Recipe for CHEESE PIZZA
Making this homemade recipe for cheese pizza is quite a treat on pizza night. It’s a good break away from heavier meaty pizzas. See this listing in our Homemade Pizzas in Oven Guide and also in our Pizzas, Cheese, Italian Cuisine, and Oven Dinners categories.
Recipe For A Cheese Pizza
Equipment
- 1 Pizza Baking Surface Pizza Pan, Baking Sheet, Pizza Stone, or Pizza Steel
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Ingredients
Pizza Dough (or use premade)
- 1 cup water warm from tap
- 2 Tbsp olive oil or other vegetable oil
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp Vital Wheat Gluten optional for extra chewiness
- ½ tsp garlic powder optional
- ½ tsp active, dry yeast can be quick rising, instant, or bread maker yeast
Shaping Pizza Dough
- 2 Tbsp flour on work surface
- 1 Tbsp oil only for coating pan/sheet
- 2 Tbsp corn meal or semolina flour, for reducing dough sticking
Pizza Toppings
- ¾ cup Tomato-based Sauce Sauce Choices: tomato, spaghetti, pizza, Ragu, or marinara
- 6 oz mozzarella cheese
- 2 oz provolone cheese or more mozzarella
- 2 oz asiago cheese or more mozzarella
- 2 Tbsp parmesan cheese grated (from shaker)
- ½ medium bell pepper optional: seeds removed, diced
- ⅓ medium onion optional: purple or sweet; diced
- 1 medium tomato optional: seeds removed, diced
- 1 tsp Italian seasonings or oregano
Instructions
- PIZZA DOUGH (or use premade)Make pizza dough homemade or make pizza dough using bread machine. If dough is already prepared and from fridge, let it sit out at least 30 minutes; if frozen, wait at least 1 hour.
- About 15-30 minutes before dough is ready to shape, START to preheat oven at 500°F with a shelf at 2nd from top level. If using pizza stone or pizza steel, insert in oven now.
- Shape pizza dough as needed for your pizza pan, baking sheet, pizza stone, or pizza steel. Only if using pizza pan or baking sheet: Spray or oil pan/sheet. Sprinkle corn meal on pan/sheet, place dough, use oil or water on dough, if needed to shape it. If dough needs more rest time, can prep toppings.2 Tbsp flour, 1 Tbsp oil
- TOPPINGSCut and measure remaining toppings and set aside.6 oz mozzarella cheese, 2 oz asiago cheese, 2 Tbsp parmesan cheese, ½ medium bell pepper, ⅓ medium onion, 1 tsp Italian seasonings, 2 oz provolone cheese
- Only if using a pizza peel: Ensure peel and work surface has corn meal applied. Ensure pizza shaped dough is positioned (whether on peel or work surface), is movable, and transferable.2 Tbsp corn meal
- When dough is shaped and ready, add your toppings using this sequence: sauce, all cheese(s), veggies, parmesan cheese sprinkled, and spices.¾ cup Tomato-based Sauce, 6 oz mozzarella cheese, 2 oz asiago cheese, 2 Tbsp parmesan cheese, ½ medium bell pepper, ⅓ medium onion, 1 tsp Italian seasonings, 2 oz provolone cheese
- BAKINGTransfer topped pizza onto baking surface in preheated 500°F oven onto the 2nd from upper shelf.Baking TIME guidelines: cast iron skillet/pan (20-24 minutes or preheated iron 16-22 minutes), thin metal pizza pan or baking sheet (21-23 minutes), pizza stone (16-20 minutes), ¼" pizza steel (12-16 minutes).
- Let cooked pizza rest about 5 minutes before slicing.
Nutrition
Homemade Recipe for Cheese Pizza Ingredients
When planning this out to be perfect homemade cheese pizza night, there are some times where brands of ingredients might be important. Also, Pillsbury makes a basic, good premade pizza rollout dough onto the countertop. However, if you make your own or get a refrigerated bag of pizza dough form the store, you’ll have an excellent cheese pizza crust.
