IPA Pizza Crust
We all know beer and pizza go well together…so why not try using beer in your pizza?
This IPA Pizza Crust is a fun twist on a classic!
A couple of summers ago, I had the distinct pleasure of flying out on a last minute trip to Wichita, Kansas. There was a chance I would be needed to testify as a witness in a trial, and so off I went…on a 5:30am flight on Sunday morning. I didn’t have much choice in this matter, and it happened to fall over my birthday. Needless to say, I wasn’t terribly excited about this trip. I have nothing at all against Wichita…I just didn’t want to go there over my birthday. Sure enough, I wasn’t called as a witness, and I was sent back home on Wednesday morning. But that didn’t stop me from making the best of my first (and quite possibly) last trip to Wichita!
The first thing I noticed about Kansas was how flat it is. Like seriously flat. I grew up in the Carolinas, and while that area is not particularly hilly…it’s not as flat as Kansas. I think I could literally see for miles out there. Now I understand how those tornadoes came and snatched Dorothy away. (The hotel even had warning signs pointing to the tornado shelters. Uhh…yeah, that was a bit of a wake-up call for me. When exactly is tornado season again??)
As a huge college basketball fan, I decided to wander down to Wichita State one afternoon. Since it was summer, the campus was deserted, but I still enjoyed just roaming around campus. Wichita State is a relative new-comer to the ranks of elite college basketball programs, so it was cool to see their stadium and stop by the bookstore. However, it was a bit rainy that day, and I must admit that I was hoping a tornado wouldn’t come and tap me on the shoulder.
IPA Pizza Crust
IPA Pizza CrustBut the highlight of my trip to Wichita was a stop by a local brewpub. I’m a huge fan of India Pale Ales (IPA’s), and this restaurant/brewery had one heck of a solid IPA. In fact, I enjoyed this restaurant so much that I broke my vacation rule and went back there two nights in a row. We can all agree that beer and pizza go together like Garfield and Odie, right? Well, this brewery stepped up the game another notch and made an IPA Pizza Crust. Say what? Beer in the pizza dough? Genius!
I’ve been wanting to recreate this idea at home for quite some time now. I finally grabbed my go-to pizza dough recipe and replaced some of the water in the dough with IPA. Truthfully, this would probably work with any beer…but the citrus-y hops in the IPA added a nice tartness to the dough. The result was one heck of a tasty pizza! The dough was much stronger than my normal dough, and it yielded a much heartier crust. We make pizzas quite often around here. Will I make an IPA Pizza Crust every time now? Probably not. But it was definitely a fun twist on a classic.
Did you make this IPA Pizza Crust at home? Leave a comment. Or snap a photo and tag me on Instagram (@Spicedblog)! Cheers!
IPA Pizza Crust
This IPA Pizza Crust is a fun twist on a classic!
Ingredients
- 4½ cups bread flour divided
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- 5 oz. beer preferably an India Pale Ale
- 5 oz. water
- 1½ Tbsp olive oil
- Favorite pizza toppings!
Instructions
- The night before, combine 1 cup of bread flour, ¼ cup water and a tiny pinch of yeast in a small bowl. Mix until well combined; cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap.
- The next afternoon (~3 hours before you want to eat), combine remaining 3½ cups of bread flour with the salt, yeast, beer and water in a mixer with the dough hook attached. Mix on low-medium speed for approximately 3-4 minutes. As ingredients begin to come together, add the dough mixture from the previous night.
- On medium speed, add olive oil and continue mixing dough for another 3-4 minutes. (Note: If dough does not seem to incorporate olive oil, you can add 1-2 tablespoons additional flour directly to the mixing bowl.)
- Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let rest in warm (85°F) place for 75-90 minutes.
- Sprinkle countertop with flour and transfer dough onto counter. Fold dough several times and then return it to the bowl. Cover and let rest in warm place for another 75-90 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 460°F. (If you have a pizza stone, place it in the oven before preheating.)
- Remove dough and lightly fold on countertop again. Let dough rest (lightly covered) for about 10-15 minutes.
- Shape dough into a circle approximately 12-13” in diameter. Top with favorite ingredients. (We also mix some herbs with olive oil and then brush this on the crust before baking.)
- Transfer pizza directly onto pizza stone and bake for 12-14 minutes. (Note: The hotter the pizza stone, the better the pizza crust will taste. I place my stone directly on the lowest rack of my oven while it is preheating.)
Love pizza? Me, too! Check out some of my other favorite pizza recipes, too:
Funny how we think, when you said Wichita was just plain flat – first thing I thought of was: “ooh great terrain for a long, slow run”! But, that thought process is what has probably kept me from making pizza dough with beer! Dude – that is freakin BRILLIANT! I don’t drink beer – but I cook with it – and, next time my sis and mom come to visit, I gotta make this dough!
