I learned how to make this family dish from my aunt and uncle in California. No matter which Grandma we’re referring to, everyone adores it! This is a Sunday tradition because we host football Sundays at our house. Depending on whether I’m baking my pizza, some folks will determine whether or not to attend.
| Prep Time: | 1 hr |
| Cook Time: | 40 mins |
| Additional Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 10 mins |
| Servings: | 24 |
| Yield: | 3 12-inch pizzas |
Ingredients
- 2 (.25 ounce) packages fast-rising dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon white sugar
- 2 ½ cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C), divided
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 pinch garlic powder, or to taste
- 5 cups all-purpose flour, or more if needed
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano, or to taste (Optional)
- 2 tablespoons ricotta cheese (Optional)
- 1 (29 ounce) can tomato puree (such as Contadina® Tomato Puree)
- 1 teaspoon onion powder, or to taste
- 1 pinch garlic powder, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon white sugar, or to taste
- 1 ½ teaspoons olive oil, divided
- 3 Italian sausage links, casings removed
- 1 pinch dried oregano, or to taste (Optional)
- 1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste (Optional)
- 1 ½ teaspoons melted butter, divided
- 1 cup shredded pizza cheese blend, or as needed
- 24 slices pepperoni sausage, or as needed
- ¾ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or as needed
- 3 dashes Louisiana-style hot sauce, or to taste
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix together the yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar, and 1/2 cup of warm water. Let the mixture stand until the yeast begins to bubble and form a layer of creamy foam on top, about 15 minutes. Stir in 2 more cups of warm water, olive oil, 1 tablespoon salt, garlic powder, and about 2 cups of flour. Mix together to form a loose batter, and begin beating in flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough is slightly sticky but not wet, about 3 more cups.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, place into an oiled bowl, cover with a cloth, and let rise in a warm place until double, about 30 minutes.
- Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat, and stir in the oregano. Let the oregano fry in the butter for a few seconds, then whisk in the ricotta cheese until the mixture makes a smooth paste. Whisk in the tomato puree, onion powder, 1 pinch garlic powder, 1 teaspoon of salt, black pepper, and 1 teaspoon sugar until the sauce is smooth. Bring the sauce to a boil, stirring occasionally, cover, and remove from heat.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Coat 3 12-inch pizza pans with about 1/2 teaspoon olive oil apiece.
- Place the sausage into a skillet over medium heat and sprinkle with 1 pinch dried oregano and 1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes, if desired. Brown the sausage, breaking it into small chunks as it cooks, until the sausage is no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Set the sausage aside.
- Place the dough on a floured surface, punch down the dough, and cut it into 3 equal pieces. Roll a dough piece out to the size of a prepared pizza pan, and place the dough on the pan. Stretch the edges of the dough a little beyond the pan, and fold the excess dough over to make a thicker edge. Press the folded dough together to seal. Repeat for the other 2 crusts.
- Bake the crusts in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, then remove from oven and brush each crust with about 1/2 teaspoon melted butter (see Notes for details).
- Using a large spoon, spread a layer of sauce over each crust. Sprinkle with pizza cheese blend, dot pieces of browned sausage evenly over the cheese, spread pepperoni slices over the pizzas, and sprinkle each pizza with about 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper. Shake 1 or more dashes of hot sauce over each pizza. Return the pizzas to the oven, and bake until the cheese is melted, bubbling, and beginning to brown, 15 to 20 more minutes.
- Recipe makes 3 12-inch pizzas or 2-3 baking sheet-size pizzas, depending on how thin or thick you like your crust.
- Before adding oregano to sauce, crush between fingers to release the flavor.
- To coat crust with butter halfway through baking, I use a cold wrapped stick of butter like a big marker to apply the butter.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 213 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 25 g |
| Cholesterol | 15 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 7 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 725 mg |
| Sugars | 2 g |
| Fat | 10 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This recipe was perfect
A typical pizza crust. We used our usual toppings.
Now, Grandma knew what she was doing when she put this recipe together. Delish
A keeper for the crust – makes a LOT if you are going with a thinner crust. I used a jelly roll pan and only used half the dough. I had to make some modifications to toppings because I was out of several ingredients, but I will update when I remake with the original recipe. Note: Froze half the dough. Looking forward to thawing and using the pre-made dough the next time. I will thaw the dough in the fridge overnight and then put on counter to continue to bring to room temp and rise further for a couple of hours before cooking. Hope it works out with this dough – definitely a good recipe.
This makes the best pizza crust ever. We topped ours a little differently and used another sauce but definite keeper for the crust. YUM!
Pretty good! Crust is a bit on the chewy side, however if you make it real thin it’s excellent. The sauce is very tomato-ey for us, would have liked more flavors blended in, 7 year old granddaughter liked the sauce the least. We use “Irish garlic sausage” that we feel tastes much better on pizza. We get this in the sausage section of our local grocery store that is a nationwide store.
My first attempt at making a homemade pizza. It actually turned out quite well, and was very tasty. Now I also know how to make my own crust and sauce from scratch, so I thank you for sharing.
absolutely delicious! * you may want to let it cool afew minutes before serving…*
Ooh, so good and easy! It took me about 2 hours, and these pizza was a real crowd pleaser, will make again for sure
Easy dough and sauce recipe. I made two 14 pizzas they were very thick crust that’s the way my family likes it. I had an extra cup of sauce left because I only made two pizzas. The dough ended up taking 7 cups flour plus extra to knead to keep from getting sticky. Alternate the toppings to fresh zucchini and mushrooms from the farm. And BBQ chicken yum!!!