Print
clock clock iconcutlery cutlery iconflag flag iconfolder folder iconinstagram instagram iconpinterest pinterest iconfacebook facebook iconprint print iconsquares squares iconheart heart iconheart solid heart solid icon
cheese pizza

Easy Double Cheese Pizza

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 1 review
  • Author: Erin Clarkson
  • Prep Time: 15 Minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 6 servings 1x
  • Category: Pizza
  • Method: Oven
  • Cuisine: American, Italian

Description

Double the cheese = double the fun! My super easy cheese pizza has a simple pizza sauce topping, and is topped with two kinds of cheese for flavour and extra meltiness. Leave it as is or finish with your favourite pizzeria style toppings - I love adding dried herbs and chilli flakes! My cheese pizza recipe has options for baking both in a pizza oven and an at home oven. 


Ingredients

Scale

Pizza Dough

  • One ball of homemade pizza dough, ready to use, or dough of your choice
  • Semolina flour or regular flour for shaping (semolina is my preference)

Cheese Pizza Toppings

  • Homemade Pizza Sauce or sauce of your choice (I use about 60ml / 1/4 cup but use however much you like)
  • 75g (Or however much you want to use) shredded low-moisture mozzarella
  • About 20g freshly grated parmesan cheese, or other cheese of your choice
  • Dried oregano or italian herbs for finishing (optional)
  • Chilli flakes / red pepper flakes for finishing (optional)


Instructions

There are a few methods to bake the pizza - I use a pizza oven but there are notes in the recipe on a few options. Please make sure you read the recipe all the way through first as the oven needs to preheat for quite a while if you are using an at home oven. Make sure that your oven is preheated and ready to go before you assemble your pizza. I recommend you read my homemade pizza dough post for detailed notes on shaping the dough.

SHAPING DOUGH

  1. Once the dough is ready to use, place some semolina flour onto a dinner plate or sheet pan. Carefully remove one piece of dough from the container you have risen it in, and place it directly onto the semolina, flipping it so that both sides are covered. 
  2. Transfer the dough to the work surface, adding more semolina if needed. Using your fingers, press in a circle around the edge of the pizza, leaving about a 1-2cm edge. Press down the middle of the ball of dough to gently flatten it off. 
  3. There are lots of ways to stretch pizza but I like to use what I call the 'steering wheel' method - place one hand on the middle of the dough and using the other hand, gently grab the edge of the dough and stretch it out slightly, then turn the dough about 45°. Repeat, going around the edge of the dough 2-3 times until it has stretched out nicely. 
  4. If you would like to, you can carefully pick the dough up and holding it by the edges, move your hands around the sides to use gravity to help stretch the dough further. You can also place it over the backs of your hands to gently stretch it out. This takes practice and you will get better at it with the more pizza that you make. 
  5. You are aiming for a circle of dough that is 12-13" (30-33cm) in diameter, and has a slightly thicker edge. 
  6. Transfer the pizza dough to your pizza peel, giving it a little wiggle to make sure that there are no stuck spots. As you top the pizza, give it a little wiggle every now and then too to ensure that it is not stuck to the peel. 

TOPPING THE PIZZA

  1. Once the pizza is on the peel, give it a little shimmy to make sure that it is not stuck - If it feels sticky, add some more semolina flour. I like to shimmy it between every topping that is added to make sure that the launch goes well. 
  2. Top the crust with sauce, spreading almost to the edges. Scatter both kinds of cheese over the sauce. 
  3. Bake the pizza using one of the following methods. 
  4. When out of the oven, top with herbs and red pepper flakes (optional)

TO BAKE USING A PIZZA OVEN 

  1. Top the pizza as desired. Transfer using the pizza peel to the pizza oven and bake according to the manufacturer's instructions - my dough usually takes about 2-3 minutes in a gas fired oven, or 4 minutes in an electric pizza oven. Again, this will take some practice. Once baked, finish as desired. 

TO BAKE USING A BAKING STEEL

  1. An hour before you want to bake the pizza, place a baking steel or pizza stone into the oven. I prefer to use a baking steel as they are much more durable. Preheat the oven to 500°f / 260°c or as high as your oven will go if it will not reach that temperature. 
  2. Shape and top the pizza as instructed in the shaping section. Using the peel (or if you don't have a peel, the back of a sheet pan will work but you have to be very careful), wiggle the peel to transfer the pizza to the baking steel. 
  3. Bake the pizza for about 5-6 minutes until bubbly and golden brown, and you are happy with the colouring of the crust on the bottom of the pizza. Use the peel to remove the pizza from the oven. 
  4. If you are baking another pizza, make sure that you give the steel enough time to heat up again before cooking your next pizza. 

TO BAKE IN THE OVEN.

  1. About an hour before you are going to bake your pizza, preheat the oven to 500°f / 260°c or however high your oven will go. 
  2. Shape and top the pizza as instructed in the shaping section. You can top the pizza on the sheet pan you are going to bake it on, either directly on the baking sheet or on some parchment paper. While you are shaping the pizza, if you have one, preheat a second baking sheet that stacks with the one with the pizza on it in the oven for about 10 minutes - this helps with the initial burst of heat. 
  3. Top the pizza as desired, then transfer to the oven. Bake for about 13-15 minutes, until the crust is brown and the cheese and toppings are bubbly. 

Notes

This recipe makes one cheese pizza. My pizza dough recipe makes enough dough for two pizzas (or scale as needed)

All my pizza making equipment is linked in my pizza stuff products page.

I find that it works best to buy blocks of mozzarella and shred them myself as needed rather than buying pre-shredded cheese, but use whatever you like and what you are comfortable using. I usually use roughly 75g of cheese per pizza, but cheese should always be measured with the heart.