Hope y’all have a wonderful weekend, David!
Funny enough, I’m not actually a big beer-in-food kinda guy. But this pizza crust totally works! It does have a noticeable beer taste, but not in a bad way. Oh, and the long, slow run thing…you could long, slow run as far as you could possibly imagine out there in Kansas. You wouldn’t find a hill, an incline or a molehill anywhere. You might find a tornado, but no hills. 🙂
Great minds think alike! This looks amazing and I love the idea of using beer to make the crust! I’m craving pizza even more now! 😀
Haha! I love that we both posted a Friday pizza recipe, Jess. That Margherita Pizza of yours looks awesome! Have a great weekend! 🙂
Dude, I can’t wait to try this, what an awesome idea!
Thanks, Matt! Friday are meant for pizzas and beers, so why not just combine the two??
Hi David! Just before I logged onto your blog I was thinking about pizza! And this appears! And then I saw the pretzel crust! Now I am really torn. They both look and sound so good! I make my own Italian sausage for our pizzas and I don’t think there is anything we don’t like on pizza. Bacon and anchovies are two favorites and I’ve been known to crack a couple of eggs on top (we have five chickens and there is nothing better than those fresh eggs). I’ve always been a beer gal. Where we live in rural TN my choices are somewhat limited, but I can get Fat Tire Amber Ale. I also like Blue Moon and Grolsch. One of our local stores has a section of better beers and you can make your own six pack. I am headed to the store tomorrow and we will be having Saturday night pizza tomorrow!
Hey there, Dorothy! Wow, you make your own Italian sausage? I’m impressed! We eat pizza quite a bit around here…it’s our go-to ‘weekend meal,’ although it seems like we haven’t had it in quite some time now. I think we eat pizza more often during college football season in the fall!
I’m jealous about your fresh egg supply! I’ve always wanted to have chickens, but we live in the suburbs, and I’m not sure how the chicken thing would work out. Maybe one day! My sister lives down there in Nashville, and I’ve had Fat Tire when I go visit her. It’s tasty! And Blue Moon and Grolsch are both solid choices. It’s almost 5:00, and all this talk about beer is making me thirsty. We’re definitely doing a pizza + beer night here tonight. I hope you enjoy yours, and I hope you have an awesome weekend! Thank you for commenting, too. 🙂
Hi David! Making Italian sausage is really easy! You just add spices to lean ground pork. I put it in freezer bags and swish it flat (easier to store in the freezer and it thaws really fast). I make mild, but you can add crushed red pepper flakes to make it hotter. I’ll dig out my recipe and get it to you. It is always 5:00 somewhere – that’s always been my motto! Have a great weekend!
I’d love to see your recipe, Dorothy! Italian sausage is a favorite around here, and I’m all about making it myself. Plus, it’s so much easier to make the bulk version in freezer bags (great tip!) than try to make the links. I actually prefer my Italian sausage bulk-style anyways!
Hi David! Here’s the sausage recipe. Combine the following spices and mix with one pound of ground pork. 1 tsp. black pepper, 2 tsp. dried parsley, 1-1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning, 1 tsp. garlic powder, 3/4 tsp. crushed fennel seeds, 1/2 tsp. paprika, 1 tsp. dried onion, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper. As I said above you can add dried red chile flakes to heat it up. I didn’t get to make your pizza yet – came down with a flu bug and couldn’t even think about food. It’s back on the menu plan for next weekend!
Oh no! So sorry to hear about the flu bug…that’s the worst. I hope you feel better soon!! And thank you so much for this Italian Sausage recipe. I’m filing it away in my list of handy recipes. 🙂
Thanks, now I want pizza. 🙂 If I start now it might be dinner…
Great idea to incorporate the IPA in the dough, perfect combo indeed. #WolfpackGrub
Thanks, Kevin!! The IPA was a fun addition to the pizza dough. It added a subtle beer flavor, and it was just fun to make. Now I want pizza…and I have to wait until the weekend again. Haha!
David, I always love reading your stories!! haha. . I grew up in Dallas, TX so I know what flat is! 😛 and oh my gawd!!! you put BEER in pizza dough?!!! THIS IS BRILLIANT!!!! seriously?!!! love this! and love that the IPA added a nice tartness to the dough. . I’m not a huge beer drinker but my husband loves beer. . I love this recipe!
Thanks, Alice! I was born in Dallas…so yes, I am quite familiar with flat, too. But Wichita was even flatter…because there were no skyrise buildings all over the place like Dallas! This IPA pizza was a fun creation. The dough tasted a bit like beer, but not overwhelmingly so. And now I’m craving pizza…but it’s only Monday morning. Haha!
