How to Make Homemade Frozen Pizza

How to Make Homemade Frozen Pizza

Makes one large pizza or two individual pizzas

Ingredients


1 pound pizza dough, store-bought or homemade


1/2 to 1 cup sauce: tomato sauce or other spread 


2 to 3 cups other toppings: sautéed onions, sautéed mushrooms, pepperoni, cooked sausage, cooked bacon, diced peppers, leftover veggies, or any other favorite toppings 


1 to 2 cups (8-16 ounces) cheese, shredded or sliced: mozzarella, monterey jack, provolone, fontina, or any other favorite

Equipment:
parchment paper,
rolling pin,
baking stone, (or baking sheet)
plastic wrap,
pluminum foil

Instructions

1.            Pre-heat the oven to 450°F. Place a pizza stone or baking sheet on a middle rack in the oven as it heats.

2.            Roll out the pizza rounds. Divide the pizza dough in half to make two individual pizzas, if desired. Place the ball of dough in the middle of a piece of parchment paper. Roll it out to your preferred thinness. If the dough starts to shrink back and crinkle the paper, let it rest for a few minutes and then try rolling it out again. If making two individual pizzas, repeat with the second round of dough.

3.            Par-bake the pizza rounds. Slide the pizza rounds on the parchment sheets onto the pizza stone or baking sheet in the oven. Bake for 3-5 minutes until the rounds are puffy and dry on the top, but still very pale.

4.            Let the pizza rounds cool completely. Remove the parchment from beneath the pizza rounds and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

5.            Top the pizzas. When cool, top the rounds as you would if you were going to bake them right away: spread some sauce on the pizzas, add toppings, and sprinkle cheese over the top. Note: pizza rounds can also be frozen un-topped.

6.            Freeze the pizzas. Place the pizzas on a baking sheet and freeze, uncovered, until solid, about 3 hours.

7.            Wrap the pizzas in plastic wrap and aluminum foil. Once frozen, remove the pizzas from the freezer and wrap them first in plastic wrap. Write the pizza toppings on a piece of masking tape and stick the label to the plastic wrap. Then, wrap the pizzas in a layer of aluminum foil. The double layer protects the pizzas from drying out in the freezer. 

8.            Freeze for pizzas for up to three months. 

Bake the frozen pizzas. When ready to eat eat the pizzas, preheat the oven to 450°F (or the temperature at which you normally cook your pizzas). If you have a baking stone, place it in the oven as it heats; frozen pizzas can also be baked on the foil used to wrap them. When the oven has heated, unwrap the pizzas and slide into the oven. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the crust is dark brown and the cheese in the center of the pizza is bubbly. Eat immediately. (Recipe from http://www.thekitchn.com)

Maren Nichols