Easy Homemade Pizza Dough

I think it's safe to say I've come a LONG way since I was first married. I don't think I tried baking with yeast until a few years ago, and I've been married over 11 years! Now I think I'd try almost anything that required the use of yeast...bring it on!

One of my most favorite traditions we have in my cute little family is Friday Night Pizza Night. We are all home together, we plan our favorite pizza recipe, and we rent a Redbox or buy the newest family flick that is out. We snuggle together, eat our pizza, and enjoy each other's company. My kids look forward to Friday night every week!

I want to share my dough recipe with you. I've tried a LOT of recipes, and this one has been tweaked to what our family likes best. Of course, everyone likes different styles - deep dish, crunchy, thick, whatever. I like a doughy crust with thick, chewy bread and garlic. And the best part is that this recipe is so easy. I've never failed at an attempt to make pizza dough with it!!

Keep up with Girls in Aprons as we share our favorite pizza recipes with you in the following months!

Easy Homemade Pizza Dough
Girls in Aprons

2 T active dry yeast (or 2 packets, I just buy mine in bulk at Costco)
2 T sugar
1/4 cup oil (olive oil is preferred, but you can use vegetable oil in a pinch)
2-3 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder (you can adjust this to your liking, or omit it)
4 cups flour 

In a mixing bowl, pour 1 1/2 cups warm water and sprinkle yeast on top. Let it stand until foamy (about 4-5 minutes).

With dough hook attachment, stir together the sugar, oil, salt, and garlic powder into the yeast mixture. Add flour and stir until mixed in completely. Dough will be sticky. Don't add more flour!! You will add a bit more as you roll it out later. Remove dough hook and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Set aside until doubled in size (about 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the temperature of your kitchen). Lightly flour your work surface. Place dough on work surface and roll out into the shape desired. I use a 12 inch pizza stone, and can get two pizzas from this recipe.

Preheat your oven to 475 degrees. (If using a pizza stone, place in oven before preheating, then remove carefully and place dough on hot stone). Put dough on pan or stone. Add sauce and topping and bake for 8-10 minutes.

* You can make this dough ahead of time. Just place in fridge and cover. Remove and let come to room temperature and rise before using. I would use it the same day you make it.
* To freeze, place dough in a freezer safe plastic bag for up to 3 months. 

Veggie Pizza

With the Superbowl coming up, I thought I'd share one of my all time favorite appetizer recipes. There are lots of "veggie pizza" recipes out there, but this one hands down is the best I've ever had. It's super easy, you make it ahead of time, and you can customize it to your liking.

I know, vegetables are not on most guys' Superbowl menus, but the guys in our life devour this (maybe because it has the word "pizza" in the title?) and the gals at these parties might want something other than hot wings to munch on. Not that I'm downplaying the importance of hot wings at a football party. Please get hot wings too. Your Superbowl party will thank you later.

Yum... carrots, broccoli, peppers, tomatoes, onion, cheese, ranch..... It's so colorful!

Cut into squares and you are ready to go!

Veggie Pizza

by Girls in Aprons

2 pkgs refrigerator crescent rolls

**Unroll and spread on lightly greased jelly roll pan. Press edges together to form a rectangular crust and pat down evenly (you may have to cut some of the rolls up to cover the entire jelly roll pan, just be creative!). Bake at 375 for 5-7 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside to cool.

2- 8 oz packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup mayonnaise
1 package ranch dressing mix

**Mix together and spread on cooled crust.

Pizza toppings (customize to your liking):

2 stalks broccoli

3 green onions
1 green pepper
2-3 roma tomatoes
1 small bag shredded carrots

1 cup shredded cheese

Seasoning Salt

(Optional: 1 small head cauliflower, 10 fresh mushrooms, 1 can olives)

Chop vegetables fairly fine (I used my food processor to cut the broccoli and carrots smaller). Layer in any order (I mixed my veggies together in a bowl and added it on top of the ranch mixture, except the tomatoes which I added last). Sprinkle the cheese on top and then top lightly with seasoning salt. Wrap with plastic wrap and press down firmly so the veggies stay on the pizza. Refrigerate at least 8 hours to let flavors blend.

Sausage, basil & gorgonzola pizza

Ever had something really good at a restaurant and felt like you would just die without the recipe?! I'm still trying to find the perfect re-creation of P.F. Chang's lettuce wraps and don't even get me started on California Pizza Kitchen's BBQ Chicken Salad - something so simple looking is deceivingly hard to make!

Carissa made a pizza a year or so ago using one of Giada de Laurtentiis' recipes. I know it was on pizza crust with no sauce and used caramelized onions, sausage, gorgonzola (I think), and fresh basil. I'm not one to look us recipes unless I'm baking something and need exact measurements...and even then I don't always measure (honestly, does anyone measure vanilla?!). So I figured I would try to re-create that pizza.

I made a few adjustments, the first being that I used ciabatta bread instead of pizza crust. To be honest this is a shortcut I use often because I don't have time after work to make any kind of yeast bread and it cuts out a whole step just to use bread. I know I've said this before but ciabatta bread is my favorite for savory meals like this. It's my go-to bread of paninis and pizzas and open-faced sandwiches.

The best part about this recipe is you really can add more or less depending on your liking. I omitted the gorgonzola from the second half of the pizza because I knew my kids wouldn't care for it. I also added extra onion to the end, knowing that I would eat that part. I love me some caramelized onion!

How to cut fresh basil:

Stack your basil leaves on top of each other, making sure to remove the stem.



Roll up (they say like a cigarette, but not having ever done that.....)





Chop thinly down the roll.

And ta-da! Thinly sliced ("julienned") basil!

