Want to make homemade pizza but don't want to knead the dough? This 3 cheese pizza uses my no-knead pizza dough, 5-minute pizza sauce, and a variety of cheeses.
Table of Content
This is one of my personal favorite pizzas. Since it uses my favorite cheeses, and better yet, three different types of cheese. What's your favorite cheese? Put it on your pizza. In fact, I've tried so many different cheeses - even cream cheese, blue cheese. Yup, I love cheese.
About this pizza
Making homemade pizza can be as easy as you want it to be. I love making almost everything myself. And yet, you can also make it semi-homemade with ready to use store-bought pizza sauce.
There are there components to this pizza:
- The dough - Today, I am using my no-knead pizza dough. But, you can also use either my classic pizza dough or the overnight pizza dough. This makes a soft chewy base with crusty edges.
- The sauce - Similarly, I have two tomato sauce recipes for you, one tomato sauce with fresh tomatoes and the other is my quick pizza sauce in 5 mins with canned tomatoes. Both are simple and easy to make.
- The toppings - This is my 3 cheese pizza, so I am using a combination of our family's favorite cheeses: cheddar, gouda, and mozzarella with a sprinkle of parmesan too.
The process for making pizza is also simple and easy.
- Make the dough - 10 mins
- Let the dough rise - 4 to 6 hours up to 24 hours
- Divide the dough and let it rest - 15 mins
- Preheat oven - 20 mins before
- Roll the pizza dough - 15 mins
- Add cheese and bake - 15 mins
And, if you don't want to use a tomato sauce, you can also make it a white pizza with a white sauce. In addition, read my tips on making better homemade pizzas.
Ingredients and substitutes
- Flour - You can use bread flour instead of all-purpose flour. I am using plain all-purpose, which works great.
- Yeast - I'm not a slave to any particular brand. But, I use instant dry yeast as compared to fresh or instant yeast. You can also add the yeast directly to your flour without testing it. But I'm old school. So, I like to use the safe and stress-free method. Therefore, I still let my yeast activate first.
- Water - The temperature of the water you use for yeast has to be warm - not hot, nor cold. Almost the temperature of the liquid you give a baby. Approximately 105 to 115 F.
- Sugar - The sugar here is not for sweetness but to feed the yeast. This helps the yeast grow and nurture the bread. So, don't omit it, and no, it will not make your dough sweet. And, if you don't fancy sugar, try honey or agave syrup.
- Oil - Like sugar, oil is also food for our yeast. It helps the yeast grew and develop flavor. We also use oil to brush the edges, which gives us a nice crisp edge.
- Salt - Use fine grain salt which will dissolve in the dough easily.
Step by step instructions
Prepare the dough
- In a bowl, combine flour and salt – and set aside.
- In a measuring cup – measure the warm water, add olive oil, sugar, and yeast. Combine well.
- Next, add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture.
- Use a wooden spoon or spatula to combine it well making sure no dry flour is left on the bottom.
- This is a very wet dough, so don’t try touching it with your hand.
- Cover with a clean kitchen cloth or plastic wrap.
- Let it rest on the countertop for an hour.
- Then, place in the fridge for 4 hours – up to 12 hours. I like to leave it overnight.
- Tip - Make sure the dough is well covered with plastic wrap so it does not dry out in the fridge.
Divide, rest, and roll
- Preheat oven with pizza stone for at 200 C / 390 F for about 30 minutes.
- Remove the dough from the fridge.
- The dough will have become three times its size, but will still be very soft, sticky, and elastic with lots of air pockets.
- Dust your work surface generously with flour.
- Remove the dough on to the floured work surface. It is best to use a bench scraper or spatula.
- Next, divide the dough with a bench scraper. This dough makes three (for 3 x 12-inch thin-crust pizzas).
- Tip - Let the dough rest again for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Then, using a rolling pin, roll one piece of dough to about 12 inches (see video).
- Transfer pizza to a pizza pan or baking tray (or pizza peel). The video below uses a pizza pan.
- Tip - Place parchment paper on a pizza peel (parchment is less messy than cornmeal or flour).
- Tip - Let the base rest for 5 to 10 minutes - this will proof the base just a little which makes those edges puffy. (optional)
Pizza sauce
- First, add all ingredients in a blender until smooth.
- Next, pour into a saucepan and cook on high for 2 minutes.
- You want the excess moisture to evaporate (see video).
- Let cool. Then, use it on your favorite pizza.
Top and bake
- Tip - Brush the edges of the pizza with olive oil (this will give a nice golden crisp crust).
- Spread pizza sauce.
- Next, sprinkle the parmesan, followed by the other cheeses ending with the mozzarella.
- Then, transfer the pizza to the preheated oven.
- Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes until the edges are crisp and golden and the cheese is melted beautifully.
