Is anyone else annoyed with my constant changing of the recipes in my house? I am never quite satisfied with a recipe until I have tried several variations on it. Don’t believe me? In April, I shared two variations on pizza dough. I revisited my recipe when I found a new cookbook and I really liked that variation too. Then more recently, I shared my discovery for another great recipe and shared how to simplify the dinner process by storing your ingredients in a bag.
I really believed that the last one was *the* star in all of my recipes. I had planned to never revisit this recipe again. Unfortunately, I ran across a copy-cat recipe for a Pizza Hut dough that I just had to try. The results…worth the reevaluation!
Let me preface by saying that I do not like Pizza Hut. It is way too greasy for my taste and has never agreed with my stomach too well. I didn’t try this recipe because I love Pizza Hut so much, but I was simply intrigued by the ingredient list.
Although this recipe has a few more ingredients than my past variations, it is by far THE BEST pizza dough. I promise not to lead you astray and hope that you might get a chance to give this recipe a shot. It is worth the effort.
This dough is light and airy and does not rest heavy in your stomach. I think this is attributed to the addition of the baking powder.
This dough also has a great texture to it, which comes from the addition of cornmeal. It is not enough to give it a grainy texture, but simply adds to the bite and makes it more pleasing to the mouth than the flat flour, oil, yeast, water combination.
I hope that you can try this one. Don’t forget to throw a few extra of these into a bag to enjoy in the weeks ahead. This recipe yielded a large crust and an order of cheesy bread for our family. The cheesy bread was prepared by rolling out the dough, drizzling it with olive oil, sprinkling with cheese & garlic salt and throwing it in with the pizza dough after it has been prebaked. You can cut these (before baking) with a pizza roller.
I topped the pizza with a can of crushed tomatoes, which had been simmering on the stove for about fifteen-twenty minutes. I added a little salt, a pinch of sugar, and a little dried oregano to the sauce. It turned out perfect! I topped the pizza with part of it and then used the rest as our dipping sauce.
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as you have enjoyed the past variations!
Pizza Hut Style Pizza Dough
1 1/3 cups water
2 tsp sugar
1 1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp cornmeal
3 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp yeast
Add ingredients to bread machine, according to manufacturer’s settings, and run dough setting. After the machine beeps, roll out the dough. You can roll the dough into two 9×13″ pizzas (great for kid’s lunches!) or into two medium pizzas or a large pizza and an order of breadsticks (as instructed above). Parbake the crust with a drizzle of olive oil on it at 450 degrees for ten minutes. Remove the crust and add sauce and toppings. If making breadsticks, add your breadsticks at this time. Place into the oven for another ten to fifteen minutes or until golden and bubbly. Enjoy!
20 Responses to “Frugal Momma’s Test Kitchen: Pizza Dough- Take Six”
Here’s my own recipe:
1 1/2 c warm water
4 1/2 c flour
3 T olive oil
1/2 t salt
1 T yeast
All in the bread machine. They said the olive oil helps with the chewy texture. My mother always used special high-gluten flour that was supposed to be good for pizza dough and used by restaurants but I am not a real epicure and couldn’t tell much difference. The biggest thing I’ve learned over the many years of making pizza is that too much flour will kill it faster than anything else. Just enough to keep it from sticking to everything in sight. Also, preheating the oven to 450 good and long is a must, the high temperature is necessary for the texture. I’ve got a pizza stone and peel and they work nicely but I haven’t seen a huge difference in the texture. The cornmeal on the bottom is nice.
I’ll try this recipe because the baking soda is so intriguing. I’m up for any experimentation when it comes to pizza . . . it’s our staff of life.
Our favorite uses the bottled pesto , candian bacon and mozzarella.
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Thanks for sharing your recipe with me. I will have to try that one too
I love trying out new recipes.
I agree, the higher the temperature the better. I also have a pizza stone and I love mine so much! I have bought stoneware from Pampered Chef and replaced just about everything with it. It is so easy to clean and I love how nicely things turn out in it. I keep having parties so that I can get more stuff
This dough is extremely sticky. The original recipe had only three cups of flour in it. I threw in an extra 1/4 cup so that I could roll it out without having a big mess on my hands.
My husband doesn’t like cornmeal on the bottom (a personal favorite of mine), but he didn’t mind it incorporated into the dough. It is very subtle.
The baking powder makes this dough rise all the way to the top. It is so great!
Let me know if you guys try it- Happy New Year, Michelle!!
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Amy, I can’t wait to try this! I’ve also tried many a pizza crust recipe always getting less-than-desired results. So, I am so glad you have done all the research for me!
I’ll let you know how it goes! Happy New Year!
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If you haven’t tried making pizza in a cast iron skilled – I recommend it. I put oil and cornmeal on the bottom and spread the dough out (I don’t roll it). It takes great this way – crispier bottom.