Sausage, Basil & Gorgonzola Pizza

by Girls in Aprons, inspired by Giada de Laurentiis

1 loaf ciabatta bread, found in the bakery

Olive oil, for drizzling

1 lb sausage (I used basic breakfast sausage)

1 onion, thinly sliced

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp salt

8 oz gorgonzola, crumbled

2 cups mozzerella cheese, shredded

1/4 Parmesan cheese, grated

1/4 fresh basil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut ciabatta bread open in half. Place on a large baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Place in oven for 5 minutes or until just starting to get crusty. Remove from oven.

Meanwhile, heat 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp olive oil in saute pan over medium-low heat. Add onions and salt and cook until onions are soft and lightly brown, about 20 minutes, stirring often.

Cook sausage in large pan until brown and crumbly. Drain and set aside.

Divide mozzerella between the two ciabatta slices. Then top with sausage, gorgonzola, onions, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Place back in oven for 10-12 minutes or until cheese is melted. Remove from oven and top with fresh basil. Cut and serve warm.

Pizza Roll-Ups

Some of my best ideas come to me in the middle of the night when I can't sleep, which isn't often because honestly, I love sleep, but on those rare nights that I toss and turn, crazy ideas come to me. Like how to rearrange my kids rooms so we can fit a Lego table, or how in the world we can save up money to take the family to Disneyland. Or like my blue-ribbon apple pie. It had apples and a pecan streusel and spiced whipped topping. It was delish. And it won me $100 at a local fall festival. But that's another story.

On one of these other non-sleeping nights, not so long ago, I was trying to figure out how to use up the rest of our pepperoni from pizza night. Hmm....got it! Pizza roll-ups! Like cinnamon rolls but without with cinnamon. I was so excited to try it out.

First, if you aren't using store-bought pizza dough, you'll want to make your own. I use the pizza dough from Our Best Bites. It's a no-fail recipe for me.

You want to add the sugar, water, and yeast and let it sit about 10 minutes until its nice and bubbly/frothy looking. Add the salt and 1 1/2 cups flour and mix. Gradually add more flour until the dough starts to pull away from the bowl and it's barely sticky.

Shape the dough into a ball and put into a lightly greased bowl. Cover and let sit for about 45 minutes or until it has doubled in size...

...like this. I cheated and sat the bowl outside for about 1/2 hour. It was nice and warm outside, nothing like my air conditioned kitchen.

Now on to the star of the show, unintentionally. I played around with pizza sauce recipes from several websites and added a little bit of everything I loved. Most call for sugar, but I found one that called for honey, and for some reason it's made a huge difference. That and a small dash of cayenne pepper, and that's saying a lot coming from me because I'm not a huge fan of spicy dishes, but a little gives this pizza sauce an amazing flavor.

Add all the ingredients in a bowl, just like this. You want to make this at least a half hour before using it so the ingredients can become best friends.

Stir, stir, stir.

Once your dough has risen, roll it out on a greased or floured countertop unti it's about 18 inches long and 6 or so inches wide. I never measure, I just go with what looks good :) Add the pizza sauce, reserving about 1/3 cup, leaving about a 1-inch border, then add your toppings. Honestly, you can use whatever you want, but we went with mozzerella cheese and pepperoni. Olives would be nice. So would Italian sausage crumbles. Whatever your little heart desires. Be generous!!!

Startling at the bottom, roll up your dough like you would cinnamon rolls, making sure to roll the toppings along with the dough so they don't all pile up at the end.

Using string or waxed dental floss, cut the dough into 1-inch rolls. Place each roll in a greased 9x13-inch pan, close but not touching.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. While it's preheating, spoon the remainder of the pizza sauce on each roll and top with a little mozzerella or Parmesan cheese. Let rise until oven is preheated.

Check out this ooey-gooeyness. And yes, they are as delicious as they look.

Pizza Roll-Ups

by Kelli

PIZZA DOUGH, courtesy Our Best Bites

1 1/2 cups warm (105-115 degrees) water

1 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp yeast

1/2 tsp salt

3-4 1/2 cups flour

In a large bowl (preferably of a mixer) combine water, sugar, and yeast. Let stand until bubbly, about 10 minutes.

Add salt and stir. Add 1 1/2 cups flour and mix well. Gradually add more flour (usually between 3-4 cups, depending on your elevation and your humidity) until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl and it barely sticks to your fingers.

Spray a glass or metal bowl with cooking spray and put the dough in the bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

Spray a countertop with cooking spray (or use flour) and roll dough to 18x6 inches, give or take.

PIZZA SAUCE

1 (6 fluid 0z) can tomato paste

6 fluid oz warm water (just use the tomato paste can to measure)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 garlic clove, minced

2 Tbsp honey

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

salt to taste

Mix all ingredients together. Let sit for at least half hour before using so flavors can blend.

PIZZA ROLLS

Spread the pizza sauce on the rolled out pizza dough, reserving 1/3 cup, leaving a 1-inch border. Add toppings of your choice. I recommend mozzerella cheese, pepperoni, Italian sausage, and olives. Be generous, you want it to be flavorful!

Roll up, jelly-roll style, making sure to tuck toppings as you go, otherwise they all get pushed to the end. Using dental floss or string, cut rolls about 1-inch thick. Place each roll in a greased 9x13-inch pan, close but not touching. You can also place each one in a muffin tin. Top each roll with a spoonful of the reserved pizza sauce and any extra cheese, if desired.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While you are waiting for the oven to warm up, allow your rolls to rise. Bake 18-20 minutes or until tops are browned and insides are cooked through. If the tops are browning too fast, lay a piece of foil on top. This will stop the direct heat from burning the rolls.

Serve warm.