Prepare & measure toppings for the recipe of homemade cheese pizza.
Homemade Cheese Pizza Recipe Steps
How to Make Cheese Pizza Step by Step
When you’re at home, preparing for the weekend, and you don’t have a pizza but want to make one, you can do it. Basically, start by getting the ingredients. Accordingly, those ingredients are easily displayed in the recipe. So, get the pizza dough, sauce, cheeses, and the spices. Then, choose the baking surface to use, like a baking sheet, pizza pan, cast iron, pizza stone, or pizza steel.
1. Recipe for Cheese Pizza Dough: Making and Shaping
With homemade cheese pizza, at first, you need to make a pizza dough. Unless, of course, you choose to use a storage pizza dough. So, here are 2 separate recipes with details of how to make and shape the pizza dough. Hence, you can make it from scratch by hand or you can make it using a bread maker.
2. The Cheese Pizza Toppings
So you top the dough with sauce and then with cheeses. Then, as an option, finish with some cutup veggies or other optional toppings. Finally, you sprinkle on some spices.
After sauce, top with 1 to 5 cheeses and any other optional toppings like veggies.
3. Bake This Best Recipe for Cheese Pizza
Then, you scoop the pizza from your counter and slide it into your pizza oven (aka Oven) and bake the pizza at the recipe’s suggested temperature. This is where you use your pizza peel to make transferring the pizza much easier.
Using a pizza peel to transfer cheese pizza from counter to oven
4. Final Step: Slice Cheese Pizza and Eat it!
So, after the cheese pizza is cooked on the middle rack and the crust is browned, you do let it sit for a bit to meld together. Then, slice it and oh my goodness, eat it!
Slice the homemade cheese pizza and serve.
All About Cheeses Used in Recipe for Cheese Pizza
What Cheeses To Use On Recipe for Cheese Pizza
Whether you make a 1 cheese, 3 cheese, or 4 cheese pizza recipe, you have a ton of cheese options. Once you know what cheeses work well together for this main course, all that’s left are the amounts of each. Here are the types of very popular cheeses:
- Mozzarella
- Parmesan
- Romano
- Provolone
- Asiago
The two top preferred cheeses for cheese pizza are going to be Mozzarella and Parmesan. The amounts of each cheese will present their own dominance over the pizza so, it’s a good idea to first be aware that Mozzarella cheese is typically the primary amount to use. You could even have an easy cheese pizza if you only used that one.
After that, Parmesan cheese is a good secondary one. I use a shredded version for the main cheese but on other pizzas, I’ll use the pre-grated kind and will easily sprinkle it on. Other cheeses after that can vary extensively.
Provolone is a common good addition.
Asiago cheese is very strong so you’ll probably not want a great deal of that one.
Using Swiss Cheese on Recipe for Cheese Pizza
I will sometimes throw in a little Swiss cheese if to make a little change if I have some left over.
When To Use Cheddar Cheese on a Cheese Pizza
I have found that most people (not all) don’t care for Cheddar cheese on a cheese pizza, unless it’s a specialized hamburger or cheeseburger pizza theme. However, if you know your guests will love it, go for it.
How Much Cheese for Cheese Pizza
The amount of cheese on a cheese pizza will vary on pizza size. Typically, it’s about 8 ounces (in weight). However, for a range, it will commonly be between 6 to 16 ounces. That’s about 1 to 3 cups. Also, for 4 cheese pizzas, it will be closer to 12 to 16 ounces of cheese.
Preparing and Storing Cheeses for Cheese Pizza
Regarding bulk, shredded, or grated for cheeses, you can literally do what you want. The Classic Cheese Pizza will use the “torn” pieces from fresh, moist Mozzarella cheese. We generally use fresh cheeses but we also look for saving time. So, we buy shredded Mozzarella cheese in larger 4 pound bags, divide it up into smaller baggies, and store them in the freezer.
We also keep a block of Asiago cheese frozen. We’ll set it out for about 1/2 hour, shred some for a recipe, and then return it to the freezer.
