about 3-5 hours to thaw completely on the counter.

Once thawed, roll the ball out on a greased cookie sheet to desired thickness (or thin). I actually will bake my crust without toppings for about 8 minutes at 425 degrees to "crisp" the crust a bit. I remove from oven, top with desired toppings and return to 425 degree oven for an addition 10-12 minutes (until cheese is melted and just beginning to brown).

ENJOY!