{31 Days} Cooking from Scratch: Homemade Pizza

Pizza – from scratch is the best.thing.ever. 

Even if you’ve used a store-bought crust & done your own topping thing, you’re still missing out.  Try your hand at a homemade crust & you’ll be wondering why they still sell frozen pizzas. 

Pizza Crust

Pizza crusts come in all shapes & sizes.  Our favorite go-to crust is a no-rise recipe; ready to go in 40-minutes.  Other crust recipes we enjoy include:

Whole Wheat Deep Dish Crust
French Bread Pizza
Thin, but chewy pizza crust {we love this one}
Bread Machine Dough

Most of these recipes make two pizza crusts – if your family doesn’t need to pizzas, save the other crust for later.

 

Freezing Pizza Crust

Super easy to do.  Prepare the crust as directed, then wrap the dough up in plastic wrap and freeze.  The day you’re planning to make pizza, take the dough out of the freezer and place the dough in a lightly greased bowl.  If you will be gone all day, leave the dough, covered, in your refrigerator.  If you take the dough out about 4 hours before dinner, leave it on the counter to thaw. 

At dinnertime, prepare the crust as directed in the recipe. 

Topping Ideas

Just by switching up the toppings, you have an entirely new pizza, even if you have it on your menu once a week!  Better yet – try a breakfast pizza for dinner.  Yum!

Sauces	Proteins & Cheeses	Veggies
Tomato paste with Italian seasoning Tomato sauce, garlic and herbs Freezer-Friendly pizza sauce Pureed white beans with garlic Ricotta cheese with garlic Pesto BBQ sauce Alfredo sauce Salsa (or taco seasoning) No sauce	Chicken Chicken sausage Ground beef Pepperoni Italian sausage Eggs Bacon Beans   Mozzarella Cheddar Monterrey Jack Feta Cheese Parmesan	Peppers Spinach Mushrooms Olives Zucchini Tomatoes Broccoli Asparagus Lettuce Pickles Green Onions

 

Calzones & Stromboli

For a change up, try a pizza pocket, calzone or stromboli!  The dough is the same – it’s just how you prepare and package the goods. 

Baking Tips 

• Bake the pizza in a pre-heated oven.
• Bake the pizza at around 400 – 500 degrees F for 15ish minutes.  Baking at a higher temperature helps form that bubbly cheese we all love.
• Try grilling pizza in the summer – it’s the best. 

Give it a try – maybe even for Halloween?  A quick, fast & festive dinner before trick-o-treating. 

{Shape the pizza crust as a pumpkin; use spinach leaves for the top of the pumpkin and pepperoni for the face; if desired, mix in pumpkin puree with the pizza sauce}

What’s your favorite pizza topping combo?  I’m always looking for new ideas. 

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