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Mama Cozzi’s Ready to Bake Pizza Dough

My family loves homemade pizza. A couple of years ago when home baking was having a moment, I tried making the recipes on the backs of the yeast packets Aldi sells. One of those recipes is for a homemade pizza crust. My family was instantly hooked. They declared the homemade pizza to be better than any frozen pizza and stated it rivals many takeout pizzas we’ve had.

Now, homemade pizza is on our regular rotation of meals. I mix up the ingredients for the pizza dough, and the kids enjoy helping to knead the dough and roll it out on a baking sheet. I top it with pizza sauce (My local Aldi stores don’t typically sell pizza sauce, so I usually purchase the Classico brand from a traditional grocery store, or I use Trader Joe’s pizza sauce). Then I add shredded mozzarella, and I put pepperoni on half as a nod to family members who prefer just cheese on their pizza.

We’ve been making pizza this way for a couple of years now. Then recently my sister-in law — who lives several hours away — asked me if we’d tried the ready to bake pizza dough at Aldi. She spoke highly of it, so I kept an eye out for it at my local stores. She said she always found it in the refrigerated section near the take and bake pizzas, while other people on Aldi Facebook fan groups said they sometimes find it in the freezer section.

At first, it looked like my area stores weren’t selling it yet. Then, after a few weeks, I finally spotted it. I grabbed a package to see how it compares to our homemade pizza dough.

Mama Cozzi's Ready to Bake Pizza Dough

Mama Cozzi’s Ready to Bake Pizza Dough cost $1.39 for a 16-ounce package at the time of publication.

This appears to be a Regular Buy, which means you should be able to find it at Aldi any time of year.

The package states this dough can be used to “create pizza, breads, calzones or rolls!”

Ingredients include enriched flour, water, and less than 2% of salt, sodium acid pyrophosphate, baking soda, wheat flour, cellulose gum, yeast, soybean oil, ascorbic acid (dough conditioner), enzymes, and dextrose.

If you’re looking out for allergens, this contains wheat.

Mama Cozzi's Ready to Bake Pizza Dough
Nutrition information, ingredients, and preparation instructions. (Click to enlarge.)

One package contains 8 servings, and one serving has 120 calories, 0.5 grams of total fat (1% DV), no saturated fat or cholesterol, 450 mg of sodium (19% DV), 26 grams of total carbohydrates (9% DV), and no added sugars.

Preparation is easy. If your dough ball is frozen, place it in the refrigerator overnight to thaw.

Once thawed, preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Stretch the dough by hand or with a rolling pin and place it onto a pan, screen, or pizza stone. Spread sauce, cheese, or any other desired toppings evenly over the dough. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted. Wait 2-3 minutes after removing the pizza from the oven before cutting. This will allow the cheese and sauce to settle.

Mama Cozzi's Ready to Bake Pizza Dough
Pizza dough rolled out, about 11 inches by 12.5 inches. 

I purchased my dough frozen, so I thawed my pizza dough overnight in the fridge. I recommend using a rolling pin to make it easier to roll it out on a baking sheet. This dough makes one regular-sized pizza (I rolled my dough ball out to form a slightly rectangular pizza that was about 11 inches by 12.5 inches). For comparison, our homemade pizza crust recipe using the Aldi yeast packets makes two regular-sized pizzas.

I topped the pizza dough with sauce (Classico brand, purchased at a regular grocery store), and shredded mozzarella and pepperoni from Aldi. It took about 13-14 minutes to bake. While baking, large bubbles kept rising in the pizza dough, so I’d occasionally poke them down with a fork.

Mama Cozzi's Ready to Bake Pizza Dough
The finished pizza. Half cheese and half pepperoni. 

While the directions don’t indicate you need to grease or spray the baking sheet with cooking spray, I highly recommend doing so. I followed the instructions and didn’t spray my baking sheet, and the pizza stuck to it. It took a few minutes scraping with a spatula to loosen the pizza.

Mama Cozzi's Ready to Bake Pizza Dough
Sliced pizza, served alongside some Trader Joe’s mozzarella sticks for an ultimate indulgent dinner. (Don’t worry. We also had some veggies.) 

This is a slightly thicker and softer dough compared to our Aldi yeast packet pizza crusts. My family liked it fine, although they generally agreed the dough made with Aldi yeast packets is superior. Considering how much less work is involved in making pizza with this ready to bake dough, this dough is still a solid choice if you want pizza that is a step above the frozen variety. This dough does contain more processed ingredients compared to the homemade dough, so that may be a consideration as well.

In terms of ease of preparation and taste, though, this dough can’t be beat. If you’re a pizza fan, this is well worth trying … and perhaps worth keeping a few packages stashed in your freezer for easy dinner nights. While my family still likes their pizza dough made from scratch, you can bet I’ll be stocking a few of these ready made dough packages in my deep freeze.

The Verdict:

Mama Cozzi’s Ready to Bake Pizza Dough is ready to roll out so you can bake pizza, calzones, or whatever pizza-themed meals you want to make. One package makes one regular-sized pizza. You add your own sauce (my local Aldi stores generally don’t sell pizza sauce, so you may have to buy this elsewhere), cheese, and toppings. Then bake and serve. This makes pizza that is several steps above your typical frozen pizza and rivals Aldi take and bake pizzas or even some takeout pizzas. If you’re a pizza aficionado, you’ll want to give this ready to bake pizza dough a try.

