I enjoy the convenience of frozen pizza, but most of them don’t taste good… So I decided to see if I could make a better homemade frozen pizza, and it turned out surprisingly easy and good!
To make a homemade frozen pizza, all you need to do is bake a few extra pizzas when you’re already making pizza, freeze them, and then reheat them later, just like the frozen pizza you buy in the grocery store. But much better!
Homemade Frozen Pizza Dough
I’m personally a huge fan of Neapolitan-style pizza, but this method will work with other types of pizza too.
Ingredients:
- 1 liter (33.8 oz) of room-temperature water
- 1.7 kg (3.5 lbs) of type 00 flour
- 50g of salt
- 3 g of fresh yeast or 1g of dry active yeast
This recipe will make 10 Neapolitan-style pizzas.
Instructions:
- Pour the water into a bowl and dissolve the salt. Proceed by adding around 10% of the flour and mix it well, then add the yeast, and keep adding the flour slowly while mixing the dough.
- Knead the dough for 15-20 minutes by hand, or 10-15 minutes in a stand mixer
- Let the dough bulk ferment in a bowl covered with plastic wrap, or a damp towel, for 2-4 hours.
- Make 10 dough balls. This will make 12-inch (30 cm) pizzas. You can of course adjust the dough ball size if you like larger or smaller pizzas. Then place the dough balls in individual containers or in a larger airtight container
- Let the dough balls rise for 20-24 hours.
You can find the full recipe here.
Sauce
You can of course use the sauce of your choice, but I used: Neapolitan Pizza Sauce. This is a super easy no-cook pizza sauce. All you need is:
- One 400g (14oz) can of whole, skinless tomatoes (preferably San Marzano tomatoes)
- 4g (a little less than 1 teaspoon) of sea salt
- 3-4 leaves of fresh basil
- 15g (1 tablespoon) of extra virgin olive oil
Then, mix all the ingredients in a bowl. And there you have the simple (and probably the best) pizza sauce you’ve ever made.
If you’re lazy, I’ve found that Mitti Pizza Sauce (affiliate link) is really good and tastes almost the same as real Neapolitan pizza sauce. It’s super convenient, and I always have a few cans around. And it’s totally okay to be lazy, we’re making frozen pizza after all, right?
How to Make the Pizza
Simply stretch out your pizza as normal, and add the sauce. You can choose if you want to add cheese and topping. I think the result is better if you add cheese and toppings to the pizza base when you reheat it, so I usually only add the sauce.
Then, simply simply bake your pizza as normal. But you want to pull it out before it’s completely done because you’re going to bake it again later when you’re going to eat the pizza.
To get the best possible result, you should bake your pizzas on a pizza stone or
I’ve also written an in-depth guide on how to use a pizza steel.
Freeze the Pizza
After baking, let the pizzas cool to room temperature. You can speed up the process if you place the pizza on a cooling rack.
Next, wrap them tightly with plastic wrap and place them in the freezer. I recommend placing them on top, on a flat surface. Neapolitan-style pizza is usually pretty thin, and can easily bend or crack, but when the sauce and topping freeze, it will be much sturdier. I therefore usually place them on top first, then stack the frozen pizzas when they’re frozen.
Reheat Homemade Frozen Pizza
When you want to reheat the pizza, simply take them out of the freezer, and place them on a baking sheet, just like any other frozen pizza. Then place the baking sheet in the oven and turn it to 400°F (190°C). It’s important to place it in a cold oven to give the pizza time to defrost while the oven comes to temperature. Otherwise, the exterior may burn before the center of the pizza is done.
If you freeze your pizza without cheese and toppings, you can take the baking sheet out when the pizza seems defrosted. Then, top it however you like, before you place it back in the oven.
How long the pizza needs depends on how long your oven needs to come to temperature, but in most ovens, it should take 10-15 minutes.
Is Homemade Frozen Pizza as Good as Fresh?
Unfortunately, homemade frozen pizza isn’t quite as good as when the pizza is fresh, but it’s still miles better than any frozen pizza you can buy. The main difference is the crust. The cust get’s a crispier, and a bit drier when you reheat the pizza.
Conclusion
Making your own homemade frozen pizza is a smart way to save time and still enjoy great pizza. It doesn’t quite live up to fresh homemade pizza, but it’s pretty close, and definitely miles better than any frozen pizza you get in the grocery store. So I next time you bake pizza, I definitely recommend baking a few extra and freezing them. It’s super convenient on a busy busy weekday night!
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