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Yum! Yum! Yum! Oh my, this was awesome! I made it Friday night just as suggested – pizza and cheese bread! The cheese bread was so good that I hardly ate any pizza! I used some whole wheat flour and it was great. Also, I don’t have a bread machine, so just used my Kitchen Aid to mix the dough and then let it rise before rolling it out. Delish!
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Can you freeze this like you mentioned in another one of your pizza posts?
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I know this is an old post, but I’ve been digging through your archives because I just got a hand-me-down bread machine. Yay! I’m trying this recipe tonight. Hopefully it will turn out better than my other disasters… (blogged of course LOL)
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You’re right. This recipe is great! We’ve made it twice now. The second time we used whole wheat flour for a little more than half of the flour. It didn’t really toughen the dough much at all and the texture came out great. Thanks!
http://gregcooks.blogspot.com/2008/06/pretty-darn-good-pizza-dough.html
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I don’t have a bread machine. My mixer has a dough hook which is what I normally use. Any guidelines on how long to let rise and how many times to knead it?
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I’m sorry, but you are the greatest. I had tried this recipe years ago and loved it. I had recently just got it out again and honestly, I was getting ready to figure out how to make it in my bread machine and you have done it! Thank you!
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I just made this recipe tonight because my son really likes Pizza Hut. I tried the suggestion about baking it in a cast iron skillet. It tasted so much better than the second one that I baked in a regular pan. In fact, I’m going to buy a second skillet and retire my baking stone.
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Ooh, I want to try that! My pizza crust is thinner and denser than Pizza Hut’s crust; sometimes I’d like a lighter crust.
BTW, in the last couple of years it seems as though Pizza Hut has been using less grease in their pans. It’s still oily, but doesn’t seem quite … deep-fried.
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I’m excited to try with the 1/2 whole wheat. Mmmmmm…
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[...] many of her recipes and have never been disappointed. In fact, my ultimate favorite recipe is her Pizza Hut Clone Recipe. This is hands down the best pizza dough recipe I have come across. Plus, you just pop everything [...]
[...] Pizza Hut Style Pizza Dough: Let me preface by saying that I do not like Pizza Hut. It is way too greasy for my taste and has never agreed with my stomach too well. I didn’t try this recipe because I love Pizza Hut so much, but I was simply intrigued by the ingredient list. Although this recipe has a few more ingredients than my past variations, it is by far THE BEST pizza dough. I promise not to lead you astray and hope that you might get a chance to give this recipe a shot. It is worth the effort. Recipe from Mom Advice. [...]
[...] We’ve tried a variety of pizza dough recipes, and settled on this whole wheat version for a long time. Or some variation of it, depending on how wheat-y we want go to. Or we just resort back to Mom Advice’s Pizza Hut Clone Recipe. [...]
[...] I need one super easy meal a week) Thursday: Chicken Almond Stir-Fry Friday: Homemade Pizza with Pizza Hut Clone Crust from MomAdvice Saturday: French Toast Waffles and Turkey Breakfast Sausage (breakfast for dinner = [...]
I have made every pizza crust in the world, or so it feels, in hopes to find a recipe that yielded a dough that can be stretched thin and still keep a chewy inside like a brick oven pizza crust texture. Omigosh, this recipe hit the jackpot. I’m so not even kidding! I loved it. Loved it. Loved it.
I topped mine with the following and think it is possibly the best, most high quality tasting pizza – ever (it is vegetarian, I’m not, but it is so delicious I couldn’t ruin it with meat):
Sauce (mix together well and let it sit on the counter for a minimum of 2 hours):
- 5 cloves of roasted garlic, mashed
- 1/4 cup of olive oil
- 1/8 tsp of salt
- 1/2 tsp of dried oregano
Toppings:
- Onion and Pepper Mix: (1/2 large yellow onion chopped finely + 1/2 a red or orange bell pepper chopped finely…saute onion and pepper together with a little butter or oil until very soft). Crumble mix all over pizza, very lightly. Important: this is to give mild taste and nutrition but not change the texture of the pizza.
- Mozzarella cheese
- Freshly grated parmesan cheese
- Fresh basil chopped and spread lightly (basil is a strong flavor, don’t overdo it or you lose it’s quality)
- 10-15 fresh cherry tomatoes, cut in half and placed skin-side-up.
- Sprinkle salt lightly over finished, but unbaked pizza. Pepper also if you like. (this is key!!!)
You’ll love it. I promise you.
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[...] We’ve tried a variety of pizza dough recipes, and settled on this whole wheat version for a long time. Or some variation of it, depending on how wheat-y we want go to. Or we just resort back to Mom Advice’s Pizza Hut Clone Recipe. [...]
[...] Pizza Hut Style Pizza Dough **************************************************************** (Adapted from Frugal Momma’s Test Kitchen: Pizza Dough- Take Six) [...]