Kevin's Cheese Pizza - Home Alone 🎄

Name: Kevin's Cheese Pizza - Home Alone 🎄
Prep time: 90 min
Cook time: 15 min
Ingredients: 2 cups canned tomatoes (chopped); 1 tbsp tomato paste; 1 tsp dried herbs; 6 fresh basil leaves; 3 tbsp olive oil; 1 small onion (grated); 5 garlic cloves (minced); Salt & pepper to taste; 2 cups shredded mozzarella; 1 cup shredded cheddar; Olive oil; Semolina

Christmas movie recipe inspiration #1 with my classic cheese pizza. The dough is a simple fluffy crusty bread dough topped with tomato sauce and shredded cheese. A simple but festive recipe to knead up this season.

Welcome to my brand new Christmas recipe series where I make foods/recipes from my favourite Christmas movies. We are kick starting the season with a classic holiday movie and not your average holiday meal. Home Alone (part 1) and Kevin’s Cheese pizza.

A Little Back Story To Christmas Movies…

Growing up I loved decorating the house in November for Christmas. Once it hit 15th November, my tree and lights were up, I might have taken time to put everything else up as the month progressed but the tree and lights set the mood and the vibes were in full swing. I would put off all the other lights in the house, in the evening and turn on the festive lights. Switch on my favorite christmas movie and in those days we needed to have CD’s, which I must say I did. Not much has changed since. I get started with my christmas movies the moment the tree and lights are up. As I’ve grown up, I have noticed the food scenes in these movies with more intent and honestly I love them so much it inspired me to recreate some of these recipes. Hence I am here at the brink of a new series and so excited to share my love for christmas movies and their food scenes with you.

Cheese pizza & Home Alone?

If you have not watched Home Alone, let his post be a urge to get you to do so. It is festive movie to say the least and I will not get into detail about it but the cheese pizza scene in the movie is literally in the first 15 minutes as it begins. A bunch of pizzas are delivered with an exception to one cheese pizza for Kevin (the main character). His love for cheese pizza is so evident and it always got me hungry thinking of a simple, hearty and comforting cheese pizza. I ate cheese pizzas as a kid but not recently as I enjoy various toppings. This move got me back to my childhood and so did the pizza.

What is cheese pizza?

A cheese pizza is exactly what it sounds like. We have a pizza base – either thin crust, hand tossed or deep dish – doesn’t matter. It is topped with tomato pizza sauce and a lot of cheese. We want some stringy cheese and you could do an assortment but that mainly it.

What ingredients do you need to make this Home Alone Cheese Pizza?

Crust –

To make the crust we need all purpose flour, salt, yeast, dry herbs, warm water and olive oil. You can find my Homemade pizza dough recipe here. It is a detailed explanation on how to make it and what kind of substitutes you could use. If you use bread flour you will get a crusty pizza with more fermentation pockets aka bubbles.

Sauce –

To make the sauce we need canned tomatoes, basil, garlic, onion, olive oil and seasoning. If you are using fresh tomatoes, you will need to use a little honey to balance out the sauce if the tomatoes are too sour. I like using a little tomato paste when I make the sauce to intensify the tomato flavor.

Cheese –

As this is a cheese pizza we need cheese, good quality mozzarella shredded cheese is perfect. You can use a combination of cheeses to make this pizza. I like a combination of mozzarella and cheddar (mild) or gouda as well. You can use any cheese you prefer. Go ahead and use vegan cheese to make this pizza dairy free.

What equipment do you need to make this Home Alone Cheese Pizza?

To make the pizza dough I have used my hands but you can use a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. You will need a large mixing bowl and kitchen towel to cover it while it proves. To make the sauce we need a sauté pan and rubber spatula. The pizza itself can be assembled over baking paper and baked in the oven over a pizza stone/baking tray. Once it is baked cut it with a pizza wheel/cutter or a sharp knife.

How to make this Home Alone Cheese Pizza?

To make the pizza dough we mix all the ingredient together until the dough is sticky and soft. Cover and let this rise for 2 hours, I prefer doing this step the night before and allowing it to proof overnight. The dough needs to rest in a warm spot. Once it has doubled in volume knock it back and form into 2 balls for a medium to large pizza, if you want smaller pizzas divide the dough into 3-4 balls. Roll into balls and if the dough is sticky, add a little olive oil into your palm and before shaping. Cover the dough balls and rest for another 30 mins.

In this time we can go ahead and preheat the oven to the maximum heat option, place a baking tray in the oven while it preheats so it gets hot with the oven as we will bake the pizza directly on top of it. We can make the tomato sauce and get the cheese shredded now. To make the sauce, cook the canned tomatoes, garlic, dry herbs, fresh basil, grated onion, olive oil, tomato paste on low heat, covered for 15 mins. Stirring occasionally. Season with salt and set it aside to cool before using. Shred your cheeses and get ready to assemble the pizza.

Get a large sheet of baking paper, drizzle a little olive oil on top and spread it out with your fingers, sprinkle over semolina and add one of the dough balls which should’ve risen. Use your fingers to dimple the dough and start stretching it out, maintain a border in the edge on the entire base. For a medium – large pizza the dough should be 9-10 inch in diameter, for a small – medium pizza the dough should be 6-8 inch in diameter. Spoon over the tomato sauce over the base and little on the crust. Sprinkle over the shredded cheese and transfer to the hot oven with the baking tray. Bake for 10-12 mins until the dough has puffed up and gotten color on the crust. You know the pizza is ready when you knock the crust and it has a hollow sound, the cheese is melted and golden and the dough is puffed. Remove from the oven and slice. Serve it hot with fresh basil and oregano.

Make ahead options –

You could make the tomato sauce ahead of time and store it in the freezer for up to 3 months or in the fridge for up to 1 week. This helps the entire cooking process on the day of baking the pizza.

To make the dough ahead of time, mix the ingredients until sticky – you could let it rise in the fridge over night at this stage OR let it rise, knock back, shape into balls and cover – you could let it rise at this stage (which I prefer doing). One the dough is shaped, transfer to a tray, dust the top with flour and cover, place in the fridge and let to rise over night or for up to 24 hours. This not only develops the gluten but also helps the flavor. Next day, remove the tray, the dough come to room temperature and then 20 minutes more before shaping as directed.

How to store leftover pizza & How to reheat leftover pizza?

Store the leftovers in zip lock bags in the freezer for 1 week or in the fridge for 3 days. You could also store it in air tight containers. Reheating pizza is simple, place a slice on a sauté pan on low heat, add a little water and cover. The steam will melt the cheese and the heat will make the base crusty. Once the cheese is melted, remove the lid and let the base dry out for a minute. Keep an eye on the heat as we don’t want the base to burn and the top to say cold.

My next recipe will be based on the Christmas movie The Polar Express, make sure to stay tuned and subscribe to my newsletters to get notified when post new recipes. Now that we have covered how to make this Cheese Pizza from Home Alone, you can have a look at the recipe video on my socials but let’s get to it. Don’t forget to follow along for more fun recipe inspiration.

If you try this recipe out, don’t forget to share it with me on instagram so I can see how it turned out. I’d love nothing more than to chat with you on your cooking/baking.