Healthy Delicious Recipes

Easy Pizza Dough Recipe Made From Scratch

Who doesn’t love pizza?! Making homemade pizza dough in our house is a family favorite. The best part? It is not as hard to make as you might think, and it is free from preservatives.

Nothing really beats homemade pizza and once you make it, you are going to want to do it over and over again. The dough comes out soft on the inside and crispy on the outside and it even tastes good the next day. The toppings and sauce are also fun because the possibilities are abundant!

What Sauce Should I use with homemade pizza dough?

For the pizza sauce you can use traditional pizza sauce, barbecue sauce, or pesto sauce. In today’s recipe I used bbq sauce on one pizza, and good quality pesto sauce on the other. If you choose to purchase any type of pre-made sauce for you pizza, try to find one that does not use any inflammatory seed oils like canola or sunflower. The only oil that belongs in your pizza sauce is extra virgin olive oil. When I use traditional pizza sauce, I love purchasing pizza sauce that is either imported from Italy, and has easy to read ingredients.

This pizza dough recipe makes approximately two 12-14 inch round pizzas (medium sized rectangular pan also works). I bake it in stainless steel pans lined with parchment paper. Whenever possible, try to use unbleached parchment paper like this one.

Always check the temperature limit that your parchment paper can be used for and make sure not to exceed that temperature when baking. One time I had mistakenly thought wax paper and parchment paper were the same thing and caused smoke alarms to go off in my house!

Helpful Kitchen Tools

Whenever I am making pizza dough, I like to use a good dough mixer. When I was looking for a a dough mixer, I did weeks of research to find the perfect style to meet my needs. I ended up choosing this bosch mixer and I couldn’t be happier!! It is big, bold, and just beautiful! If you do not have a dough mixer and have no interest in purchasing one, you can knead the dough with your hands.

Topping Ideas for Pizza?

Other than that you can have fun with toppings of your choice, and if you have children, they can even help you with the toppings. Some additional topping options you can use are chopped garlic, artichokes, mushrooms, banana peppers, jalapenos, sausage, or pepperoni (be as imaginative as possible). I hope you have as much fun as I do when making this pizza dough!

 

Prep Time: 20 minutes	Bake Time: 18-20 minutes
Serves: 2 large pizzas	Total Time: 40 minutes + 1.5hrs of dough resting

 

Ingredients Pizza Dough 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast 4 cups organic bread flour 1 1/2 cup warm water (approximately 105-110F) 2 3/4 tsp salt 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil to coat the dough for resting To sprinkle on parchment paper 3 tbsp semolina flour (divided) For 1st Pizza Topping 3 tbsp bbq sauce 3/4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese 3 tbsp crumbled feta cheese 3 tbsp diced red onion 3 tbsp diced yellow pepper handful of black olives sliced in half pinch of salt and pepper For 2nd Pizza Topping 3/4 cup pesto sauce 3/4 cup shredded Mexican cheese 2 tbsp diced red onion 3 tbsp crumbled feta cheese pinch of salt and pepper

Instructions Dough 1. Warm up 1 1/2 cup of water to about 105F. (This is slightly warmer than room temperature. You can check temperature using a food thermometer like this one.) 2. Add active dry yeast to the water, stir and let it sit for about 10 minutes. (It should foam up a bit after 10 minutes) 3. Add flour, salt, and foamed up yeast wand water mixture to your dough mixer and gently stir with spatula until it is well combined. 4. Turn on bread mixer on medium speed and let it knead the dough for about 5 minutes or until the dough comes together without sticking to the bowl. 5. Add extra virgin olive oil to a large bowl, coat the dough with oil by dipping one side and then flipping it over (*see video), cover and let it rest in a warm draft free location for 1.5 hrs. (It should double in size) 6. Preheat oven to 450F Line 2 pizza pans with parchment paper and sprinkle 1 1/2 tbsp of semolina flour on each lined baking pan. 7. Cut the dough in half and form 2 tightly formed balls. Using your hand turn the dough in a circle by gently stretching and turning until it looks like your desired pizza dough thickness. I like the thickness to be about 3/4 inch. 8. Spread the sauce evenly all over the dough, add cheese, toppings and salt and pepper. 9. Repeat the same steps for 2nd pizza dough and bake them in the oven for 18-20 minutes or until the dough turns golden brown. *(I bake these together putting one pizza on the middle rack and one on the bottom. The middle rack pizza cooks a few minutes sooner so I take that one out first, then bring the bottom rack pizza up to the middle rack and let it bake for a couple more minutes. Keep a watchful eye on the pizza during this time.)

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Rips (@cookingwithrips)

 

Other Delicious Recipes

Broccoli Pizza

Puff Pastry with Cheese

Pesto Sauce with Shrimp and Rice

*Disclosure If you end up liking and purchasing any of the products through my links. I may receive some compensation at no cost to you.Sharing all of my favorites with you is a joy, and you would be helping me keep the site alive and going.