In terms of comfort food, pizza is at the top of the short list. But, when the craving for a pizza hits, it's not exactly instant gratification -- eat-in requires a drive to your favorite pizza pub, delivery requires a wait to receive a less than idillic product, and, to make one from scratch requires even more time. Tick, tock. If you're looking for a way to work around this dilemma, you've come to the right place. Here in my kitchen, when I make pizza, I make one and freeze one. Keeping a few stored in my freezer means my family or friends can be enjoy a top-notch, ooey-gooey cheesy pizza whenever the mood strikes -- and it takes just twenty stress-free, mess-free minutes.
Start w/an unbaked, fully-topped pizza.
~ Step 1. Start by making your favorite pizza dough. Pat it into a lightly-oiled 12"-round or 13" x 9"-rectangular pizza pan and top it with your favorite pizza sauce, cheese(s), and any additional meat or vegetable toppings.
Prebake pizza in pan, in 375° oven w/oven rack in center.
~ Step 2. Bake the pizza on center rack of preheated 375° oven for exactly 18 minutes. Cheese will be bubbling and melted, and crust will have puffed up. Remove pizza from oven. Using a large metal spatula, loosen/slide pizza from pan onto a cooling rack to cool completely, 1-1 1/2 hours.
Tightly-wrap, refrigerate, then freeze pizza for several months.
~Step 3. To avoid (at all cost) any type of freezer burn, first, triple wrap the completely cooled pizza in plastic wrap. Next, seal the pizza it in a 2-2 1/2-gallon Ziplock bag, then, place it in the refrigerator for several hours to get it cold. Once the pizza is cold, freeze it flat, and, if you continue to make additional pizzas, it is fine to stack them flat on top of each other.
Thaw & finish-bake directly on center oven rack, in 350° oven.
~ Step 4. Thaw fully-wrapped pizza on the counter for about an hour, OR, gently and carefully on the defrost-cyle in the microwave oven for about 3 minutes. Remove plastic wrap from thawed pizza. Place pizza directly on center rack (or on a pizza stone placed on the center oven rack) of preheated 350° for 4-6 minutes, or, until the cheese is bubbly and the bottom of the crust has crisped up.
A freezer w/homemade frozen pizza = a family's best friend:
How to Prebake, Freeze, Thaw & Finish-Bake Pizza: Recipe yields instructions fo prebake, freeze, thaw & finish-bake as many pizzas as you want to.
Special Equipment List: 1, 12"-round pizza pan or 1, "13" x 9"-rectangular baking pan; large metal spatula; pizza peel; pizza stone (optional); wire cooling rack; plastic wrap; 2 1/2-gallon Ziplock freezer bag
Cook's Note: Wouldn't it be great if the moment the smooth, round ball of pizza dough was kneaded we could slap it on the pan, pat it out, slather it with sauce, layer it with toppings and pop it in the oven? It sure would, but, unfortunately, we can't -- well, we can, but the end result is somewhat less than palatable. "Proofing" meaning, "the time it takes for the dough to rise after it has been kneaded and bulk-proofed", is the most important step in the pizza making process. Sadly, it's all-too-often not taken seriously -- it gets rushed. Great crust comes to those who wait. ~ How and Why to Proof Pizza Dough Two Easy Ways ~.
"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti
(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2022)
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