Pizza Night: Homemade Pizza with Freezer Bread Dough
Pizza night is easy and stress-free when you start with freezer bread dough! The recipe for Freezer Bread Dough is linked below. You can choose to bake a fresh, hot loaf of bread each week for a month, or make a pizza! Simply thaw a piece of dough the night before or all day on a plate in the fridge and decide on your toppings. When evening comes, you are ready to make a delicious homemade pizza!
Ingredients
1 loaf portion of freezer bread dough made by hand or with a heavy duty mixer
Olive oil for the pan and your hands
Pizza sauce, see recipe(s) below
8 ounces (225 g) mozzarella cheese, grated or thinly sliced
4 ounces (120 g) grated cheddar, optional
1/2 cup (45 g) grated Parmesan cheese
Toppings as desired: cooked and crumbled bacon or sausage, cherry tomatoes or olives, thinly sliced vegetables, etc.
Instructions
- The night before or in the morning, take a 1- loaf portion of dough from the freezer, place on a plate and thaw overnight or all day in the fridge.
- When you are ready to make a pizza, preheat the oven to 450F (230C) with a rack in the center shelf or a baking stone in the center or lower one-third of the oven.
- Spread a tablespoon of olive oil on a 16-inch (40 cm) pizza pan or a large 14×20-inch (36×50 cm) cookie sheet. Unwrap dough and place in center of pan. Use your hands to pat the dough out 1/3-inch (.8 cm) thick to cover the pan. Or roll the dough out on a clean, oiled work surface and then transfer to the pan, stretching to make it fit. It doesn’t need to be perfect. It will taste good!
- Spread pizza sauce evenly over the crust, leaving a 1-inch (2.5 cm) margin around the edge. Now, add your toppings! Sprinkle the mozzarella and cheddar cheese (if using) over the sauce, a little more around the edges and less in the middle so that it will bake evenly. Add cooked meat and any veggies or other toppings you desire. Top it all with grated Parmesan cheese.
- Slide the pan in the preheated oven and bake 12 minutes. Turn the pan in the oven and bake 2-5 minutes more, until the cheese is bubbly and develops gold freckles. Use a pancake turner to lift the pizza and peek underneath to be sure it is well baked on bottom.
- Remove from oven and cool in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes. Cut in pieces with a pizza cutter or a pair of clean kitchen scissors. Enjoy!
Notes
Pizza Sauce – starting with a can
1 8-ounce (225 g) can tomato sauce
¼ teaspoon salt
1-2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon sugar
A few grindings of black pepper, optional
Open the can of tomato sauce and stir the seasonings into the can. Your pizza sauce is ready.
Pizza Sauce – starting with dried tomatoes
½ cup (40 g) plain, no-oil dried tomatoes, heaping and packed
½ cup (120 ml) boiling water
1 clove garlic, peeled
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
1 teaspoon sugar, optional
Place all ingredients in the blender jar, put lid on, and whiz at low speed for 30 seconds to chop the tomatoes. Increase speed to medium-high and let the blender run until it forms a mostly smooth sauce. You may need to stop the blender once midway and scrape down the sides to make sure all the tomato pieces meet the blades.
*Note: If you do not have a blender, you can use a food processor to make pizza sauce. Pour the boiling water over the dried tomatoes in the bowl of the food processor. Let sit 5 minutes to soften the tomatoes, then add remaining ingredients. Process until mostly smooth.