Other Toppings on Recipe for Cheese Pizza
- Onions
- Mushrooms (sliced or diced)
- Bell Peppers (Green, Red, or Yellow)
- Black or Green Olives (diced or sliced)
- Tomatoes (diced, thin sliced, or sun-dried)
- Spinach (fresh, chopped)
- Extra Cheese
- Red Pepper Flakes
- Fresh Basil
- And, as a meat topping to consider, think about some diced or ham bits. It’s an idea from our “Leftover Ham Ideas” article.
A longer list of veggies toppings is contained in the “Homemade Oven Pizzas Recipes Complete Guide”.
How to Make Garlic Herb Cheese Pizza
When you want to have a little something special for your cheese pizza, just brush the dough with some olive oil to coat it entirely, including the border’s edge.
Then, spread some minced garlic around the border and rub it in a bit.
Follow this with sprinkling about 1 tsp each of Oregano, Thyme, and Basil across all of the dough surface.
Finish the border with sprinkling about 2 Tbsp. Parmesan Cheese and 1/2 tsp salt around it. The rest of the recipe is the same.
FAQ for Cheese Pizza Homemade Recipes
Here are some common, frequently asked questions about homemade cheese pizza recipes.
How long can cheese pizza sit out?
Basically, you don’t want cheese pizza to sit out for too long after baking. However, because there’s no meat involved, it tends to last longer. Generally, it can be anywhere form 30 to 60 minutes. If it stays on a baking stone, baking steel, or cast iron, it can last longer, e.g., 60 minutes. That’s due to the heat retention in that kind of bakeware. However, if it’s on a thin pizza pan, baking sheet, pizza peel, or counter top, it’s closer to 30 minutes or less.
Overall, the idea is that the food safety of eating the pizza has a shorter storage life. In other words, if you leave it out on the counter for 1-1/2 hours, you can eat it fine right away but, it won’t last near as long in the fridge for later eating.
How long is cheese pizza good for in the fridge?
A cheese pizza will last about 3 to 7 days in the fridge. In some cases, it can last even longer. Cheese pizzas, with no meat, do better for storage duration. Also, see “How To Reheat Pizza in an Oven: Expert Ways“.
How many calories in cheese pizza?
The calories for a homemade cheese pizza is about 330 calories for 1 slice of a large pizza. Also, the protein in a slice of cheese pizza is about 16 grams.
What to Serve with Cheese Pizza?
You can easily serve a light lettuce salad or cottage cheese with pineapple side dish with Cheese Pizza. But, just see a full list of ideas in this article “Sides With Pizza: The Best Pizza Sides To Serve“.
Looking for More Pizza Recipes?
Below are some more pizza related recipes and articles. Also, here are some authentic Italian recipes for cheese pizzas.
- 5 Cheese Pizza Recipe with Mushrooms
- Fresh Mozzarella Margherita Cheese Pizza (great recipe from Cookie & Kate)
Other Cheese Recipes
Conclusion of Recipe for Cheese Pizza
In conclusion, making this recipe for cheese pizza is a great way to have pizza night with friends and family. It’s easy to learn to love this baked pizza and its all kinds of cheeses. You’ve used some form of fresh mozzarella and have created the best hot cheese pizza. You’ve made all this from scratch and you can enjoy reheating it for leftover pizza as well.
With a few simple ingredients, using no meat, you can make a very flavorful gourmet cheese pizza that everyone will love. So, why not try making this easy cheese pizza recipe at home now?
Also, on the other end of the spectrum, look at trying out this loaded Supreme Pizza.
Remarkable job. This is a great cheese pizza. Thanks!
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Usually I do not read articles on food blogs; however, this recipe writeup compelled me to take a look at. Thank you; very nice article and recipe on Cheese pizza.
I loved this cheese pizza. Made it easy with my bread machine for the dough. Thanks!
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Thanks for sharing. I read many of your blog posts, cool. This recipe is very good.