Homemade Pizza Crust

I've expressed my love of the bread machine on this blog many times. My love has recently increased exponentially. I've finally tried the Pizza Dough setting and ohmygosh it is so good. In fact, the family has decided that we definitely prefer it to all frozen pizzas and we even prefer it to the fresh pizza at some of the local pizzerias.

This pizza crust comes together relatively quickly with the help of my bread machine. Just pour in the ingredients, select the pizza dough setting, and let it do its thing! The machine handles the rising and kneading processes and really saves you a lot of time.

If you have a bread machine that has a dough setting, give this recipe a try on your next pizza night!

Don't have a bread machine? No worries, Pioneer Woman has you covered with a great homemade pizza dough recipe.

Ingredients:

Makes two regular size large pizzas or six small pizzas.

1 tsp. dry yeast

16 3/4 oz. (3 3/8 cup) bread flour

1 tbsp. powdered milk

1 1/2 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. butter

11 3/4 fl. oz. (1 7/8 cup) water

2/3 cup tomato paste or pizza sauce, for brushing on top of pizza

3 cups Mozzarella cheese, for sprinkling on top

Your favorite toppings

Directions:

Beginning with dry ingredients first, place the first seven ingredients in the bread machine (the yeast will go in the yeast dispenser if there is one).

Select the pizza setting. Press start.

Once the bread machine signals that the process is completed, remove the dough from the pan and place on a lightly floured surface until it becomes elastic and springs back when touched.

Divide the dough into the desired sizes (2 large or 6 small) and place dough balls in a warm area for 10 minutes.

On the pizza stone or pizza pan, shape the dough ball into a flat circle and spread out the dough evenly over the pan. Prick the dough with a fork (making lots of little holes) so that the crust doesn't puff up. Let the pizza crust rest for 15 minutes at room temperature.

 

While the dough is resting, preheat your oven to 340*F.

Brush each pizza with the tomato paste or pizza sauce. Sprinkle each pizza with cheese and top with desired toppings.

 

Bake for 15-20 minutes.

 

 

Enjoy!