This pizza crust recipe is great for a family pizza night! Use it as your go to for all things pizza, cheese bread, and more! Get the full recipe and tips for a better pizza crust here…
Pizza Crust Tastes Plain
This can be a problem because your main pizza chain restaurants basically always flavor their crust! To avoid the problem of your crust tasting like cardboard try thinking outside the box with different seasoning combinations. Here are a few to try:
- Garlic butter
- Italian (use an Italian seasoning mix)
- Garlic and herb
- Cajun butter
- Pepper Flakes
Get creative and see if it helps step up your pizza game!
Here’s another idea when it comes to plain tasting crust- stuff it!
There are few who will disagree that stuffed crust pizza is better. My favorite way to stuff a crust is with ground sausage and mozzarella cheese! It’s amazing dipped in some marinara sauce. It also helps the pizza last longer because it is so filling.
Pizza Crust Tastes Yeasty
I had this problem for years while trying to come up with the type of crust recipe I wanted. You put in all that hard work just to get to the end and it taste like I just poured some pizza sauce over yeast! I think this is where a lot of people give up on homemade pizza crust. Here are a few ways you can correct a yeasty tasting pizza…
- Make sure you let the dough rise sufficiently. A good rule of thumb when working with any kind of dough is to let it double in size.
- Check to make sure your yeast is in date. Store yeast in the refrigerator, it will stay fresh longer
- Avoid fast or quick rise yeast.
- Dissolve yeast all the way before using.
- Use enough honey or sugar to offset the yeast flavor.
If you are still having yeast problems after trying the solutions above it may be that the recipe you are using just is not for you.
Crust Does Not Rise
This can be an issue if you have not allowed to dough to rise sufficiently before baking. When dealing with most rising doughs you are working with a two-three rise system. Simply meaning that before it will rise during the baking process you must first allow the dough to rise.
After mixing all of your ingredients and kneading the dough you need to let it rise by doubling in size. This could take several hours depending on your climate and the temperature of your house. Yeast and sourdough react to heat. If you are having trouble getting a good rise try these tricks below.
The Height Method
We all know that heat rises. Try placing your dough somewhere high during a rise. On to of your refrigerator, on a high cabinet or shelf are a few ideas.
The Oven Method
This one never fails me! You have two options: one, place the bowl of rising dough on the stovetop of a heated oven. The heat from the oven will cause the dough to rise. Two, heat your oven to 350 degrees for ten minutes then turn it off. After the oven has cooled down but is still decently warm, place the dough in the warm oven and allow to rise.
Be careful not to let the dough over rise or it may have a slightly yeasty taste.
Now that we have covered the basic tips for a homemade pizza crust let me share with you my favorite recipe!
I hope you enjoy this and that it turns out great. Remember you can be creative with seasoning and stuffing the crust. Here I will just give the basic crust recipe and you can add your own spin on it with the fun stuff!
Homemade Pizza Crust
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp active, dry yeast (not fast rising)
- 2 cups warm water
- 2 tsp honey (or 1 tsp sugar)
- 5 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 egg
- 3 1/2-4 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour
Instructions
- Dissolve yeast in warm water.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (or regular large bowl if you do not own a stand mixer) add the rest of ingredients in the order they appear above. If using a stand mixer you may need to switch to dough hook as dough becomes thicker.
- Knead until smooth. (About 15-20 minutes in the stand mixer.)
- On a floured surface shape the dough into two even balls. Allow the dough to rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size.
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degree.
- After dough has risen sufficiently, roll out on a floured surface. Roll out dough until it is about a 1/8-1/4 inch thick. Place on pan or pizza stone and shape crust.
- Bake crust for 5 min. without sauce or toppings.
- Add sauce and toppings then bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
- Allow the pizza to cool about 8-10 minutes before cutting.
