Homemade Pizza

Mmmm, homemade pizza. It's so delicious, easy to make, and I always have the items on hand to whip up something yummy. The best dough to use is my Best Ever Bread Dough. Stick with me while I share some tips on making the best pizzas and freezing the dough.

If you have a baking stone from pampered chef it really makes the bottom come out perfect. A large cookie sheet works great too, it just doesn't get as crispy. When you're making homemade pizza with my dough, always cook the dough partially first, then add your toppings and finish baking. This ensures your dough is cooked through and keeps your toppings (like chicken) from drying out.

Preheat your oven to 400*. Roll out the dough on your pan. Take a fork and poke several holes across the crust. Can you see the pokes in my picture? Bake for 10 minutes. While it's cooking, time to start chopping your toppings! Assemble your pizza and bake for 5-7 minutes more until the cheese is melted and the crust is crispy.


I love a classic pizza with tomato sauce, cheese, pepperoni, olives and green pepper. Here are some of our favorite varieties:

BBQ Chicken Pizza: BBQ sauce spread over the crust, cheddar cheese, chicken and red onion.

Garlic Chicken Pizza: Ranch spread over the dough, cheese, spinach, tomatoes, chicken, red onion and minced garlic.

Bacon is always good, you can't go wrong with mushrooms and sausage. I've even done ground beef with yellow onion and tomato. Don't forget the ham and pineapple! You could do all veggies, meat lovers or go crazy and add some spam. I love to use up leftover veggies on pizza, zucchini included. What are your favorite toppings?

Want to have pizza crusts in your freezer for a fast meal? If you roll out your dough and cook the crust for 10 minutes like I described above you can freeze it. Simply let it cool, wrap it securely in plastic or foil and freeze. To cook, I preheat my oven to 400*, layer the toppings right on the frozen crust and cook for 8-10 minutes. Since the dough is halfway cooked, it thaws and gets crispy right in the oven. I like to make half-size crusts and freeze them in bags for quick lunches. Yummier, healthier and cheaper than those crusts in a can huh?

My Best Ever Bread Dough recipe makes 2 large cookie sheet pizzas or 4 thin crust pizzas. I usually half the recipe for our pizza dinner. You could always make the whole thing and make breadsticks for the side, or double and put several crusts in the freezer. Easy!

Also, the picture at the very top I used whole wheat flour. I used 1 cup white flour and 3 cups whole wheat. It turned out great!

Any pizza or dough questions please ask. I made this 4 times last month for dinner, with the variety of pizza nobody cared:)

Want to mix it up a little? Use the same dough and make calzones, check out my photo tutorial here.

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