Rachel's Real Food Kitchen

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Before we got married, in the pre-homemade pizza days, my husband ordered a lot of Domino’s pizza. He’s always loved pizza and when he was working long hours and living alone, it made a great dinner. After we were married, I started making him homemade pizza and he absolutely loved it too. The running joke became, “I have Domino’s at home!” Hahaha.

What makes homemade pizza so amazing? It’s not only about the taste. It’s also extremely versatile! You can customize as much as you need, and it’s still delicious.

This recipe isn’t so much a recipe for homemade pizzas as it is a formula. With a few basic ingredients, you can make endless combinations for your family!

Homemade Pizza Recipe

Let’s break down each component of the homemade pizza below:

Homemade Pizza Dough

The base layer is your homemade pizza dough. You have three different options here: A traditional yeast bread dough, a traditional sourdough, or a quick flatbread recipe.

Traditional Yeast Bread Dough

• Pros: Quick to rise. Traditional yeasty flavor. Puffs up well. Works for thin and thick crusts alike.
• Cons: Not quite as good for your digestion as, say, sourdough. Can grow more than you expect during baking.

You can use any type of yeast bread dough you’d like here. I use an all-purpose recipe from my family:

Quick Yeasted Pizza Crust

• 3 tsp yeast
• 2 cups lukewarm water (110-115 degrees F)
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ TB salt
• ¼ cup oil or melted butter
• 6 cups flour

Combine yeast with warm water, oil (if using melted butter, make sure it isn’t too hot or it will kill the yeast!), and sugar. Stir well, then add the salt and flour. Knead until combined. Allow to rise for a few hours until doubled in size.

Traditional Sourdough Pizza Crust

• Pros: Long fermentation time (so better for you). Yummy sour notes in the flavor. Crisps up well. Works for thin and thick crusts alike.
• Cons: Requires more planning ahead. It requires a longer fermentation time and pre-fed starter too.

Again, any sort of sourdough bread dough works well here. I usually use Farmhouse on Boone’s Sourdough Sandwich Bread recipe. It’s one of my favorites and it puffs up beautifully.

Quick Flatbread Recipe

• Pros: Quick to make, without warning. No leavening of any kind required.
• Cons: Can be a little tough. Must be used for thinner crust pizza and can’t handle a lot of toppings or lots of moisture.

This is a recipe I discovered by accident, haha, by Googling flatbread pizza crust. It only has flour, oil, salt, and water. No leavener like yeast, sourdough, OR even baking soda/powder! You just mix it together and roll it out thin.

Something I’ve found, however, is that it can be a little tough, especially if you don’t get it rolled out thin. You can’t use as many toppings with this option, so no deep dish pizza, but it still works well in a time crunch.

Click here to get the recipe for flatbread pizza crust.

What Pan to Use for Making Homemade Pizza

Who needs a pizza stone? Cast iron is a great option for baking homemade pizza! You want something that gets very hot and can crisp up the bottom of the crust, instead of leaving it soggy. I bake pizzas in all kinds of baking dishes, of course, but cast iron is the best. A glass baking dish, even just a Pyrex casserole dish, works great here.

No matter what you use, you want to put plenty of fat under your dough to keep it from sticking to the pan. Add some flour too for extra help getting it off later.

How to Make Homemade Pizza Sauce

Tomato Sauce

The first layer over the dough is the pizza sauce, which is usually a tomato-based sauce. You can use crushed tomatoes or tomato paste as the base. During summertime, I will sometimes substitute freshly sliced tomatoes instead of sauce, though you should plan for them to add more moisture than plain sauce. If you have leftover sauce from another recipe, use it! I’ve made pizzas with leftover BBQ and spaghetti sauces.

Seasonings

As for the seasonings, you can customize as much as you’d like! I will either mix these into the sauce or sprinkle on top: Salt, garlic powder, onion powder, dried basil, a bit of sugar (cuts the acidity of the tomatoes, though you can leave it out), and a bit of sweet paprika powder. If you’re stirring the sauce together beforehand, you can also add a bit of olive oil into the sauce mixture as well.

That said, you can customize the seasonings to your liking! Many prefer thyme or oregano instead of basil. If you like some spice, add cayenne or red pepper flakes too! Anything goes.

Another Option…

You can also use a pesto instead of tomato sauce. These are typically made from ingredients like olive oil and fresh basil; that’s not something I typically make, though I have used garlic scapes blended in olive oil like this before!

Cheese for Homemade Pizza

Next after the sauce comes cheese!

Can You Make Dairy-Free Pizza?

