How to Make Homemade Pizza With Store Bought Dough

Saturday night movies with your friends would not be complete without pizza. It’s everyone’s favorite food. A slice of pizza that’s teeming at the sleeves with pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, and the works, it’s going to be one fun night. But do you know what can make it more fun? By making your own pizza!

Yes, you heard it, you can make pizza at home. Sky’s the limit when it comes to the toppings that you can put on your homemade pizza. And you can buy ready-made dough from the grocery store. Hover through our article to know how to make homemade pizza with store bought dough.

After making one, you’ll never buy pizza from the restaurant again! It can save you money and you can choose what pizza toppings and ingredients to put.

How to Make Homemade Pizza With Store-Bought Dough in 3 Ways

With store bought dough, making pizza at home for pizza night is quite easy. Since you don’t need to make it, it can make up for a quick lunch or dinner.

Here are simple steps on how you can make homemade pizza easily using store bought dough. 

How to make the dough rise:

One of the struggles in using store bought pizza dough is that it’s quite difficult to rise. Given that it was stored in the freezer, it will be more challenging to rise compared to the fresh dough.

But it’s pretty much manageable!

1. Take out the premade pizza dough from the refrigerator. It will rise in 30 minutes to 3 hours at room temperature.
2. There are several ways to make it rise.

•  One, you can place it near a window. 
• Two, wrap it in a towel and place it on the kitchen counter. 
• The third option is cold fermentation. Let the dough sit in the ref overnight. Cold fermentation takes the longest. But some people will argue that dough will be more flavorful when allowed to rise using this method. 

3. If you need to make the pizza right away. You can condition the pre-made dough whilst you’re on your way home. Let the store bought dough sit on the sunny window of your car. This will save you time. And by the time you get home, the premade dough has already risen.

Tips on making the pizza dough rise:

1. Don’t let the dough rise for too long. The maximum time for cold fermentation should be 24 hours. Anything more than that will result in over proofing. And an over-proofed dough will fall flat and will have a denser crust.
2. For room temperature proofing, let it sit for a maximum of 8 hours on the counter.
3. You’ll know that the dough is already proofed. It would have doubled its size. 
4. If you’re using cold fermentation to rise the dough, let the dough rest for 1-2 hours at room temperature before working on it. 
5. If you’re making round pizzas, diving the dough and shaping it into balls will help you create a perfect round pizza.
6. Do not use a rolling pin to stretch the pizza. Instead, use your hands. Using a rolling pin will destroy the air pockets. And this will make it harder for the dough to rise. 

How to shape the Pizza dough:

If you’re using a conventional oven, a rectangular-shaped dough is easier to do. You can place the dough directly on the sheet pan to bake.

1. Lightly flour your workspace. It can be a butcher’s block, a clean counter, or a cutting board. Lightly press both sides of the pizza dough on the floured surface.
2. Pinch the sides of the pizza dough with your fingers. And start working your way out. Move to the center of the dough and push it outwards. 
3. You’ll be slowly expanding the dough. Continue with this motion and lightly dust it with flour. This will help the dough reach its desired size.
4. Once the dough has expanded and has reached the corners of your cutting board, place your hands under the dough.
5.  Use your knuckles to stretch the dough both in vertical and horizontal directions. Lightly dust with flour. This will help the dough grow in size.
6. Keep expanding the dough until it’s the same size as the baking sheet pan. If patches start to appear, you can easily cover them up by folding the dough over. 
7. Get a parchment paper. Cut it into the size of the baking sheet and drizzle olive oil on it.
8. Transfer the dough to the baking sheet and gently press until the edges reach the edge of the baking sheet.
9. Bake the dough first before you add in your toppings.
10. If you’re making personal pizzas, divide the dough into 4 to 6 ounces. If it’s a two-person pizza party, divide the dough into 10-12 ounces. And if you’re making homemade pizza for the entire family, work on an lb of dough.
11. If there is leftover dough, put it in an airtight container and toss it in the freezer. This should last for 3 months. 

You may also like: Can You Freeze Chicken Salad

Tips on how to properly stretch the dough:

1. Flour your working surface. And dust some into your hands as well. This will prevent the dough from sticking.
2. Watch YouTube tutorials on how to properly stretch the dough.
3. If it feels stubborn and elastic, let it rest for 10 minutes. Cover it and relax it a bit.

How to Pre-Bake Store-Bought Pizza Dough

Remember, you have to prebake first the dough. So before you get all excited, here’s how.

