After making homemade pizza almost every Friday night for the last year and a half, frozen pizza on rushed nights have never tasted the same. A tiny thought in the back of my head kept growing……we should make our own frozen pizza! I found a recipe on loveandoliveoil.com and have been dying to try it for the past six months now. I finally made it today with my sister Kasey! Now I am looking forward to a rushed night to try it out!
Here is the link to the recipe on loveandoliveoil.com: http://www.loveandoliveoil.com/2012/02/homemade-frozen-pizza.html (please note she adapted it from the book The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread.)
Homemade Frozen Pizza:
Yields: 3 9-inch pizzas
Ingredients:
For Crust:
2 1/4 cups bread flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast (I subbed with 3/4 tsps. of active dry yeast)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon whole fennel seed (I omitted)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme (I omitted)
7/8 cup (7 ounces) cold water (I used warm since I used active dry yeast)
Cornmeal, for dusting (I used flour)
Directions:
Stir together the flour, salt, and instant yeast in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the oil and the cold water and stir on low speed until the flour is all absorbed. Switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for 5 to 7 minutes, or as long as it takes to create a smooth, sticky dough. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. The finished dough will be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky.
Transfer the dough to floured work surface. Lightly oil a baking dish or platter. Cut the dough into 3 equal pieces, and gently shape each piece into a ball. Arrange the dough balls on the prepared dish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. At this point the dough balls can also be frozen; simply wrap each ball individually in plastic wrap and place inside a zippered freezer bag. Transfer to the refrigerator the day before you plan on baking them.
Remove dough from refrigerator and let rise at room temperature for 2 hours.
At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone either on a rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F, allowing the baking stone to heat for at least 30 minutes.
On a lightly floured work surface, gently press and stretch the dough into disks about 9 inches in diameter. Generously dust a peel or the back of a sheet pan with semolina flour or cornmeal. Lay the stretched dough on the peel or pan, making sure there is enough semolina flour or cornmeal so it doesn’t stick. Gently slide the crust on to the hot stone (or bake directly on a sheet pan). Bake until crust just starts to puff, about 3 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough balls.
Once crusts are cooled, arrange them on a baking sheet that has been lightly dusted with cornmeal. Top with desired toppings. Place pizzas in the freezer, uncovered, until completely frozen, 4-6 hours, then wrap in a double layer of plastic wrap and place inside a large zip-top freezer bag, removing as much air as possible. I also found that using a 9-inch cake round covered in foil worked well as a sturdy base for the pizza.
To bake, preheat oven to 425ºF. Transfer frozen pizza to a pizza pan or baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until crust is golden and cheese is bubbly and starts to brown
Read more at http://www.loveandoliveoil.com/2012/02/homemade-frozen-pizza.html
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