Can you make dairy-free pizza? Technically, and I’ve done it before! But I will admit it doesn’t taste as good as cheese pizza. One trick is to put raw ground beef or pork on top of the pizza. As it cooks, the fats will melt into the crust, slightly mimicking the flavor of melted cheese. Some people I know use dairy-free cheeses for recipes like this too, but I don’t have any experience myself, so I can’t give you advice on them.

What Kind of Cheese to Use for Homemade Pizza

About any cheese works!

• Mozzarella is traditional, and for good reason. It melts well and takes on the flavor of the spices.
• Cheddar is another of my favorites. It adds a zing to the pizza, while still melting well.
• For myself, I use goat chevre cheese because I can’t have cow dairy! It gives a different texture, but it still makes a yummy pizza. (Costco carries an affordable chevre.)
• I’ve also used pepperjack, colby, and gouda cheeses.
• Really, you can use any cheese you’d like!

It works best if it is shredded, but if you don’t have time, just slice into pieces instead. It’s going to melt anyway! 😉

Toppings for Homemade Pizza

Finally, it’s time to put on your toppings. Here are some of my favorites:

• Cooked ground meat – Adds a lot of protein & you can use leftover cooked meat this way, too!
• Chopped onions – Onions on pizza are so yummy!
• Sliced mushrooms & olives – Adds a nice depth of flavor to the pizza.
• Cooked sausage or ready-to-eat cured meats – Great if you like the flavor of salamini, pepperoni, ham, etc.
• Peppers – This isn’t my favorite, but my hubby loves peppers on his pizza! Hot and sweet alike.
• Spinach – This is another favorite for my husband! It goes well with the cheese and lots of herbs.

Really though, you can mix about any flavor profile you’d like to homemade pizza! Again, it’s more of a formula than a recipe. Use whatever you have on hand!

How to Bake Homemade Pizza

Crank that oven up! You want it to 375 to 425 degrees F. Pop the pizza into the oven immediately. Bake until it starts turning golden brown, then check it. It won’t take long. Maybe 15-20 minutes for most pizzas, though it really depends on factors like the size of your pan and depth of your fillings.

If there are a lot of veggies on top, it might take longer to cook out the moisture. Check the center to see if it needs to bake longer.

How to Freeze Pizza

Homemade pizza is also one meal that freezes extremely well. And you also have options about how to freeze it, too.

Freeze Cooked Pizza Slices

Once the pizza is cooked, allow it to cool and cut into individual slices. Freeze individual slices in sandwich bags to use as quick meals. The pizza is completely cooked and just needs heated up before serving.

Freeze Raw Homemade Pizzas

You can also make your own homemade frozen pizzas. Assemble everything and freeze, then you can pop into the oven whenever you’re hungry.

If you don’t feel like putting an entire pizza together, you can also prebake the shells (don’t bake completely – you want them to still be a bit gummy on the interior)! Then freeze the shells and you can put toppings on them later.

Quick Tips for Better Homemade Pizza

Use Layers in the Right Order

The order which I provided (dough > sauce > cheese > toppings) matters! It makes pizza melt together well. Thank my daddy here; he worked at a pizza restaurant and taught me this! Well, he taught me everything about making pizza period…. 😉

Don’t Add Too Many Veggies…

While I love veggie pizza, the more vegetables you add, the more moisture you introduce. You want to make sure to bake it longer to compensate. Another option is to pre-cook the veggies, such as sauteeing the onions beforehand. This will also remove some of the excess moisture that could otherwise make your pizza a bit soggy.

How to Make Pizza Pockets

If you have plenty of ingredients, make a few pizza pockets that travel well for lunches and roadtrips. For pizza pockets, stick with pre-cooked veggies and ingredients with lower moisture content, since they won’t dry as much in the oven. You might want to use a little less filling than you’d put in a regular pizza too. Use your best judgement.

To make pizza pockets, simply separate a smaller ball of dough. Roll thin, add fillings, halve. and crimp closed. Add a few vent holes and bake.

Bake Pizza at a High Heat

Cooking at a high heat will make a crispy crust and prevent the pizza from becoming too soggy in the middle. Plus, it will brown the edges of the cheese…yum!

Mix & Match Based on What You Have!

Finally, don’t be afraid to mix and match based on what you have. Every pizza I make looks a little different based upon what meats, cheeses, and veggies I have available. You can really customize based on flavor too! Lean into flavor combos and experiment until you find what you and your family really enjoy eating. The sky is the limit here. Be creative!

Now, I think I hear homemade pizza calling your name. 😉