I joke that my husband has to smuggle frozen pizzas into our house, but he will tell you it’s the truth. I will not incriminate the brands he buys, but let’s just say they are about as thick as a piece of cardboard and taste the same way. Homemade frozen personal pizzas, on the other hand, allow me to have something tasty on busy nights when a frozen (purchased) pizza might otherwise be thrown on the Pizzazz. In less than 20 minutes I can have a meal ready and everyone is happy!
Making Homemade Frozen Personal Pizzas…
At our house, pizza toppings are pretty individual. I like to have mostly veggies, while my kids like pepperoni and green olives. My sweet husband is a purist and goes with pepperoni. All of the toppings I keep on hand, whether in the pantry, refrigerator, or freezer. That allows me to quickly pull the crusts from the deep freeze, add toppings while the oven preheats, and then bake these little beauties.
Now, this recipe does require some preplanning. I make and lightly prebake the crusts ahead of time, and then freeze them in packages of four (the size of our family). I also make my pizza sauce and freeze it in a microwaveable container. There is no need to thaw the crusts. Just pull them from the freezer, add the sauce and toppings, and bake for 10 minutes or less. Easy and fast! This is perfect for busy families who want to serve REAL food on crazy nights instead of something that resembles the cardboard it’s packaged on.
Less busy days are the perfect time to make and prebake the crusts. It does take a little time, but this pizza crust recipe from America’s Test Kitchen is the absolute best!
In terms of preparation, you need about two and a half hours. Most of that time, though, is allowing the dough to rise. After that, I divide the dough into thirds and then divide each into fourths. So I have 12 evenly-sized dough balls. This is the crust for the personal pizzas. I also make my sauce during this time and freeze it in a microwaveable container.
I use a pizza peel for transferring the dough to a pizza stone for the prebaking process. However, you could easily use a cookie sheet. The trick is to use cornmeal when pressing out the dough for the crusts. Having cornmeal on the bottoms of the crusts keeps them from sticking to the peel or cookie sheet and makes for a nice crunch. Restaurants do this, too. So you are making your family restaurant-quality pizza in less than 20 minutes. Super swell! 🙂
One of my goals for this blog is to show busy parents that homemade meals are possible, no matter how busy the evening. It just takes a little preplanning and a few minutes in the kitchen–the heart of the home!
Homemade Frozen Personal Pizzas
Notes
Keeping toppings on hand in the freezer, along with the crusts and sauce, allows for the pizzas to be ready to eat in 20 minutes or less.
Ingredients
Sauce
- 8 oz. can tomato sauce
- 6 oz. can tomato paste
- 1/4 t. salt
- 2 t. oregano
- 1 t. basil
- 1 t. garlic powder
Pizza Crusts
- 1/2 c. warm water
- 1 T. yeast
- 1 1/3 c. room temperature water
- 2 T. olive oil
- 4 c. bread flour
- 1 1/2 t. salt
- cornmeal and olive oil
Toppings
- pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, sausage, etc.
Instructions
Sauce:
- Mix together all sauce ingredients in a small sauce pan. Cook over medium low heat until bubbly. Cool slightly before using on pizzas. This recipe will make approx. 3 full-sized pizzas or 12 individual pizzas.
For Crusts:
- Add warm water to 2-cup liquid measuring cup and sprinkle with yeast. Let stand for approx. 5 minutes until yeast begins to dissolve and expand.
- Mix in the room temperature water and oil.
- In a food processor, pulse the flour and salt until combined. Continue to pulse while adding the liquid ingredients through the feed tube. (Add the liquid slowly, as you will probably not need the entire amount. Reserve a few tablespoons.) If the dough doesn't form a ball, add a little of the remaining liquid and pulse until a ball forms.
- Process the dough for another 20-30 seconds until the dough appears smooth and elastic.
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few strokes to form a smooth ball. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to double in size. This will take 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
- Punch down the dough and divide dough in thirds. For individual pizzas, divide each third into fourths, for 12 individual crusts. Let dough rest, covering with plastic wrap, for 10-15 minutes.
To Make Individual Crusts to Freeze:
- Preheat oven to 500° F.
- Sprinkle cornmeal on work surface, pressing each dough piece into a six inch circle. Be careful not to rip the dough.
- Place four crusts on a pizza peel, brush lightly with olive oil, and transfer to a baking stone.
- Bake for 4 minutes, remove to cooling rack.
- Cool completely and wrap well for freezer storage.
Pizzas:
- Preheat oven to 400° F.
- Remove crusts from freezer; do not thaw. Place four crusts on a large cookie sheet, top with sauce and desired toppings.
- Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, until cheese melts and crusts turns light golden brown.
