One of my favorite aunts turned 65 last week. I wanted to do something extra special for her: I made homemade marinara pizza followed by a s’more dessert pizza. Trust me, they were both delicious. Special thanks to my little 2 year old sou-chef, Keira, for all of her help.
Children love helping in the kitchen! The Kitchen-Aid Stand Mixer is perfect for their little hands! Just make sure to lock the bowl in place before those little hands turn the mixer on! Pizza dough needs several hours to rise, so make sure to keep that in mind when making your pizza.
Marinara Pizza
Adapted from Recipe by Taste of Home Blog and Epicurious
Yield: 2 pizza pies
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
- 1 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
Sauce
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano or 1/2 teaspoon dried
- 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 2 teaspoons salt or to taste
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes whole plum tomatoes, chopped with their liquid
Directions
- In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water
- Add the oil, salt, sugar and 3 cups flour and beat on medium speed for 3 minutes
- Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes
- Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top
- Cover and let rest in a warm place for 3-4 hours or overnight.
- Divide dough in half and on a floured surface, roll each portion into a 13-in. circle
- Transfer to greased 12-in. pizza pans; build up edges slightly
- Prick dough thoroughly with a fork.
- Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until lightly browned
- While the pizza is baking, make fresh tomato sauce
- Heating the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat and then add the onions, bay leaf, oregano, garlic, and salt and cook, stirring often, until the onions are soft and translucent, about 10 minutes
- Add the tomato paste and continue cooking for 5 minutes
- Add the tomatoes and stir constantly until the sauce begins to boil
- Lower the heat and simmer for 1 hour, stirring every 5 minutes or so to prevent the sauce on the bottom of the pot from burning
- Taste and season with additional salt and remove the bay leaf before pouring the sauce over hot crusts to within 2-in. of edges; add cheese and other toppings
- Bake for 20 minutes longer or until cheese is melted
S’more Pizza
Adapted from Recipe by She Knows
Yield: 2 pizza pies
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1-1/2 cups flour
- 1 cup graham flour
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon molasses
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 package dry yeast
- mini marshmallows
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Directions
- Heat your cup of water in a saucepan and once very warm, add brown sugar to dissolve
- Turn off heat and add yeast and allow to stand for about 10 to 15 minutes
- Pour yeast mixture into a mixer and slowly mix in molasses, honey, vanilla, cinnamon and butter
- Mix in a little of the flour, and then the rest of the flour with the salt
- Use dough attachment on mixer or hands to knead dough until smooth
- Allow dough to sit in covered bowl in a warm area to rise for about an hour
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- Roll out dough and bake on a pizza stone for 10 minutes
- Remove dough from the oven and add marshmallows and chocolate chips
- Bake pizza for another 10 to 15 minutes or until crust is slightly brown
Mmm, pizza always brings joy to the table! Your delightful pizza adventures have me craving a slice (or two!). Thanks for sharing your delicious journey and recipes!
Pizza for dinner and dessert! I’m all over that. I’m sure she thoroughly enjoyed it.
I love making homemade pizza, but we never made a dessert pizza before! I had a s’mores pizza when my school brought in a pizza truck and it was amazing. I can’t wait to try your recipe.
Oh, yum! Looks delish! A local pizzeria serves S’mores pizza and I love it so much. Excited to have a recipe to make it myself.
Great way for dinner and dessert. These look very yummy.
What is wonderful recipe and two incredible dishes, I would lov to try the Smore pizza, they look so inviting from your pictures.
The smore pizza looks amazing! I’d love to give that a go! It would be the perfect dessert!
Brilliant idea to have dinner and dessert pizzas. Nice way to spend family time together.
Ha, the kids would love pizza for their main and dessert. Thanks for sharing this with us.
I love marinara pizza; so yummy. But my kids will love smore pizza. It is an amazing idea!
Nnniiiccceeeee….anything pizza is a favourite of mine. Thank you for this recipe. I have to try this one out.
This is so sweet! Homemade food made with love is always the best. The dessert pizza looks awesome, great job on both.
I just love both of these recipes! So fun to have pizza for dinner AND pizza for dessert. My kids can’t wait to have this again!!
I absolutely love pizza, and your homemade marinara and s’more dessert pizza recipes sound fantastic! It’s heartwarming to hear about your special celebration for your aunt with your little sous-chef, Keira. Thanks for sharing these delicious ideas!
These are amazing pizzas and although I can’t them because of health issues. I would love to try these. Thank you for sharing!