Halloween Ghost Pizza
Halloween Ghost Pizza is the ultimate in simplicity and taste. Its crisp crust is topped with a simple homemade pizza sauce, parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil. You’ll never opt for the store-bought pizza one bite of this classic pizza again!
Prep Time20 minutes mins
Cook Time10 minutes mins
Dough Resting Time1 hour hr 30 minutes mins
Total Time30 minutes mins
Course: Halloween, Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 158kcal
Pizza Dough
- 2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons (11 ounces, 312 grams) bread flour
- 1-⅛ teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- ¾ cup (6 ounces, 177 ml) filtered water
Super-Simple Pizza Sauce
- 16 ounces (2 8-ounce cans) tomato sauce
- 6 ounce can tomato paste
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1-½ teaspoons dried oregano
- 1-½ teaspoons dried basil
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon onion salt
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Ghosts for Pizza
- 6 slices (4 ounces, 113 grams) sliced Mozzarella cheese
- 1 Tablespoon sliced black olives
Halloween Ghost Pizza
- 8 ounces Pizza Dough, room temperature
- 1-½ Tablespoons olive oil
- ⅓ cup Super-Simple Pizza Sauce
- ¼ cup (.75 ounces, 22 grams) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1-½ cups (6 ounces, 170 grams) shredded Mozzarella cheese
- 1 teaspoon olive oil, for drizzling on cooked pizza
Pizza Dough
Add bread flour, yeast, and salt to the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse 5 times to combine. Add olive oil and water. Process until a rough ball forms, 30 to 40 seconds. Let rest for 2 minutes. Process an additional 30 seconds. Transfer to a lightly floured surface; knead by hand to form a smooth, round ball. Place in a large, lightly greased bowl; cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about 1-½ hours. (See Note 1) Yield: 1 pound of pizza dough - enough for two pizzas.
Ghosts for Pizza
Trace an 11-inch circle on a piece of parchment paper. Flip to the other side. Set aside.
Using ghost cookie cutters, cut out ghosts from sliced Mozzarella cheese. Position on parchment as you want them to appear on the finished pizza. (See Note 3)
Cut out eyes and mouths of black olive slices, and place them on the ghosts. Set aside until the pizza comes out of the oven. (See Note 4)
Halloween Ghost Pizza
Preheat oven to 450° F.
Brush 1-½ Tablespoons of olive oil in bottom of 12-inch cast-iron skillet; set aside.
Divide pizza dough in half. Press and roll one piece of dough into an 11-inch round. Transfer to prepared cast-iron skillet; gently push it to the corners of the pan. Spread ⅓ cup of super-simple pizza sauce over surface of dough leaving ½-inch border around the edge. Top with ¼ cup of the grated Parmesan cheese and 1-½ cups of the shredded mozzarella cheese.
Set skillet over medium heat and cook until the outside edge of the dough is set and the pizza is lightly puffed, about 5 minutes. Transfer skillet to preheated oven; bake until the edge of the pizza is golden brown and the cheese is melted, 8 to 10 minutes.
Remove pizza from oven; position the ghosts on the hot pizza. (See Note 3)
Remove pizza from cast-iron skillet. If desired, drizzle with olive oil, and serve.
Yield: 1 11-inch pizza (See Note 5)
- Alternatively, the pizza dough can be refrigerated for at least 8 hours or up to 16 hours. If only making one pizza, refrigerate the remaining dough for another use.
- Super-Simple Pizza Sauce can be refrigerated for up to 1 week, or frozen for up to 1 month.
- I use a 3-½ inch ghost cookie cutter for the large ghosts and a 2-inch ghost cookie cutter for the small ghosts.
- I used a #7 round pastry tip to cut out the eyes for the small ghosts, and a #12 round pastry tip for the eyes for the large ghosts. I just used scraps of the black olives for the mouths.
- Through a lot of experimentation, I concluded that the best time to add the ghosts was when the pizza came out of the oven, but was still hot.
- If you don't want the hassle to making your own pizza, you can still make an adorable Ghost Pizza with a store-bought cheese pizza. Cut out the ghosts, eyes, and mouths as described. Bake the pizza according to the package directions. When the it comes out of the oven, position the ghosts on the still hot pizza.
Calories: 158kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 10mg | Sodium: 784mg | Potassium: 75mg | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 145IU | Vitamin C: 1.3mg | Calcium: 139mg | Iron: 0.5mg