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Honey Pizza Dough

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Are you craving pizza but limited on time? This recipe is easy to follow and quick to make! This pizza crust is made with honey instead of sugar for a great taste. Follow my tips for a quick, but effective rise for your honey pizza dough.

Pizza night is a staple in our home. Some of my favorite memories include watching a Disney movie with my sister while we waited for mom’s homemade pizza to cook. This tradition has now been passed down to my family, but with honey pizza dough!

The photo shows a close up of a pizza with cheese, tomatoes and basil.

Why we love honey pizza dough

  1. We use honey for sweetener in this recipe but you can use granulated sugar if preferred. There are many reasons people might want to substitute honey for sugar, for me specifically, I want to use more unprocessed options whenever possible.
  2. Forgot to start the dough earlier in the morning? No problem! This dough comes together quickly to make life easier.
  3. Although this is a quick dough, you can make this ahead of time and store in fridge until ready to use. This dough can be stored in the fridge for up to 72 hours.
The photo shows sliced pieces of pizza on a cooling rack at the top with the focus on a piece of pizza with a bite taken out of it.

Ingredient notes and substitutes

  1. Honey can be substituted in equal amounts for granulated sugar, if preferred.
  2. We use pizza dough seasoning to add flavor to the dough but this can be substituted for garlic, rosemary, Italian seasoning or nothing at all.
  3. For this recipe I used 00 flour as it is known for its soft and chewy crust. However, you can easily swap 00 flour out for bread flour or all purpose flour.
Prepared ingredients for honey pizza dough

How to make the best quick pizza crust

  1. In a large bowl combine warm water, honey and yeast, let it sit until frothy (typically 5-10 minutes). Add flour and salt and mix together with a dough hook, or clean hands, until a shaggy dough forms.
The photo shows dough at a dry and shaggy stage of mixture.

2. Lightly flour a surface and turn dough out to knead with hands for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth, slightly tacky but not sticky. If the dough is sticky then add small amounts of flour until the consistency is right.

The photo shows dough on a floured cutting board ready to knead.

3. Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap. Place in a warm spot to rise. You can turn on the oven for a minute, turn off and then place dough in. Or find a sunny room in your home. The key to a shorter rise time is a warm spot for your dough to rise.

The photo shows a dough ball ready to be shaped into a pizza crust on top of a cutting board.

4. You’ll want it to rise for at least 15 minutes, if you have the time you can allow it to rise longer. When ready work the dough out into one large round or two personal pizzas.

5. Top and bake the pizza to your preference.

Honey pizza dough

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Rise time 15 minutes
Course: dinner, lunch
Cuisine: American
Ingredients Equipment Method

Ingredients
  

  • 2 1/4 cup bread flour can use 00 flour
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
  • 1 cup warm water

Equipment

  • 1 large mixing bowl
  • 1 dough whisk
  • plastic wrap or damp tea towel

Method
 

  1. In a large bowl combine warm water, honey and yeast, let it sit until frothy (typically 5-10 minutes). Add flour and salt and mix together with a dough hook, or clean hands, until a shaggy dough forms
  2. .Lightly flour a surface and turn dough out to knead with hands for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth, slightly tacky but not sticky. If the dough is sticky then add small amounts of flour until the consistency is right.
  3. Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap. Place in a warm spot to rise. You can turn on the oven for a minute, turn off and then place dough in. Or find a sunny room in your home. The key to a shorter rise time is a warm spot for your dough to rise. You'll want it to rise for at least 15 minutes, if you have the time you can allow it to rise longer.
  4. When ready work the dough out into one large round or two personal pizzas. Top and bake the pizza to your preference.

Gardening with Kids

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Gardening with kids at home can be frustrating, but it doesn’t have to be! First, let’s go into the garden with a plan of what you want to accomplish that day. Keep it simple and on task, plan for no more than 30 minutes. Usually I’ll break it up: 15 min of weeding, 10 min of planting and 5 min of watering. Longer goals can be accomplished with similar planning as well.

The photo shows kids in the garden. The back of a boy looking at a garden of pumpkins, corn and peas.

Lets make gardening with kids fun!

I usually dedicate a raised bed or space in the garden for the kids specifically. They can plant anything they want or they can use it just for digging and playing. Invest in some digging tools-buckets, small shovels, rakes, kid friendly scissors (who knew chopping up leaves, weeds or harvesting broccoli with scissors could be so entertaining?). These things only stay up at the garden so you can find them easily and it’s something for them to look forward to. While you’re at it, grab a few seed packets, animal figurines or monster trucks depending on your kiddos interest. I prefer purchasing metal rakes, shovels, buckets whenever possible because they withstand the sun and last a lot longer.

