Cindy's Crispy Crust Homemade Pizza
Stop shelling out a small fortune for pizza, learn this easy technique for the best homemade pizza.
Equipment
- large round pizza stone or pizza steel
- pizza pan
Ingredients
- 1 lb refrigerated pizza dough
- ¾ cup pizza sauce
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1 lb italian sausage, cut into ½ inch chunks, or slices
- 8 oz white button mushrooms, sliced
- ½ red onion, diced
- ½ green bell pepper, thinly sliced
- ½ tsp Italian seasoning
- Ranch dressing, for dipping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Place pizza stone/steel in the oven to heat up while oven preheats.
- Place Italian sausage in a large skillet and cook over medium heat until browned. Drain off excess fat. Set aside.
- Sauté mushrooms over medium heat for 4-5 minutes until they release their moisture and excess liquid has cooked off. Set aside.
- Spread out a little flour on a smooth work surface.
- Stretch out the dough by holding it in both your hands and turning it to stretch it out. Hold it like you would a steering wheel, turning it, letting the weight of the dough start to stretch it out as you turn it.
- Place the dough onto the floured work surface and gently start to spread the dough out using your fingers.
- Sprinkle a little flour onto the dough and use a rolling pin to roll it out to an even thickness.
- Remove pizza stone from the oven and place it on a flat surface. Transfer dough onto the stone. Use a rolling pin to spread it out in an even thickness, leaving the edges of the dough a bit thicker.
- Cover the dough with a dish cloth and let it rest for about 5-10 minutes.
- Bake in preheated oven for 7 minutes. Watch dough as it pre-bakes. Use the tip of a sharp knife to "pop" any large bubbles that form.
- Remove crust when it is lightly browned.
- At this point, transfer the crust onto a pizza pan. If you don't have a pizza pan in your arsenal, just leave the crust on the baking stone and proceed with the sauce and the toppings.
- Top with sauce, cheese and preferred toppings.
- Sprinkle with Italian seasoning.
- Return pizza to the oven and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until crust is golden brown on the bottom.