More pizza toppings
- Margherita pizza
- Mushroom pizza
- White pizza
- Olives and red onions
- Hawaiian pizza
- Pepperoni pizza
- Pesto pizza
Frequently asked questions
Firstly, pizza is always at its best fresh out of the oven. But it does have a long shelf-life and can be reheated and served again.
Traditionally, tomato sauce, pizza sauce is very common. But, I also love to use pesto, BBQ sauce, Alfredo sauce, etc. You can also make a white pizza with white sauce. And, I love a smear of spicy enchilada sauce on my pizza too.
The choices for toppings are endless. I have also shared with you some: the classic Margherita pizza, mushroom pizza, Hawaiian pizza, olives and onion pizza, three-cheese pizza,
You can bake the pizza, cut the slices, and cool them completely. Then, place the slices in a ziplock bag. In fact, you can freeze these for up to three months. They make a great snack for kids.
The slow six hours of proofing is what gives this pizza crust its structure and flavor. And yet, if you want a quick pizza dough use my classic homemade pizza dough that needs only an hour of proofing.
This dough is a high hydration bread. Therefore, it has to be soft, wet, and sticky. So, don't add more flour. And, if you need a more defined dough that's easy to work use my overnight pizza dough. It does need some kneading but the dough is easier to work.
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Printable Recipe
3 Cheese Pizza
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Video
Conversions Used
1 lb = 453 grams, 1 cup = 240 ml, 1 stick = 113g, 1 tbsp= 15 ml, 1 tsp= 5 ml,
Ingredients
Ingredients are for 3 x 12-inch pizzas
No-knead pizza dough
- 4 cups (500 g) All-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Instant dry yeast
- 1 ½ cup (360 ml) Water warm
- 1 tablespoon Olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Sugar
5 mins Pizza sauce
- 1 Garlic (sliced)
- ¼ Onion (sliced)
- 1 can Tomatoes crushed
- 1 sprig Basil fresh
- 4 tablespoon Tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 tablespoon Brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Pepper
- 2 tablespoon Olive oil
Plus
- ½ cups (50 g) Parmesan cheese ((2 oz))
- 1 ½ cup (170 g) Cheddar cheese ((6 oz))
- 1 ½ cup (170 g) Mozzarella ((6 oz))
- 1 ½ cup (200 g) Fontina cheese (or Gouda (6 oz))
Instructions
Prepare the dough
- In a bowl, combine flour and salt – and set aside.
- In a measuring cup – measure the warm water, add olive oil, sugar, and yeast. Combine well.
- Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture.
- Use a wooden spoon or spatula to combine it well making sure no dry flour is left on the bottom.
- This is a very wet dough, so don’t try touching it with your hand.
- Cover with a clean kitchen cloth or plastic wrap.
- Let on the countertop for an hour.
- Then, place in the fridge for 4 hours – up to 12 hours. I like to leave it overnight.
- Tip - Make sure the dough is well covered with plastic wrap so it does not dry out in the fridge.
Divide, rest, and roll
- Preheat oven with pizza stone for at 200 C / 390 F for about 30 minutes.
- Remove the dough from the fridge.
- The dough will have become three times its size but still be very soft, sticky, and elastic with lots of air pockets.
- Dust your work surface generously with flour.
- Remove the dough on to the floured work surface. It is best to use a bench scraper or spatula.
- Divide the dough with a bench scraper. This dough makes three (for 3 x 12-inch thin-crust pizzas).
- Tip - Let the dough rest again for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Using a rolling pin, roll one piece of dough to about 12 inches (see video).
- Transfer pizza to a pizza pan or baking tray (or pizza peel). The video below uses a pizza pan.
- Tip - Place parchment paper on a pizza peel (parchment is less messy than cornmeal or flour).
- Tip - Let the base rest for 5 to 10 minutes - this will proof the base just a little which makes those edges puffy. (optional)
Pizza sauce
Top and bake
- Tip - Brush the edges of the pizza with olive oil (this will give a nice golden crisp crust).
- Spread pizza sauce
- Sprinkle the parmesan, followed by the other cheeses ending with the mozzarella.
- Transfer the pizza to the preheated oven.
- Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes until the edges are crisp and golden and the cheese is melted beautifully.
Recipe Notes & Tips
Tips for making better homemade pizza
I have explained these tips in detail here, but I thought I'd give you just the main points as a takeaway.- Use a pizza stone.
- Pizza peel or pizza tray work better.
- Use parchment paper on the pizza peel for a less messy affair.
- Work with soft, room temperature dough.
- A well-preheated oven is best for pizza.
- Don't overdo the sauce and toppings.
- Choose the right toppings.
- Brush the edges with oil.
- Let the rolled pizza base rest.
- Hold on to the cheese for a crips pizza crust.
For a crisp crust
- Prebake the pizza without the cheese.
- Bake for 7 minutes
- Then top with cheese and bake until crisp and golden
Nutrition Information
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you
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