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the dough at the second tier of the oven.
2. Bake the crust for 7-10 minutes. If you want a crispy crust, brush the side of the dough with olive oil
3. While the crust is baking, you can start to prepare the ingredients for the toppings of your homemade pizza.
4. Once  done, take it out of the oven. Then preheat the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
5. Add in the tomato sauce, tomato paste, or pizza sauce, your choice of dried herbs, pepperoni, ham, mozzarella cheese, and a sprinkle of salt. We have a section at the bottom of our favorite pizza recipes. 
6. Bake the pizza with the toppings for 7 minutes. 
7. Allow the pizza to cool down and sprinkle with fresh basil before serving. 

How to Store and Reheat Leftover Pizza

Say you’ve made several pizza slices at home and had some left. You can still enjoy leftover pizza the next day.

You can devour the leftover pizza for breakfast or pack a few slices for lunch at school or work. It can make up for a quick yet tasty lunch when you’re on the go.

To maintain the freshness of the pizza, you can wrap the pizza slices in aluminum foil. And store in the ref. And when you’re ready to eat them, you can toss them in the microwave, or oven. And an air fryer can also easily reheat pizza without drying it out. And it will taste as if it just came out from the baking stone oven. 

Tips to Make Your Homemade Pizza Tastier

Let’s level it up by doing it as the pros do. And here’s how.

1. Sprinkle the pizza with parmesan cheese and a little salt. Seasoning the crust will make your pizza taste at par with store bought ones. 
2. As mentioned earlier, never attempt to add toppings to raw dough. Patience is key.
3. Lightly brush the side of the pizza with olive oil. This will make a more crispy crust and golden brown.
4. You can add pizza seasoning to store bought pizza sauce. This will add more interesting flavors to your homemade pizza.

Heed our suggestions and pizza night will be every night! There are tons of exciting and interesting pizza recipes that you can try. 

Homemade vs Store-Bought Dough

Which is better, making dough from scratch or buying one from the store? Well each has pros and cons, and it also depends on your circumstances

Homemade 

1. You need time to make one.
2. Homemade dough cost lower 
3. And you have the option to choose which recipe works for you.

Store-Bought 

1. It’s easier to tend to.

2. And If you don’t have time to make one from scratch, it’s easy to buy from the grocery store. 

3. Since it has been sitting in the fridge for too long, it needs more time to proof.

Our Favorite Pizza Recipes

You can make your own pizza recipe or make these classics. These pizza flavors never fail to make someone else’s day. And it’s pretty easy to make. They’re also one of our favorite noms to make at home.

Margherita Pizza

A classic Margherita pizza is made of tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, olive oil, salt, and fresh basil. Despite the basic ingredients, the flavors will explode in your palates. Margherita pizza tastes fresh and it’s a healthier option if you’re trying to stay away from meat. This recipe allows you to enjoy a delicious slice of pizza minus the red meat.

Mozzarella Cheese

Melted mozzarella cheese on a pizza crust is heaven. You need only a few ingredients to make this one. So gather your mozzarella cheese, olive oil, pizza sauce, and fresh basil. It’s quite similar to a Margherita pizza. The only difference is in the sauce. Margherita pizza makes use of a simpler sauce, tomatoes. While you need pizza sauce to make mozzarella pizza.

Black Olives and Pepperoni Pizza

This is a twist to the well-loved pepperoni pizza. You need olives, olive oil, pepperoni slices, mozzarella cheese, onions, and salt. The olives will add a distinct aroma and salty-sweet flavor to the pizza.

Cheesy Pepperoni Parmesan Pizza

You might have been parmesan cheese for your pasta. Aside from mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese can also make up a delicious homemade pizza. You need parmesan cheese, pepperoni slices, pizza crust, bell peppers, tomato sauce, tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese.

Buffalo Mozzarella and Tomato Pizza

The tangy buffalo mozzarella flavors are a rather new and exciting ingredient to add to your homemade pizza. We need premade pizza dough, tomatoes, pizza sauce, buffalo mozzarella cheese, fresh basil leaves, and olive oil.

What Else Can You Make with Store Bought Pizza Dough 

A lot! You’d be surprised at how versatile this baking ingredient is!

Cinnamon Rolls

If you’re not in the mood to knead the dough for your cinnamon rolls, premade is the key.

A Pillsbury thin pizza crust is the most appropriate for making cinnamon rolls.  

Gather the ingredients. We’d be needing cinnamon powder, the thin pizza crust, butter, sugar, and vanilla or cream cheese glaze,

Mix butter, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Unravel the dough and spread the butter cinnamon-sugar mixture over the dough. Roll it into a log and cut it into even pieces. Bake In the oven and glaze afterward. 

