The Unexpected Ingredient That Will Majorly Upgrade Homemade Pizza Dough

While there's nothing wrong with showing support to your local pizzeria, it's important to not forget the skill of making pizza at home. Sure, it's a bit messy and it takes up some time, but all good things require effort, don't they? It's always something to be proud of when you take your fresh homemade pizza out of the oven, admire the bubbling golden layer of mozzarella, and know that you made it through the sweat of your brow.

Another perk about homemade pizza is that you are in full control of what goes into it. Want to add a secret ingredient to your pizza sauce to give it a bit of extra zest? No one's stopping you. Want to use The Spruce Eats' recipe for meat lover's pizza and load it up with enough pepperoni and bacon that you'll put even Pizza Hut to shame? No problem. Do you feel like keeping it light by giving A Couple Cooks' veggie pizza a try? Go right ahead. The art of pizza making may be challenging, but it's open to a variety of different possibilities. 

But aside from toppings and sauces, there's one other key piece of the pizza you shouldn't overlook: the dough. A good dough is the foundation of all good pizzas, and it's never a bad idea to focus on ways of improving it. Whether you're a first-time pizza maker or a veteran of kneading the dough, there's one ingredient you may have never thought to add.

Honey? In your pizza dough? Wouldn't that make the dough all sticky and hard to work with? While you wouldn't be blamed for thinking that, this particular recipe for a quick and easy thin-crust pizza dough uses honey.

The recipe calls for the traditional pizza dough ingredients, such as instant yeast, water, flour, olive oil, salt, and baking powder. What makes this dough unique, however, is the inclusion of honey into the mix. As health coach Miriam Hahn explained to Mashed, the honey actually helps to keep the dough moist and lowers the risk that it may dry out while you work.

While honey on pizza is admittedly an unusual topping at first glance, the use of honey on pizza is surprisingly common and, when applied correctly, can give your pizza a delicious extra flavor. Food Network, for example, has a recipe for pepperoni pizza with a "hot honey" drizzle. The hot honey's combination of "sweet and heat" compliments the savory flavor of the pizza sauce and the smokey notes of the pepperoni. To prepare hot honey, according to the Casual Foodist, you simply need to mix honey, your choice of pepper flakes, and apple cider vinegar in a saucepan and bring to a simmer until desired taste is reached.