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24 Comments

  1. I’ll have to try Mama Cozzi’s pizza dough. Actually, Authentic pizza dough only needs 4 ingredients: Flour, water, yeast, and salt in the correct proportions. I have no idea why they need to add all that other stuff to their dough. As for authentic Neopolitan pizza sauce, try a can of San Marzano tomatoes, sugar, salt, olive oil, and basil to taste. Crush the tomatoes by hand or with an immersion blender. No need to ‘cook’ the sauce… the best ever. Thanks for your write-up. For pizza dough addicts, go here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pizzaaddict

    1. Because 4 ingredient pizza dough would be fuzzy and green after about day 3 in the packaging. If you are too lazy to make your own dough, like 98% of this planet, you will need to compromise somewhere.

  2. Actually, one doesn’t normally spray/oil the surface of whatever you’re baking your pizza on – one sprinkles it somewhat generously with cornmeal to keep the pie from sticking.

      1. Agreed – some people have never heard of “pan pizza” (be it Chicago, Detroit, or St. Louis style).

        The new rage is cooking pizzas on a Blackstone griddle – which would also require a little oil in order to work.

      2. Tried it last night following package directions and our trusty pizza screens that have always worked successfully. We made 3 personal sized pizzas and the experience was a let-down. The dough welded itself to both pizza screens and one screen got warped while trying to pry off the pizza. Needless to say, the pizzas got torn up and the warped screen had to be tossed. The other screen had to soak for half an hour to loosen the baked-on dough. After those disasterous pizzas, the 3rd was baked on a parchment-lined cookie screen and baked successfully. So today, I was looking for reviews of Mama Cozii’s Pizza Dough and found this one tip hidden among these comments. I totally agree, greasing up the baking surface is highly recommended when baking with this dough. But that’s a personal turn-off for me. I dislike oily crusts and I think this dough would require more greasing up than I’m comfortable with. The package should really suggest greasing the pan.

        1. My pizza dough stuck to the pan, too. (See my remarks in the original post above.) I bought another package of dough and will try baking another pizza soon. Not sure if I’ll grease the pan or go the parchment paper route like you did. Glad to know I’m not the only one who had pizza stuck to the pan after baking this dough.

  3. One of our stores finally got this, and put it out next to the pizzas. Big surprise when it thaws and starts to rise and expand in the bag because they didn’t read carefully.

  4. I’ve been using Mamma Cozzi piza d ough for years. I love it . I have many allergies and it was the ONLY prepared pizza dough I was able to use. Now I am very sad because they added new ingredients like soybean and dextrose so I can no longer eat it. Now there are NO store made crusts that I am able to purchase!!. I am very perturbed. Why do you need soy and sugar?

    1. This particular pizza dough appears to be a new product at Aldi. Are you possibly referring to a different product?

    2. Cathy
      if you have a good local bakery they will probably sell dough by the pound. I get mine from an excellent bakery for around $2.50. Only 4 ingredients. Worth the extra buck. If there are no bakeries try a pizza joint, Im sure they would sell you a pound.

  5. I just made a pizza with this dough, and am very happy with it. The consistency of the crust was great–very thin layer of crisp with nice, chewy bread texture inside. I dusted the dough all with semolina flour, stretched the dough out by hand, constructed the pizza on a wooden peel (covered with semolina), used some leftover lasagna sauce, grated mozzarella, a little bit of sharp cheddar, parmesan, and sliced up some leftover meatballs on top. I slid it off the peel onto a preheated stone, cooked at 475f until it looked right, and it was great.

  6. The correct way to make pizza is, let it rise all day in a floured bowl covered. Have a seasoned baking stone in your oven and preheat the cold stone to 500 degrees for a minimum of 30 minutes. Meanwhile, on a floured surface hand stretch your dough ball. Use your knuckles to stretch it leaving the edges thicker. Use a wooden pizza paddle and sprinkle a thin coating of granulated cornmeal over the surface. Set your stretched pizza onto the paddle, then build your pizza. I use cento pizza sauce and sprinkle a little oregano and garlic powder in it. Put a thin layer over the dough, add mozzarella and your toppings lightly spread out. I usually sprinkle a little garlic powder and oregano on the pizza as well. Bake at 500 for about 9 minutes. Watch for the crust to brown with bubbles at the edge. Don’t pop the bubbles. Mangia, Mangia!

    1. Well I kind of go the same way you do when making my homemade pizzas. I will normally leave the dough out for 2 to 3 hours. I have a Lodge cast iron pizza pan that will preheat for about the same time. I build my pizza on a metal pizza peel that is sprinkled with cornmeal. Once it is put onto the cast iron pizza pan I rotate it every 3 minutes using that metal peel. The pizza usually comes out of the oven after 9 to 12 minutes. They are delicious – as you know!

  7. I wonder if this is the same dough as the one that Trader Joe’s sells just with a different package.

  8. This pizza dough is the best….I would like to know if it can be kept at room temp …because I forgot to refrigerate after thawing.

    1. I personally wouldn’t eat it if it was left sitting out at room temperature for more than two hours. Food poisoning from improperly stored food is no fun.

  9. My store had this pizza dough about 6 to 8 months ago. Now I cannot find it anywhere in the store. I guess they have discontinued it. Luckily I have a Trader Joe’s in my area and I will pick up there pizza doughs when I’m over that way. They have one which is garlic and herb. That one seems very much my favorite now.

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