{"id":500,"date":"2012-04-29T15:06:40","date_gmt":"2012-04-29T21:06:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/urbanhomesteader.wordpress.com\/?p=500"},"modified":"2023-04-17T12:50:50","modified_gmt":"2023-04-17T18:50:50","slug":"how-to-make-a-pizza-from-scratch-with-this-easy-homemade-pizza-recipe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.happysimpleliving.com\/how-to-make-a-pizza-from-scratch-with-this-easy-homemade-pizza-recipe\/","title":{"rendered":"Better Than Dominos Pizza Dough Recipe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

You will love this easy Better Than Domino’s Pizza Dough Recipe<\/strong>. Pizza from a chain restaurant can seem like an inexpensive dinner choice, but you’ll save big if you learn how to make your own pies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chain restaurant pizzas tend to be made with processed ingredients, but you can make your own fantastic, authentic, hand-tossed cheese pizza with all organic ingredients for much less than the cost of a takeout pizza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"homemade<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The first time I made a homemade pizza, I was dumbstruck by how much better it was than delivery pizza. The improvement in flavor was like comparing a home-grown summer tomato to one of those hard, pink, grocery store varieties – worlds apart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After I took a pizza baking class from my local Slow Food chapter at the Whole Foods bakery, I was hooked. The professional bakers taught us some tricks for making amazing homemade pizza, and now I’m going to share them with you – along with everything else I’ve learned about cooking pizzas nearly every week in a home oven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If making homemade pizza sounds like a lot of trouble, I’m going to share our simple method—and you don’t need any fancy ingredients or equipment. I prepare the dough ahead and freeze several batches so we can have fresh pizza whenever we like. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can easily prepare a homemade pizza faster than one can be delivered from one of the pizza chains. Best of all, even though we use all-organic fresh ingredients it’s less than a third of the cost of a delivery pizza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No Fancy Equipment Needed<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I’ve experimented with different techniques, and I keep coming back to simply shaping and baking the pizza on a plain old round metal pizza pan. I bought ours at Bed, Bath and Beyond for $10 about ten years ago, and it cooks the pizza perfectly–browned and crispy on the bottom, and chewy on top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first step is preparing the dough. I’ve included two recipes here. The first is a variation on the recipe we learned from the professional bakers, and it takes 24 hours from start to finish so you do have to plan ahead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The base of the recipe is a Poolish, or “sponge” that you make one day ahead. This pre-fermenting step allows more time for yeast and enzymes to develop starch and proteins in the dough, which in turn creates greater complexities of flavor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dough also goes through several steps of rising and kneading. The resulting crust is fantastic – crisp and slightly chewy, similar to what you might get in a great wood-fired pizza restaurant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second recipe, which is based on The Pioneer Woman’s, can be prepared on the same afternoon you have a hankering for homemade pizza. The dough is softer and slightly less chewy, but it’s still a hundred times better than delivery pizza crust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both recipes call for bread flour, which has a 12 to 14 percent protein content and will make the nice, elastic dough that creates great pizza crust. But if you don’t have bread flour, don’t worry! Just use all-purpose flour and it’ll turn out fine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, you’ll save a ton of money if you pick up a bag of all-purpose instant yeast<\/a> instead of using those little packets. The recipes below will work just fine with either type of yeast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I freeze unbaked pizza dough by separating it into half-pound balls. After flattening the balls slightly, I freeze them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then I store the them in individual zip-lock plastic bags that I’ve brushed with a little olive oil. I thaw the dough in the refrigerator 24 hours prior to cooking, or on the counter for about an hour prior to cooking. (To reuse the bags, just tuck them back into the freezer until the next time you make pizza dough.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you ready to get started?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Pizza<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe #1<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Note: You need to start this recipe 24 hours before you want to bake pizza. For a same-afternoon pizza, see recipe #2 below.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poolish:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n