Pizza Hut Pizza Crust

I love Pizza Hut's crust; it always tastes so buttery and delicious.  I found a copycat recipe on the internet and decided to give it a try.  Our end result was really good, but it didn't have quite the same effect as the original. 

The recipe tells you to use 9" cake pans, but I didn't have any pans like that, and I wanted to use our new pizza stone (thanks, Kinsey and James!).  After you make the dough, the recipe says to put 3 oz of oil in bottom of the pan before you put the crust in; obviously, that's what gives the crust its buttery taste...but that's 1/3 of a cup of oil!  I drizzled 1 oz (which is the same as 2 Tbsp) on the pizza stone before putting the dough on it, and I feel like it just made the bottom of the pizza soggy.  We like it crispy, and it wasn't crispy.  However, when we reheated it on the hot griddle, it was perfect!  A hot pizza pan or pizza stone may be the trick.

Here are some other notes on the recipe: It will tell you to use a rolling pin to roll out the crust, but I don't have one, so I just used my fingers.  Also, be aware that it makes three pizzas!  It says they're 9" pizzas, but depending on how thick or thin they are, you can probably get them closer to 11" or 12", so be ready to make them for a crowd.  You could also make two and allow for leftovers (which is what we did), and then we threw the last dough ball into a Ziploc and are keeping it in the refrigerator until we can make another later this week.

The ingredients made a great crust, and I will make this again--I'll just pre-bake the crust and not use any oil.  I'm going to put the original recipe up here in hopes that it'll work better for you than it did for me, but I'd caution you again not to use so much oil in the pans!  Your heart will thank you.

Pizza Hut Crust

1 1/3 cups warm water
1 packet dry yeast
1/4 cup non-fat dry milk
1/2 tsp salt
4 cups flour
1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp vegetable oil (for dough)
9 oz vegetable oil (3 oz per pan)
Butter flavored cooking spray

In a large bowl, combine the yeast, salt, sugar, and dry milk.  Add water, and stir to mix well; allow to sit for 2 minutes.  Add the 2 Tbsp oil and stir again.  Add flour and stir until dough forms and flour is absorbed.  Turn out onto a flat surface, and knead for about 10 minutes.  Divide dough into three balls. 

In three 9" cake pans, put 3 oz of oil in each, making sure it is spread evenly.  Using a rolling pin, roll out each dough ball to about a 9" circle.  Place in cake pans.  Spray the outer edge of the dough with cooking spray.  Cover with a plate, and place in a warm area for dough to rise for 1 - 1 1/2 hours. 

For each crust, heat the oven to 475.  Spoon sauce, cheese, and desired toppings on pizza crust.  Cook until cheese is bubbly and outer crust is brown, about 8-10 minutes.