Friday night is pizza night at our house.  With COVID, we’ve been cooking at home a lot more than ordering in or going out to eat so we’ve taken to preparing our own pizzas from scratch at home.  It’s been fun to play around with toppings and be creative with what we add to each pizza.  You can definitely stick with the traditional toppings if that’s what you prefer on pizza, but we like to branch out and make each pizza unique.

This crust is a favorite of mine as well.  I’d prefer less dough and more toppings in each bite so I’m going to share with you my recipe for Thin Crust Pizza Dough.  This is the base I use for all my homemade pizzas.  It’s thin, doesn’t require any time to rise, and gets nice and crispy when you bake it on a pizza stone.  One plus side of this dough is the lack of yeast.  The dough doesn’t need to rise so you don’t need to prepare it ahead of time or plan extra time to make this as a meal.  You can have the dough prepared and baked in about 20 minutes.

The recipe can be found here.

Start by placing a pizza stone in the oven and preheating the oven to 450 degrees F.  You want to put the pizza stone in BEFORE turning on the oven so it can heat with the oven.  This will help the pizza get a nice crispy crust because the stone holds heat more evenly than a baking sheet.  You can use a baking sheet if you do not own a pizza stone.  The bottom of the crust might not be as crispy, but the pizza will still taste great!

In a large bowl, add the flour, baking powder, salt, oil, corn syrup, and water.  Mix well to combine.  If the dough isn’t coming together you can add another Tbsp of water.  Use your hands to form the dough into a ball.  It will be quite sticky!

Place the dough on a piece of parchment paper.  I like to flour the surface, then use a rolling pin to roll out the dough until it’s paper thin.  I add more flour as needed to prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin.  An alternate option would be to place a second piece of parchment paper on top of the dough and roll out the dough into a paper-thin piece while sandwiched between the 2 pieces of parchment paper.  Discard the top piece of parchment paper.

From here, you can add the toppings of your choice.  I find it easiest to assemble the pizza on a cutting board or the backside of a baking sheet (turn the baking sheet over and use the non-lipped side).  This will make it much easier to transfer the pizza to the pizza stone without burning yourself.

Once you’ve added your toppings, you can use the parchment paper to drag the pizza from the cutting board or baking sheet directly onto the pizza stone.  It’s OK to cook the pizza on the parchment paper!  It won’t affect anything and will honestly make it easier to remove the pizza and create less mess.

Bake the pizza for 12-15 minutes or until the crust is crisp and golden brown.  You can add additional baking time if you want a crispier crust or if you are using a baking sheet instead of a pizza stone to reach the desired consistency.

You can use the parchment paper to drag the cooked pizza back onto the cutting board or baking sheet to slice and serve.  Enjoy!

The recipe can be found here.

If you are look for topping inspiration, here are a few of our favorite pizzas to make:

• Bell Pepper & Onion Thin Crust Pizza
• Chicken & Bacon Thin Crust Pizza
• Ricotta, Spinach & Pine Nut Thin Crust Pizza
• Tomato & Olive Thin Crust Pizza

For the Bell Pepper & Onion Thin Crust Pizza, prepare the Thin Crust Pizza Dough as mentioned above.  When it comes to adding the toppings, add a few spoonsful of pizza sauce on top of the dough and spread to the edges.

Slice the fresh mozzarella in half and arrange on the pizza.  Sprinkle the minced garlic over the top.

Arrange the bell peppers and onions over the top.  Then, add a sprinkle of pine nuts and thyme.  Drizzle olive oil lightly over the top and season with salt and pepper.

Transfer the pizza to the pizza stone and bake for 12-15 minutes or until the crust is crisp and golden brown.  Remove from the oven, slice, and serve.

The recipe can be found here.

For the Chicken & Bacon Thin Crust Pizza, prepare the Thin Crust Pizza Dough as mentioned above.  When it comes to adding the toppings, add 2 Tbsp of olive oil to the dough and brush evenly over the top.  This is completely optional, but we love garlic in our house, so I like to sprinkle some garlic salt over the top.

Arrange the chicken and chopped bacon evenly over the top of the pizza.  Top with the sliced onion.

Sprinkle with oregano and mozzarella cheese.

Transfer the pizza to the pizza stone and bake for 12-15 minutes or until the crust is crisp and golden brown.  Remove from the oven, slice, and serve.

The recipe can be found here.

For the Ricotta, Spinach & Pine Nut Thin Crust Pizza, prepare the Thin Crust Pizza Dough as mentioned above.  When it comes to adding the toppings, add the ricotta cheese and spread evenly over the dough.

Make sure the spinach is thawed and drained, then squeeze and excess water out.  Sprinkle the spinach over the top.  Arrange the sliced onions on top of the spinach.

Add the pine nuts and a sprinkle of nutmeg.  Drizzle olive oil lightly over the top and season with salt and pepper.  Sprinkle the fontina cheese over the top.

Transfer the pizza to the pizza stone and bake for 12-15 minutes or until the crust is crisp and golden brown.  Remove from the oven, slice, and serve.

The recipe can be found here.

For the Tomato & Olive Thin Crust Pizza, prepare the Thin Crust Pizza Dough as mentioned above.  When it comes to adding the toppings, add a few spoonsful of pizza sauce on top of the dough and spread to the edges.

Slice the fresh mozzarella in half and arrange on the pizza.  Arrange the tomatoes on the pizza.

Add black olives and basil.  Drizzle olive oil lightly over the top and season with salt and pepper.

Transfer the pizza to the pizza stone and bake for 12-15 minutes or until the crust is crisp and golden brown.  Remove from the oven, slice, and serve.

The recipe can be found here.

Enjoy!  What’s your favorite topping?  What’s the craziest thing you’ve put on a pizza?  I hear there is quite the controversy about whether pineapple belongs on pizza or not.  I’m definitely team pineapple so maybe next time I’ll share some yummy pineapple pizza recipes 🙂

Happy Cooking!

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