Everybody loves homemade pizza and making your own is a lot easier than you think! If you’re not up to making your own dough, most supermarkets carry pizza dough so you can still have the fun of making your own pizza without most of the work.
Once you’ve gone through the process of making your dough (or buying your dough) give your dough one last rise and you can start shaping your dough.
Forming your crust and shaping your pizza is the next step. If you don’t get it perfectly round, don’t worry. Just tell everyone your it’s rustic!
Use your favorite pizza sauce, using a ladle or spoon to spread the sauce. The biggest mistake most people make is putting too much sauce on their dough.
Then add a nice layer of shredded mozzarella to your pizza.
If you’re using topping you can place them on the pizza now. *Chef’s Tip: If you use a lot of toppings only place a few on initially, then after the pizza has baked for 4-5 minutes remove it from the oven and place your additional toppings on with a sprinkle of mozzarella to top it all off. If you start off with all of the toppings your crust might get soggy, or it will be harder to get it off the pizza peel onto your baking surface.
*Chef’s Tip: making your pizza on parchment paper will make it much easier to slide it in the oven. Don’t worry about the parchment paper, it will only turn brown.
Remove your homemade pizza from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes.
Slice your pizza using a pizza cutter or chef’s knife and serve up some deliciousness!
I added a little bleu cheese before cooking, making my pizza extra flavorful!
Before placing my pizza into the oven I brush the exposed crust with olive oil and sprinkle a seasoning mixture of garlic, salt, black pepper and oregano to give the crust extra flavor. I had extra dough from my batch so I shaped it and baked it, seasoning the entire crust before baking. I then froze my parbaked crust in an extra large ziplock bag saving it for another time.
*Chef’s Tip: double your dough recipe and make up extra pizza shells to use when you don’t have time to make the fresh dough.
If you love homemade pizza you might want to try these recipes:
- Southern Style Pizza
- Chicken Parm Pizza
- Italian Hoagie Pizza
- Apple Butter Pizza
- Pepperoni Pizza Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Homemade Pizza
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 ⅓ cups warm water 320ml, 105-115F degrees
- 3 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus more as needed, 440g
- 2 ¼ teaspoons dry yeast 1 normal sized packet active dry yeast
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil 30ml
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar 13g
- cornmeal for dusting pan
- Your favorite pizza sauce as needed
- shredded mozzarella cheese as needed
- your favorite toppings
Crust Seasoning
- olive oil to brush edges
- sea salt
- black pepper
- granulated garlic
- oregano
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a hook attachment, combine the yeast and warm water. Stir it around and let sit for 5 minutes of until the yeast is foamy and dissolved. This is called "proofing" the yeast. If the yeast doesn't dissolve, your yeast is dead. Start again with active yeast. Add flour, olive oil, salt, and sugar. Mix by hand or with the dough hook on low speed for 1 minute.
- Once all of the ingredients are mixed, knead for 5 minutes by hand or with your dough hook on low-medium speed. You can add up to ¼ cup more flour, if your dough appears to be too wet
- The dough should be smooth and elastic when finished kneading. Poke the dough with your finger - if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading.
- Shape the dough into a ball and place in a large mixing bowl that has been coated lightly with olive oil. Turn it over to coat all sides. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm environment (about 75F-80F)
- The dough will have doubled in size in about 1 - 2 hours.
- Punch the dough down to release the air.
- Divide the dough into three. Roll each piece into a ball and let rest in separate bowls lightly covered for 15 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 475F degrees. preheat for 30 minutes
- Prepare your favorite toppings.
- After 15 minutes, flatten each ball of dough 1 at a time on a lightly floured surface or on parchment paper.
- Work the dough into a circle and create the rim of the crust.
- Work the dough into a larger circle getting the crust as thin as possible without tearing
- Add your favorite sauce using a spoon or ladle to spread it thinly on the crust
- Top with a good amount of shredded mozzarella. (if you like extra cheese, let it cook for a bit then add more)
- Brush the edges of the dough with olive oil and sprinkle with the spice mix of sea salt, black pepper, garlic and oregano
- Top with your favorite toppings and slide the dough into your oven still on the parchment paper
- Bake for 10-12 minutes.
- Slice while hot and serve immediately.
Janet
Hi Chef: I don’t see yeast in the ingredients. Maybe it is there andI am not seeing it? How much yeas?
Chef Dennis Littley
Thanks so much for seeing that Janet, I used one regular packet 2 1/4 ounces of dry yeast.
Mary Frances
Wow! Didn’t think it would be this easy to make pizza at home. Thanks Chef Dennis!
Jeremy White
I ve already tried some home made pizzas. But this was the best. Thank you!
Chef Dennis Littley
Thanks for the feedback Jeremy! Happy to hear you enjoyed using my recipe!
Chef Dennis Littley
you’re welcome Mary Frances, I hope you get a chance to try the recipe!
Kristi Rimkus
I’m a pizza fanatic and learned a long time ago that pizza can be a healthy choice too if I make it home. Thanks for the freezing tip. I can’t wait to give it a try!
Chef Dennis Littley
Thanks for stopping by Kristi, and freezing makes homemade pizza even easier!
Annamaria @ Bakewell Junction
Chef Dennis,
Homemade pizza is so much better than store bought! Great looking pizza.
Annamaria
Chef Dennis Littley
yes it is Annamaria and a whole lot cheaper!
Kath
That’s a great-looking pizza, Dennis! I love the way you seasoned the crust.
Chef Dennis Littley
Thanks Kath, that made it very hard not to eat the crust!