You won’t always have the time and energy to put together a tasty pizza from scratch at home. Therefore, you might need a little head start in order to get things going.
The quickest way to get that head start and lead your way into an exciting evening of pizza delight is to lay your hands on an already made pizza dough.
And for that, you’d want something fresh and alive and not fortified with a bunch of preservatives in order to alter the taste, colour and freshness.
The best place one would ever expect to get such freshness is directly from pizza places themselves.
So do pizza places sell pizza dough?
Pizza Hut, Dominos, Pizza Pizza, Papa John’s and Little Caesars do not sell pizza doughs to customers, but smaller bakeries that make pastries and pizza may be able to sell fresh dough directly to customers who request them for as littles as $1.
What options do you have when it comes to making quick pizza?
Purchase a fresh pizza dough directly from a local bakery
As mentioned earlier, you might be able to get fresh pizza dough directly from your local bakery.
Start by phoning or walking into the shops and asking if they sell them. Most of the time, you’ll be able to walk out of the shop with a batch of freshly made dough when they’re available, but if your local bakery doesn’t sell pizza dough, you can try a different bakery and see if luck shines on you.
Buy pre-baked pizza crust
In times when you don’t feel like spreading and rolling out dough yourself, you can always go with the option of a pre-baked crust.
Pre-baked crust as the name suggests is a dough that has already been baked into a crust. So all you need to do is layer your toppings over the pre-baked crust and then put it in the oven to cook as instructed on the crust’s label, or, for the duration of times it takes the toppings to get done perfectly.
Pre-baked crust comes in a variety of ingredients and styles to choose from, and typically, the high quality ones go for nothing less than $7 in supermarkets and grocery stores.
Buy Frozen Pizza
If you want to go further down the convenience line and make things easier on you, then you should turn your face towards the aisle of frozen pizza, even though frozen pizzas aren’t exactly the most healthiest types of pizzas to consume since they contain preservatives and additives to make them last long and retain freshness at the same time.
Not every frozen pizza contains unhealthy ingredients though. Some additives are actually beneficial for the body like in the case of Guar gum and artificial sweeteners.
When you freeze pizzas that aren’t loaded with dangerous additives, eat them in moderation and you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.
You can purchase frozen pizzas from online stores like Amazon and Walmart, and you can also get them at supermarkets and local grocery stores.
Buy Pizza Crust Mix
Pizza crust mix are an easy way to make pizza doughs without having to measure flour and other dry ingredients all by yourself.
Pizza crust mix comes mixed with all ingredients in place and all you have to do is add a bit of water and oil and then knead, proof, shape and bake with your favourite toppings ontop.
The good thing about pizza crust mix is that you can also use them for other pastries like rolls, focaccia and bread.
When purchasing pizza crust mix, make sure to go for those that do not have too many additives in them or are free from any artificial additives.
A very good choice is the King Arthur Pizza Crust Mix that is made with very simple ingredients and doesn’t have artificial additions like sweeteners, flavours, colours or sugar.
You’ll be able to find pizza crust mix for as little as $5.
Homemade pizza dough vs Store bought pizza dough: which is better?
When it comes to which is better between homemade pizza dough and a store-bought pizza dough, here are the key things to know.
With a store bought dough, you have the option to make choices in terms of ingredients and style of crust. You can have the option of a traditional crust, or a dough that bakes into a round thin crust or a much denser crust.
You also have the option to choose what flour your dough is made from i.e whole-wheat or semolina flour and you also have the option of ingredients like cheese and garlic etc.
With a homemade dough however, you’re typically constrained by the available ingredients at hand and the recipe you’re following. And how you want your crust to bake might not necessarily be how it turns out to bake.
When it comes to quality, you might be surprised to find out that many store-bought pizza doughs are actually better tasting and of higher quality than home baked doughs.
This is simply because they’re made by experts who have long experience in doing what they do, which is to make and bake pizzas. So they know exactly how to combine ingredients in the perfect proportions and methods that bake into a perfect crust.
Then comes the last factor to weigh in which is actually a negative point for the store-bought dough. And this is the fact that store-bought doughs, especially pizza mixes and pre-baked crusts can have a lot of artificial ingredients added to them to affect flavour, texture, taste and colour.
So while they may taste better than homemade doughs, store bought doughs may not exactly be the healthiest option. Make sure you read the dough label carefully and find out exactly what the ingredient composition is..
In the case of your local bakery, you can ask about the ingredients composition or whatever additives are in the dough directly.
How to buy a good pizza dough
Good brand
The most important thing when it comes to purchasing a good pizza dough is the brand. Make sure to stick with a very reliable brand as they typically provide high quality dough.
Check for reviews if purchasing pizza mixes or pre-baked crusts
If you’re purchasing pizza mix or pre-baked crusts online, make sure to check and read through reviews to find out what people that have purchased the mixes are saying about it.
Higher ratings and many good reviews means that the dough is likely of high quality and too many complaints (especially similar complaints) is a big sign to back away from it.
Buy freshly made doughs if possible
If possible, try as much as possible to go for freshly made doughs as opposed to frozen doughs sold in grocery stores or supermarkets.
The reason for this is because fresh doughs are likely to not contain additives and preservatives, whereas frozen doughs may contain additives and preservatives in order to help them retain the colour, taste, texture and integrity during freezing.
