So pizza is my one desert island food. If ever I’m trapped on an island with only one food source, I want pizza to be it.
As long as I can make a fire (google ‘how to make a fire with no matches’), I’m golden. Pizza, like bacon, should be its own food group. For as long as I can remember Friday night was pizza night in my house. Even as far back as my childhood, Mom always made us pizza on Fridays. When I bought my first house and pre-Mr. Fantabulous Friday nights were pizza nights whether I was working at our pizza shop, on a date (yes, even a date), or chilling out at home. Pizza was my boyfriend.
When Mr. Fantabulous and I started dating, instead of going out on Fridays, we’d grab a pizza, some soda, and watch movies. I can remember the one night we power-watched H.R. Pufnstuf for six hours straight. I think we went through two whole pizzas, Doritos, and a two-litre bottle of Coke. Oh, young love. Now I’m lucky I can stay up past 11 p.m. on a Friday night and eat more than two slices.
I honestly meant to share this kitchen recipe years ago, but I just kept forgetting. It’s not like this is super secret; it’s one of those things EVERYONE in the world should do.
I loathe frozen ‘cardboard’ pizzas and am not a fan of chain-type pizza shops. Anything made in mass production in a facility and then shipped to stores to reheat is just not my thing. I’m all for stand-alone pizza shops. I fully support local.
And for those of you who think there isn’t, yes, there is such a thing as bad pizza. No longer is “even if it’s bad pizza it’s still good as it’s pizza” a valid statement. Yeah, WRONG!
Since I spent the past few weeks prepping for my shoulder surgery, I made five frozen pizzas for Mr. Fantabulous that he could just pop into the oven and ‘cook’ dinner for us. Now, trust me, this man will take full credit for cooking dinner when he makes these. But that’s cool, as long as my butt gets a slice or two.
These couldn’t be easier to make. The only specialty item I’d advise getting (though not necessary) is the cardboard cake rounds when you want to freeze them. They add more support to the pizza as it freezes, and it makes stacking in the freezer much easier.
When making these at home, you want to par-bake your dough naked. One thing that is a must when you make your pizza shells is that once you stretch the dough and put it on your pizza screen or directly on your pizza stone, you need to ‘dock the dough.’
Docking the dough can be done with the tines of a fork or a pizza docker. You perforate the surface of the dough with little holes that allow air to flow through it while it bakes and prevent the dough from puffing up, creating giant air bubbles.
You don’t cook the dough fully, just about 6 minutes at 550F. At 6 minutes, you can use a pizza peel and pull the ‘dough shell’ right off the screen without it sticking. You don’t want to cook this fully.
Once the shells are cooled, top with your favorite sauce, cheese, and toppings. I would caution you against using fresh veggies that have a high water content (mushrooms, zucchini, squash, etc.) as they could make the pizza soggy when you finish baking it. In that case, I would either saute them first and put them on the pizza OR add them when you’re ready to bake the pizza to eat.
After you have them all ready, pop them into the freezer uncovered for about an hour or until they are frozen (they may not be frozen solid yet,, but an hour is good enough to wrap them up tightly).
To wrap, give them a double wrap of plastic wrap and then another wrap of aluminum foil. Since Mr. Fantabulous is baking these, I put the instructions on a label on the pizza. This way, if I’m sleeping, he can truly fend for himself—I hope!
Making frozen homemade pizzas is a great weekend project as it doesn’t take long to make a batch of these and it’s a great way to get the kids involved. Plus if you have kids that live away and are home visiting you for the holidays, make a bunch of these for them to take home and store in their freezer.
PrintHow to make Homemade Frozen Pizzas Recipe
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- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 2 frozen pizzas
- Category: pizza, freezer meals, homemade frozen pizza
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: pizza, freezer meals, homemade frozen pizza
Ingredients
- Best Pizza Dough – makes two pizza balls
- 2 cups of freshly shredded mozzarella Cheese, divided
- 1 cup of pizza sauce
- Assorted Toppings – see note about fresh vegetables
Instructions
- Follow the instructions on making the Best Pizza Dough. Thirty minutes before baking (and the dough is ready), place a Pizza Stone on the lower third rack or invert a metal pan and place it on the rack. Preheat the oven to 550F for 30 minutes. *if using a Pizza Screen , do not preheat the screen but place the oven rack on the lower third rung.
- If using the pizza stone or inverted pan, stretch out the dough and place it on a flour-dusted paddle. If you don’t have a paddle, stretch out on flour & semolina-dusted parchment paper.
- Stretch the dough into a 12″ round, thin crust, leaving the outer edge slightly thicker. Using a fork, dock the pizza dough. To dock the dough, you take a fork and prick holes all around the edge and in the middle (avoid the thin spots) to allow air to vent up through the dough while it bakes. This will help prevent bubbles. Repeat with the other dough ball.
- Bake the dough for 6 minutes, then remove the shell from the oven and place it on a cooling rack.
- Once the shell is cooled, put it on a 12″ Cardboard Cake Round and top it with sauce, cheese, and toppings. Place the prepared pizzas on a cookie pan and place in the freezer uncovered. You want to flash-freeze the pizza. It’ll make it easier to wrap later. Freeze for one hour, remove from the freezer, and double wrap in plastic and foil.
- To bake, preheat the oven to 450F, unwrap the pizza, and place it on a screen (do not bake the cardboard round!) or baking stone.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbly.
Notes
Certain fresh vegetables do not freeze well raw – mushrooms, zucchini and squash as they have a high water content. I would either saute up the vegetables first, let them cool and then place on the parbaked pizza shell OR when you’re ready to bake, add them fresh raw veggies then.
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