Who doesn’t love the convenience of frozen pizzas? I know I do! Pair one with a green salad, and viola! a quick, no-fuss meal, which everyone loves.

However, even though I love the convenience and ease of frozen pizzas, I don’t like the list of unnecessary ingredients that usually comes with them. There are natural brands, which I am undoubtedly more comfortable buying; however, they are expensive. So lately, I’ve just been making my own!

At our house, we have homemade pizza almost every Friday night. It’s one of our traditions! Fridays are usually busy days for me, so making a homemade pizza can sometimes be a little tricky to fit in my schedule.

That’s why I’ve been taking one evening a month to make homemade frozen pizzas, which will last all month. It’s wonderful! I can get healthier, yummier, homemade pizza without having to sacrifice the convenience, which store-bought frozen pizzas provide.

Want to see how to make your own homemade frozen pizzas? I’d love to show you!

Homemade Frozen Pizzas

Ingredients:

• 5 cups white, whole-wheat flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 tsp instant yeast (or bread machine yeast)
• 3 tbsp honey
• 2 cups room temperature water
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Toppings of choice

To get started, dump all of your ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Stir together, using a large spoon, until everything is almost wholly combined.

Knead with the dough hook in a stand mixer for 2 minutes.  Don’t add any extra flour at this point.  It’s going to be extremely wet, but trust the recipe!  If you do not have a stand mixer, you can knead by hand, but still try not to add any more flour.  Try coating your hands and kneading surface with olive oil instead of flour to prevent the wet dough from sticking.

After the 2-minute kneading-period, cover the dough, and let it rest for 15-20 minutes.  This helps the gluten to develop, making  kneading both easier and faster.  This resting period helps the whole-wheat flour to absorb more water.

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When the dough is done resting continue to knead with the dough hook on your stand mixer (or by hand) for another 6-8 minutes.  Add additional flour only if the dough is still so sticky that it’s not manageable.  You want the dough to be wet.  This will help it still taste amazing even after it’s been frozen, and that’s what we’re after.  Right? 🙂

When you are done kneading, you want the dough to be fairly smooth and very stretchy.

Form the dough into a ball, and put it into a bowl, coated with olive oil.  Turn the dough in the bowl to coat it with the oil.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise for 1 hour.  It should almost double in size.

Once the dough has risen, gently remove it from the bowl, and divide it into four equal pieces.

Shape each piece into a ball.  Place the dough balls on a surface coated with olive oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap.  Let rest for 30 minutes.

On a surface lightly greased with olive oil, flatten each ball of dough into a disk.  Use a well-seasoned rolling pin to roll each disk into a 12-inch circle.

Transfer one disk of dough to a baking sheet or pizza stone and bake in a 450^o oven for 5 minutes or until set.  Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.  Repeat with the three remaining doughs.

Once all the crusts have been prebaked and cooled, top with pizza sauce, cheese, and your freezer-friendly toppings of choice.  Some toppings, which I have successfully frozen on my pizzas include the following: meat (pepperoni, shredded chicken, ground beef, etc.), onions, green peppers, black olives, and pineapples.  Anything that normally freezes well will be appropriate!

Wrap each pizza very well with plastic wrap.  I usually at least double wrap from each direction.

Place the pizzas on a flat surface in the freezer and freeze for up to three months.

Cooking the Frozen Pizzas

Preheat the oven to 450^o. Remove the pizza from the freezer, and bake either directly on the oven rack or preheated pizza stone for 10-12 minutes — until cheese is melted and the crust is nicely browned.

Serve and enjoy your homemade frozen pizzas!