This easy cheese pizza has a thin crust and is a family favourite when a pizza craving strikes and we don’t want to wait for delivery! The homemade dough comes together quickly and the toppings can be prepped while the dough is resting. This recipe is also great for getting the kids to help too!
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Tools for Making Homemade Pizza
There are some standard tools that make homemade pizza making a breeze! Here are my favourites:
- My KitchenAid Stand Mixer -with the dough hook attachment is what makes the pizza dough come together so quickly for me! I absolutely love it. Although I love baking my wrists are not the best for kneading so I let me Kitchenaid do the work!
- Parchment Paper – if you have a large family like I do parchment paper allows you to assemble a bunch of pizzas before putting them in your oven.
- Pizza Peel – I feel like a real pro when I use my pizza peel to transfer my pizzas in and out of the oven. The kitchen fills with giggles when I break into song singing “When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore…” and wielding my pizza peel!
- Pizza Stone – I love pizza stones! They get the closest texture to pizzeria pizzas that you can get at home! I also like that I can use it for naan or even baking cookies as they cook evenly and produce a perfect texture!
- Rolling Pin – I don’t advice handling your pizza dough too much but sometimes after hand stretching I use my rolling pin to get my dough to the desired size.
- Pizza Cutter – when that gooey, cheesy pie comes out of the oven my boys can’t wait to dive in so a good pizza cutter is essential!
How to Make Pizza Dough
This pizza dough comes together so quickly with pantry staples!
- Mix warm water and yeast in the base of your stand mixer (or a bowl if you are mixing by hand).
- Add all of the other dry ingredients and knead with dough hook on medium speed until a ball forms.
- Let rest in bowl for 10 minutes and voila…your pizza dough is ready to go!
Preparing Pizza Toppings
While the dough is resting I like to prepare my toppings and pizza sauce! You can make your own pizza sauce or use a good quality store bought version to make it even faster! We like this one! At my house my boys are cheese pizza puritans, which makes this pizza so easy to pull together quickly! When I have more time I love making at least half of one pizza adult style!
Par Baking Pizza Dough
Once the dough has rested:
- Divide the dough in half and hand stretch the dough as large as you can. Then place on parchment paper and roll to about 12-14 inches depending on how thin your family likes their pizza.
- Use pizza peel to transfer pizza to hot pizza stone and par bake for 4 minutes.
Topping the Pizza
- Add sauce and desired toppings to par baked pizza crust
- Use pizza peel to return pizza to hot baking stone. Bake for 4-5 minutes when cheese is melted and crust is a beautiful golden colour with browned edges!
What to Serve with Pizza
- I personally love a spinach salad with my pizza, strawberries, goat cheese and a balsamic vinaigrette. Another option, mixed greens with a lemon vinaigrette and freshly shaved parmesan! Yum!
- The boys will usually have just the baby spinach or steamed broccoli. I motivate them to eat more greens in exchange for more pizza! It ALWAYS works!
More Pizza Making Tips
- If your family loves pizza as much as ours does, I suggest doubling the recipe and making 4 pizzas up to the par bake and topping phase and then freezing them. This would save you on a busy weeknight, if you don’t have a dinner plan!
- It’s also great to have some extra pizza ready to pop in the oven for when unexpected company pops over, HELLO appie and drinks!!!!
- This recipe is so great to get kids helping in the kitchen too. I love making this pizza with my boys! “Many hands make light work” we have an assembly line, I par bake and pass it on for the sauce station, then the topping station and back in the oven! We have had the kids make their own pizza and these cookies for sleepovers and parties too! Customizable and cost effective too! Pizza delivery has gotten so expensive!!! Why not make your own! It’s so much fun!
I hope your family loves the versatility of this quick and easy recipe as much as we do! Let me know what your favourite adult toppings are in the comments so I can live vicariously through you lol! xo Charlotte
Easy Cheese Pizza
Ingredients
Pizza Dough
- 2.5 cups Unbleached White All Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Raw Honey
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 cup Warm Water
- 2.5 tsp Quick Rise Instant Yeast
Toppings
- 4 cups Pizza Mozzarella (Shredded) Divided between 2 pizzas
- Pizza Sauce (to taste)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° if using convection or 425° conventional oven. Place a pizza stone in oven to preheat.
- Mix warm water and yeast in the base of your stand mixer until dissolved (or a bowl if you are mixing by hand). Add all of the other ingredients and knead with dough hook on medium speed until a ball forms (or wooden spoon if mixing by hand).
- Let rest in bowl for 10 minutes .
- Prepare desired pizza toppings while dough is resting
- Once dough has rested hand stretch into a 12-14 inch round. Place dough on parchment paper and use a rolling pin to gently stretch to desired size. Do not overwork dough.
- Use a pizza peel to transfer dough to pizza stone to par bake for 4 minutes.
- Once par baked remove pizza with peel from oven and top with pizza sauce and desired toppings. Continue steps for additional pizzas. Return to oven and bake for additional 4-5 minutes. Remove from oven to a cutting board cut into slices and enjoy!
I have been looking for a quick weeknight dinner that my kiddos would like. This would be perfect! It looks delicious. Can’t wait to try it! 🙂
Thank you so much Melody! I hope you love it!