Looking for something a bit different, while also super familiar? Throw some pizza in a crockpot! It requires minimal extra effort, doesn’t heat up your kitchen like the oven might, and still creates a good crusty…crust. I was actually a bit impressed how firm the crust got, after the very soft lovely bread I cooked in a crockpot 2 years ago. In this case, I used hearth bread pizza dough – specifically, half a recipe of it. I actually used a full batch the first time I tried this, knowing in advance it would probably be too much, and, indeed, it was a tremendous breadwad that reminded me of the coma Dominos’ pasta in a breadbowl used to put one in. A half recipe is still a bunch of crust, but a reasonable amount, not a life-wrecking carb overload. You can use your pizza dough of choice, but aim for about a 1 pound ball of dough.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound pizza dough of choice, such as 1/2 recipe of Hearth Bread Pizza Dough, or store-bought frozen dough
• approximately 5 ounces pizza sauce (about 1/3 a 14 ounce jar of pizza sauce)
• approximately 3 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
• toppings of choice

Prepare the dough according to recipe/package directions through the first rise. Deflate the dough and place in on a large piece of parchment paper. Shape into a rough oval, approximately 1″ larger than your crockpot all the way around.

Gently transfer the dough into the crockpot using the parchment.

Spread your sauce over the dough, leaving a clear space around the edge, then top with cheese and any additional toppings.

An excessive amount of chicken, to clear out the fridge.

Fold the outer ring of dough over to create a raised crust. Cover, shutting paper towel in the crockpot lid to catch any liquid that condenses inside, to prevent it from falling back on the pizza.

Turn heat on to high, and cook approximately 3 hours – even my double-dough one was cooked through fine at 3, but I don’t think it’ll be ruined if you can’t get it out until 3 1/2.

Remove the parchment from the crockpot, slice, and serve.

Browned up all nice, and not actually as hugely bready as that looks from that angle.

Crockpot Pizza

• 1 pound pizza dough of choice
• approximately 5 ounces pizza sauce
• approximately 3 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
• toppings of choice

Prepare the dough according to recipe/package directions through the first rise. Deflate the dough and place in on a large piece of parchment paper. Shape into a rough oval, approximately 1″ larger than your crockpot all the way around. Gently transfer the dough into the crockpot using the parchment. Spread your sauce over the dough, leaving a clear space around the edge, then top with cheese and any additional toppings. Fold the outer ring of dough over to create a raised crust. Cover, shutting paper towel in the crockpot lid. Turn heat on to high, and cook 3 – 3 1/2 hours. Remove the parchment from the crockpot, slice, and serve.