The back of a young girl playing in the dirt of the garden with bowls and and rakes

Family friendly garden design

Keep family garden design in mind, plant something they love, or at least something interesting. My kids love strawberries so we have an entire bed dedicated to them. We also planted fruit trees, pumpkins and blueberries. When the kids are invested in the plant’s potential they tend to be a lot more helpful. 

If they aren’t interested in just playing in a “dig area”, here are some kid friendly garden ideas:

  • Print up a scavenger hunt (there are lots available online)
  • Grab a few dollar store seed sets to give to kiddos throughout the growing period
  • Let them water with a hose, especially on a hot day!
  • Give them the harvest bucket and a pair of kid friendly scissors
  • Have them count unripe fruit or vegetables
  • Send them on a worm hunt
  • Have a wood fence or wood raised beds? “Paint it” with some water and a paint brush.

Set your kids up for success

Make sure you have on sunscreen, lightly covered with clothing or have a shady spot for yourself and your children. Have some ice water on hand and make sure that they aren’t hungry before you head into the garden. Taking care of a kiddos basic needs sets you up for success! When gardening with kids, start small and work your way up to the time you need in the garden. In the end,I think it’s important to remember that kids who are able to experience boredom, are then allowed to utilize creativity to fill the boredom.

Let me know in the comments what your favorite way is to include kids in the garden!

Carport to Barn

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A before and after photo showing an empty carport on top and a completed carport to barn photo on the bottom.

Our carport to barn project focused on turning an old carport into a beautiful barn. When we first moved to our home it came with a pretty large carport next to our house. It was in great shape but it quickly collected all of our stuff and didn’t really serve any other purpose. To convert to a barn carport we decided to enclose it completely and add a side door which led out to the pool and hot tub for ease of storing chemicals and other pool supplies. 

The photo is a close up of the interior and 3 sides of a carport with an open front.

We chose barn doors instead of roll up doors for looks and cost. We wanted it to look like a barn and turned to Pinterest for ideas. I was disappointed to find there weren’t a lot of examples of what I had in mind but I found one example and my husband and I got to work! 

Starting the project

We started with cleaning everything out…. this wasn’t a small task! Next was cutting into the metal siding to frame out the pedestrian door. We chose one with windows to add extra lighting. This was an exciting first step for me. Prior to having access to this side door I had to walk through our backyard, around the fence and into the carport to access pool chemicals.  

The photo shows the side of the carport with a pedestrian door leading to the interior of the carport barn

Then we added plywood walls for ease of adding things to the walls, including electrical outlets. We choose not to insulate in between the metal walls and plywood because the carport wasn’t completely water proof or climate controlled anyways. We live in a relatively mild climate so this carport to barn project didn’t need the extra cost of insulation, but if we lived in a cooler climate I would have reconsidered this.

The photo shows the front of the carport with the interior walls finished in plywood/

Carport to barn: Electrical and lighting

The electrical was ran all around (and above for lights) the carport barn. It was important to my husband to have electrical outlets available every few feet. We knew that we wanted a gym in there and the ability to charge outdoor equipment, so it needed plenty of outlets to serve its purpose.

After the electrical and lights were installed, the next step was enclosing the front of the carport with metal studs. We already had done the math for the opening of the barn doors and left that area open for them.

Photo of the front siding being added to the carport and a coat of primer being applied.
The photo shows metal siding and wooden studs to frame out the front of the carport barn.

Carport barn doors and exterior siding

We ordered a barn door sliding kid and the last step would be building the doors and hanging them on the sliding kit. For the exterior front we used t1-11 siding to match our home and matched the paint as well. We put horse stall mats down as flooring although in an effort to save money this part was done in stages.

The carport barn is nearing completion, the front is sided and primer painted, the barn doors are hung.

The barn doors were the final step. The hardware kit was relatively easy to install. My husband made the barn doors and added the windows because of the inspiration photo we found on Pinterest. That photo is also why we have plants in shallow feed troughs in front of the barn as well. The windows are plexi-glass which you can purchase at a local hardware store. The windows fit into framed wooden squares my husband added to barn doors. We placed a large barn light on the top front and a smaller one next to the side pedestrian door. 

Completed carport barn photo. Large barn light to illuminate the barn doors. The barn doors have windows in them and an X pattern on the front with large metal handles. Two metal troughs are placed in front of barn with seasonal flowers.

The finished space has been better than we expected. The kids love the gym space and frequently go out there with my husband to work out. We love having a versatile space that still looks good!