Everything you want in a homemade pepperoni pizza – hot and gooey melted cheese, topped with as much crispy pepperoni as you like, pizza sauce and a great homemade crust! Our family will eat this on ANY given night because it’s so much better than delivery! 

My homemade pizza will prove all your pizza delivery dreams wrong! 😉 It’s definitely so much tastier! The topping possibilities are endless, all the pizza dough ingredients are pantry staples, and you can make it whenever you want with not much planning involved. And did you know that pizza made from scratch is one of the cheapest dinners you can make?

When I’ve run into a dinner planning rut, and I’ll ask my boys (or my husband) what they’d like for dinner, their answer is always, always “mama’s pizza” with a side of my Fluffy Homemade Breadsticks. We’re huge carb fans in this family. Hashtag not ashamed! 🙂 I keep homemade sauce handy in our freezer and it’s a super easy dinner to pull together. And everyone is happy because homemade pizza never disappoints!

Yield: 2 medium pizzas (12 inches each)

INGREDIENTS

PIZZA DOUGH

• 2 cups room temperature water
• 2 tablespoons Fleischmann’s Quick Rise Yeast
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 teaspoons salt 
• 5 cups bread flour (all purpose flour can used as well)

TOPPING PER PIZZA

• 1/2 cup pizza sauce
• 8 oz. (2 cups) mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 30-35 thinly sliced pepperoni

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the dough hook, mix the water, honey, oil, yeast and salt. Add the flour gradually until a soft dough forms and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. The dough should be soft and smooth. You can add up to another 1/2 cup of flour, but no more than that.
2. Knead the dough for 3-5 minutes or until a ball begins to form and the dough becomes smooth and elastic.
3. Cover the bowl with a clean hand towel and let rest for 10 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven for 485F. 
5. Turn the pizza dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into two balls. (If you want to freeze one ball of dough for another day, I’ll have directions in the recipe notes below.) 
6. Stretch or roll the dough out onto a lightly greased pan (or one that has been dusted with cornmeal). 
7. Top with pizza sauce, shredded cheese and pepperoni. 
8. Bake until the crust is golden brown and cheese is bubbling, 12-14 minutes.

RECIPE NOTES

THE BEST WAY TO REHEAT LEFTOVER PIZZA

• Please try to refrain from using the microwave. The crust just becomes tasteless and soggy. But if that’s your only option, go ahead and be your own judge. Place the pizza in a skillet or cast iron pan, add a drizzle of oil over medium heat, and then add the pizza. Cover the skillet and cook the pizza until the cheese has melted and the crust is crispy again. Time varies depending on your stove. Just keep a close eye on it. Ours usually takes about 5 minutes.     

FREEZING THE DOUGH

• After the 10 minute resting time, when you’ve divided the dough into two equal portions, lightly coat the dough you want to freeze with oil, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, then place it in a freezer bag and place it in the freezer immediately. Double wrapping is very important! Even after the dough is placed in the freezer, it will continue to rise a little bit before it’s completely frozen. When you are ready to use the dough, place it on the counter for 1-2 hours prior to use. The dough should be at room temperature before stretching it out! 

STORE-BOUGHT OR FRESHLY SHREDDED CHEESE

• Use freshly shredded cheese rather than store-bought. Store-bought shredded cheese is heavier and thicker so you need more to cover the pizza and it really weighs the crust down.

TOPPINGS

• Less is always more when it comes to homemade pizza! Don’t overload your pizza with toppings. It weighs down the pizza dough, the crust won’t rise properly, and the centre of the pizza will end up soggy and sloppy and you won’t be able to pick it up.