One great way to save money for preps is to stop eating out and use the savings for prepping. I well know how hard that can be. It’s so easy to pick up the phone and order a pizza. It’s also easy to make you own pizza. Don’t believe me? You will after you read our Homemade Pizza Tutorial.
The biggest complaint I hear about homemade pizza is about the crust. It’s soggy. It’s doughy. It just plain tastes bad.
I can honestly promise you this pizza crust recipe will surprise you. It will taste like take out. Crisp. Light. Thin or thick. You will love this crust. Pinky swear. It’s all in a few tricks of the trade that I share below. Shall we get started?
Disclaimer: This isn’t my original recipe. I found it on Lauren’s Latest.
Ingredients for homemade pizza dough:
1 cup warm water
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon honey {or sugar}
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive or canola oil
3 cups bread flour {give or take 1/2 cup…depending on the heat & humidity}
Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, preferably that of a stand mixer, stir yeast and honey into warm water. Sit for 5-10 minutes or until bubbles form and mixture starts to foam. This tells you that the yeast is alive and kicking. Pour in salt, oil and half the flour and mix.
The reason you only add half of the flour is because how much flour you add depends on how humid your home is. Yup. I kid you not.
The more you make this dough the more experienced you’ll get with it’s proper ‘feel.’ You’ll know if it needs the entire amount the recipe calls for. It’ll most likely change depending on the seasons.
Slowly add the rest of the flour until the dough is soft but DOES NOT stick to your fingers. I have better pictures about this on my main blog.
Part of the magic of this dough is letting it knead for SIX MINUTES. I think that is what I’ve been missing. Letting my dough knead long enough. I’d let it go for a few minutes, but I never thought to let it go for a full 6 minutes.
Ain’t she grand?
Next you will want to place your dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover it with a thin, wet kitchen towel and put it some place warm until it grows to double it’s size about 1-2 hours. I like to put mine on the top of my stove and then turn the oven on low.
When your dough has doubled in size preheat your oven to 500 degrees. If you have a pizza stone, make sure to put it in the oven while it’s preheating.
I don’t have a pizza stone. I use an upside down jelly roll pan in the oven. I use cover it with parchment paper.
Next it’s time to roll your dough out. I roll out my dough on my counter. Then I lift it up and place it on a piece of parchment paper. I add my toppings, and then transfer the pizza still on the parchment paper, directly onto my hot upside down jellyroll pan in my 500 degree oven.
Ready for homemade pizza toppings!
I let my pizza cook for 9 minutes. My poor oven has seen better days and cooks pretty hot. You may need to leave yours in for a minute or two longer.
The results? Ah-ma-zing. Truly. Totally. A new family favorite.
Give this recipe a try and come back then let me know how it worked out for you! If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them in the comments section below!