Oh man this looks amazing! I don’t drink beer normally but I do love cooking with it and adding it in the dough is just brilliant!! So glad something great came out of that not-so-fun trip to Kansas.
Hah! Yup, I think the pizza idea was the best part of the trip out to Wichita. But it was a heck of a fun idea! I enjoy drinking and cooking with beer…but this pizza dough was a first. It has the flavor of beer for sure, but I also used a pretty flavorful IPA. I’d like to try this again with other beers like a brown ale or something along those lines. I mean beer bread is a common thing…so why not beer pizza dough?? 🙂
Wow – what an awesome idea for a pizza crust, it sounds and looks SO amazingly delicious!! Beer in a pizza crust, the perfect combo! Pinned 🙂
Thanks, Christina! I mean we eat pizza and drink beer, right? So why not put the two together? Plus, beer bread is super common, so it only makes sense that beer pizza dough should be a real thing, too! I hope you had an awesome weekend!!
You put beer. In a pizza. How sinful.
Just kidding, I’m so intrigued by this! I have used beer on occasion (beer battered fish and french fries) but pizza? Argh how your mind works. Why didn’t you visit Dorothy? Sorry, my Kansas knowledge is limited by witches of the east, west and north.
Haha! My Kansas knowledge isn’t much more advanced than yours, Arman. Except I know how to drive from the US Air Force base in Wichita down to the brewpub where I discovered this IPA pizza idea. But think about it. Beer bread is super common. And we often drink beer when we eat pizza. So shouldn’t beer pizza dough be common, too?
p.s. The wicked witch was so misunderstood.
I’m curious as to which brewery you went to. I’m from Wichita but live in WV now. I visit KS often and they’re always opening new restaurants and brewpubs and they’re all good. If Wichita is good for something, it’s the amount of places to eat there!
Hey there, Nikki! Gosh, I had to go google it to find the name of the brewery/restaurant again. It’s River City Brewing, and their IPA that I had was called Tornado Alley IPA. It really was delicious! Give the place a shot next time you’re back in Wichita. 🙂
soooooo many times i have beer bottles and i dont know what to do with it; now i have my answer:)
Very very tempting and super yummy post. Keep them coming 🙂
Haha! Yes, bread and pizza dough are perfect ways to use that leftover beer, Shweta! The pizza crust does have a slight beer taste, but I thought it worked pretty well. And it was a fun recipe to make, too!
We just recently moved to Oklahoma from N. Carolina, so I know what you mean about the difference in terrain! We had our first tornado warning this year.. yeah that was no fun! I stumbled upon your blog while eating leftover pizza from dinner, go figure! I LOVE pizza and beer bread so this must be amazing! I’ll have to try this soon..thanks for sharing!
I grew up in NC, Joscelyn! I love it there. But man, I don’t think I could ever move out to the midwest. Tornadoes terrify me! I’m laughing that you stumbled across this while eating pizza. Maybe the pizza gods were trying to send you a message! This was definitely a fun recipe to make. In fact, the dough came out “tougher” (in a good way…maybe “firmer” is a better description) than my normal pizza dough….go figure. Either way, thanks so much for commenting! Hopping over to your site now. 🙂
Dude, this is an EPIC recipe! So freaking cool that you made pizza crust with beer in it! My bro would be super excited to chow down on this. He likes to think of himself as a bit of a beer connoisseur (i.e. he likes to drink beer a lot lol).
Hahaha…I love that beer connoisseur is basically someone who drinks a lot of beer. I guess by that logic, I’m a pizza connoisseur. And a beer connoisseur, too…but only on the weekends! This was a really fun recipe to make, too. The pizza does have a noticeable beer flavor, but it totally works. Plus, pizza + beer = win.
Now this is one incredible pizza crust and definitely puts any home-made pizza I’ve made before to shame! You definitely have got me craving this right now David.
Haha! Shame and homemade pizza do not belong in the same sentence, Thalia! Any homemade pizza is good in my book. But, yes, it was really fun making this recipe…and I might have had an extra IPA in hand while making the dough. 🙂
Dude! Whaaaat? How can it be that this is not in my life! I can’t believe I’ve never had beer pizza! You are a genius and my hero! There is no way I could choose only one beer as my favorite and I’m pretty sure my Belgian Tripel home brew would be pretty awesome in a pizza. Too bad the keg just blew. Sigh…..
Oh no! Well looks like it’s time to get another keg of Belgian tripel going, Rachelle! It would indeed be pretty epic in a pizza crust. The IPA was fun for sure, but now I want to try a bunch of other types of beer to see which one(s) I like the most. Beer + pizza = win!