Freeze Your Own Pizza

Jackson LOVES pizza. When I was first trying to figure out his allergy issues, I learned out how to make yummy safe pizza, but we kept finding ourselves at birthday parties, family gatherings and other times where we needed safe pizza but I didn't have 2 hours to make it. Then I learned the secret to making and freezing your own pizza at home. Putting the cheese on first.

First the dough.

3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 cups warm water
1 tbsp sugar
1 packet yeast (2 1/4 tsp if you buy the jars)
3 tbsp olive oil
1-3 tsp garlic juice

Combine the flour and salt. Make a well and add the water, sugar and yeast. Once the yeast dissolves, add the olive oil and garlic juice. Mix until dough forms, then knead until smooth and elastic. If it's sticky, add more flour. If it's dry, add more water. Brush with olive oil, cover in a bowl and allow it to rise for about an hour, until doubled in size. This recipe makes about 2 pounds of dough. I can usually get 5 thin personal sized crusts.

I know that a couple of major chains use garlic juice in their crust recipes. So, that might sound weird, but it didn't come out of nowhere. I put 3 tsp in, but you can use more, less or omit altogether depending on your tastes.

Also, most major delivery chains roll their dough in a corn meal mixture. This does add flavor and makes the crust brown better. I do it for the grown ups since we put things like mushrooms, bell peppers and onions on ours. If you don't have a corn allergy, it does make a difference, so you will probably want to use it.

After the dough has risen, separate it into little dough balls, in my case 5. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin first, then place the crusts onto oiled paper plates. I use olive oil. Since you're freezing, you want something you can freeze it on and remove. If you oil them just right (not too much), the pizza shouldn't stick, but even if it does, you can peel the paper plate off the bottom. You just need something to hold the shape while it freezes. If you want to freeze a full size pizza, you can buy those aluminum pizza pans. Just remove it before you cook it. Those things and frozen pizza together make for yucky crust.

Brush your crusts with butter or olive oil, something to help with the browning process later.

 

Sprinkle a fairly thick layer of cheese. Then spoon your tomato sauce over the cheese. Spread carefully trying not to let the tomato sauce touch the bottom crust. Don't be super picky, but try to keep the cheese on the bottom and the sauce on top. I sprinkle a little more cheese on top, some basil, and then add our toppings. Since these are usually personal pizzas for Jackson, I don't put veggies on top. Usually hand made sausage we get from a local meat market, ham and/or hot dogs cut like pepperoni (sounds weird, but he LOVES it). I don't know how veggies will freeze in a home freezer, but have fun with it. You never know what they'll eat.

When I've got the pizzas topped and ready to freeze, I try to create a level spot in my chest freezer to lay them out to freeze initially. Once they start to get hard, cover them with plastic wrap. When they've been in there for several hours, remove the paper plates and wrap individually with plastic wrap. I've used round cake boards dusted with a little bit of flour on the bottom of the pizza, and if you've got a stuffed freezer (like me), the boards really help keep the pizza from getting broken.

When you're ready for some pizza:

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. Unwrap your pizza, brush the outside crust with melted butter or olive oil, place on a pizza stone or right on the oven rack. Cook for about 10 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Keep in mind, you're not going to get the same golden brown they get from a gigantic pizza oven or brushing with oil, egg and rolling in corn meal, but it will be tasty. That's what really matters.