Homemade Pizza Recipe

I love homemade pizza! We try to have it every other week for dinner at our house.  It’s pretty easy to make, it tastes so much better and is cheaper to make than any delivery or frozen pizza, and best of all, you are in charge of the ingredients and can make whatever kind of pizza your heart desires!

I will admit that I haven’t always sang the praises of homemade pizza.  My mom used to always make pizza for us when I was growing up, and I used to complain and tell her that I would rather have Domino’s than her pizza.  Seriously! Domino’s – what was I thinking?!

It was only about a year or so ago that I remembered how much I really did enjoy her homemade pizza, and decided that I wanted to start making it for my own family.  I asked my mom for her recipe, and also apologized for ever telling her that I liked Domino’s better than hers! Sorry mom! 🙂

So, since I often have homemade pizza on my meal plans, I just wanted to share with you the recipes I use to make the pizza.  It’s really not complicated.  It’s super easy to keep stuff on hand in the pantry and freezer and then throw together the pizza for dinner.

Homemade Pizza Dough

• 2 1/4 tsp yeast (or 1 pkg., but I buy yeast in bulk)
• 1 Cup warm water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp oil (I use EVOO)
• 2 Cups Flour (I usually use white whole wheat)
• 1 1/2 Cups of more Flour (more or less depending on consistency of dough)

Mix the yeast, water, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl.  Stir in the oil, and then stir in 2 cups of flour as best as you can.  Knead in the remaining 1 1/2 cups of flour a little at a time, to get a nice smooth consistency that’s not too sticky, but not too dry either.

Place bowl in a warm place and let raise for about an hour (or less, depending on how much time you have, it still comes out good).  Roll out onto pans, and let raise again for a thicker crust.

At this point you can spread on the toppings and cook the pizza, or you can pre-bake the crust if you like a crunchier crust.  We usually just cook the pizza right away because I’m usually running late and don’t have time to pre-bake the crust. 🙂 Pre-bake in a preheated oven at 475* for 7 minutes.

Homemade Pizza Sauce

• 2 Cups V-8 Juice or 1 large can tomato sauce
• 1 sm can tomato paste

Mix together in a saucepan over medium-low heat and season with:

• 1 tsp Basil
• 1 tsp Oregano
• 1/4 tsp Pepper
• 1/4 – 1/2 tsp Onion Salt

Making Homemade Pizza

This is my favorite part about homemade pizza, because you can make your pizza exactly how you like it – more or less sauce, the toppings of your choice, more or less cheese, etc.

Spread the sauce out on the rolled out dough, cover with toppings of choice, and top with grated mozzerella cheese, and maybe a little sprinkle of Parmesan.

Bake pizzas at 450* for 10-15 minutes.

Around here, we like lots of sauce, ham and pineapple on half (for me!) and ham and sausage on the other half (for Jer and the kids), and lots and lots of cheese!

Homemade BBQ Chicken Pizza

This is one of our favorite variations of homemade pizza.

I use the same homemade dough, and spread with BBQ sauce (Trader Joe’s Kansas City BBQ is the best!) instead of regular pizza sauce, cover with cooked shredded chicken and chopped cilantro (and some red onion if you like that, but we don’t), and top with grated mozzerella cheese.

Bake at 450* for 10-15 minutes just like regular pizza.  Yum!

I know everyone has their own variations of homemade pizza that they enjoy, but this is what we like best around here!

What’s your favorite kind of homemade pizza?  I’m always looking for inspiration!

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