Naan Bread

Divide the dough into two to three sections, stretch and flatten them out. Get a frying pan and melt ghee or butter on low heat. Fry it over the ghee, butter, or oil. Season with garlic, salt, or herbs of your choice. 

You enjoy the bread as is or eat it with a vegetable or meat dish. 

Baked Breadsticks

Cut the dough into five segments and roll it. This depends on how thick you want your breadsticks to be. Season with butter, salt, minced garlic or garlic sauce, and crushed red pepper. You can also add cheese. Whack In the oven and enjoy it with some dipping sauce. 

Cake Pops

Cut the dough into small balls. Then pop them in the cake pan and bake them in the oven or the air fryer. Then you may decorate your cake pops or frost them with chocolate or caramel sauce. Your kids will love you for this.

What’s the Difference Between Pizza Dough and Regular Dough

Is pizza dough the same as bread dough?

Both do use the same ingredients, both have yeast, salt, water, and flour. 

The difference is that bread dough has a higher yeast content. This means that it will rise more when poofed

So Can I Use Bread Dough Instead of Pizza Dough for Homemade Pizza?

Apparently Yes. but you have to do several preparations.

1. Since bread dough has a higher yeast content and can rise more, you have to flatten out the bread well. Stretch the dough very thinly so it won’t be too thick or bready.
2. On the other hand, you can just settle for a bready pizza. It’s like eating a thick crust pizza only that it’s denser and heavier. 

How to Make Pizza Using Bread Dough

Let’s see how you can make pizza using bread dough. We’ll be making two types of pizzas, a pan pizza, and a thin crust pizza

Sheet Pan Pizza Out of Bread Dough

Pan pizzas are thicker so this is a great option if you don’t want to stretch the dough very thinly.

1. Take 1 kilo of dough from the package. We’ll be making a 12 x 19=8 pan pizza.
2. Drizzle some olive oil into the sheet and place the bread dough at the center. 
3. Start to press the center using your knuckles. Work your way out. 
4. Stretch the dough until the edge reaches the rim of the baking tray.
5. Preheat oven to its highest temperature
6. Bake for 10 minutes.
7. Add in the toppings and bake for another 7 minutes.

Thin Crust Pizza from Bread Dough

For making thin crust pizza, we need about 200 to 50 grams of bread dough. 

1. Fold the edges of the dough underneath, then roll it into a tight ball.
2. Proof the dough for a few hours.
3. Roll the dough on a clean counter or cutting board. Dust it lightly with flour. 
4. Stretch it out as thin as you can.
5. Add your toppings and cook the pizza on a pizza stone or pizza pan. 
6. Cook it in the hottest oven temperature for 7-10 minutes
7. This type of pizza might not need pre-baking the dough as it’s really thin already. 

Healthier Alternatives to a Pizza Dough 

Pizza dough is filling and of course, it’s carbohydrates. So if you are cutting down on carbs but still want to eat pizza. there are lower-calorie and healthier alternatives.

Flattened Ground Chicken

We’ll be replacing the crust with seasoned thinly ground chicken. There are several recipes, but this is our favorite.

1. To make this low carb pizza, you need finely ground chicken thigh, powdered parmesan cheese, mozzarella and grated parmesan cheese, salt and pepper, chili powder, and optional spinach.

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. And we’ll start to prepare ingredients for the crust. In a bowl, mix the ground chicken, powdered parmesan cheese, and seasonings.
2. If you’re using spinach. Thaw it and remove the excess water by blotting it with kitchen towels. 
3. Line the baking sheet with ornament paper and lay the chicken mixture. Press it until it’s thin. Then bake for 20 minutes. 
4. Remove the chicken crust and top with the remaining ingredients. Then bake for another 10-25 minutes. Or until the cheese is melted.

Red Beets

Using red beets for pizza crust instead of dough can result in colorful and healthier pizza This vegetarian pizza is bursting with flavors you never knew veggies could have.

1.  The ingredients for this red beet crust are red beets, egg, salt, and pepper, coconut oil, baking powder, hazelnut meal, and quinoa.
2. Preheat the oven to 360 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. Miz all the ingredients in a bowl. The consistency will be wet.
4. Get a parchment paper and line the baking tray with it.
5. Scoop the mixture into the parchment paper. Smoothen it out until it forms a round shape.
6. Bake for 25 minutes.
7. Take it out of the oven and top with tomato paste or hummus. Add other toppings of your choice. You can toss in your favorite veggies and mozzarella cheese.
8. Bake for another 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted. 

FAQ

Making pizza is easier with a premade pizza dough. Now you can enjoy pizza nights more often. And there’s an array of exciting recipes to try, the sky’s the limit!