It has
been suggested by several of my followers lately that I do a post on
inexpensive options for pizza. If your
family is anything like mine, pizza is a pretty big deal and you probably have
it quite often too.
We
rarely go out for pizzaand never order it delivered. Right after we moved into our tiny house we
dabbled with a few take and bakes, picked up a couple of pizzas from a nearby
restaurant and went through a frozen pizza phase when it was on sale and
coupons were plentiful making it ridiculously cheap. Even still, we all agree the best pizza we
ever eat is our own homemade.
I start
with the dough.
I use
my bread machine but you can totally make this in your mixer with dough hooks
or even by hand. This recipe easily
makes two medium pizza crusts.
Pizza Dough
2 cups all purpose
flour
1 cups whole wheat
flour
2½ tsp yeast
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp salt
1 Tbs olive oil
1¼ cups hot water
Select dough cycle. Place dry ingredients in pan and select
start. Add oil and then water. Once dough forms a smooth ball (you may have
to add a little flour or water depending on humidity) stop machine and allow
dough to rest ten minutes. Divide dough
in half and form two pizza crusts.
I like to oil my hands and smooth oil over my dough and then shape
the crust.
You need some sauce.
Easy Quick Pizza
Sauce
1 8 oz. cup tomato
sauce
1 clove garlic,
crushed
1/2 tsp. dried basil
In a microwavable
bowl combine ingredients and stir to thoroughly combine. Cover bowl and microwave on high for 1
minute, stir, and repeat. Spoon 1/4 cup
of sauce onto your freshly made pizza crust.
Sprinkle with your favorite grated cheese:
- Mozzarella
- Monterey jack
- Cheddar
- Parmesan
- Provolone
- Swiss
- Colby
Top with your favorite toppings:
- Crumbled cooked ground sausage, beef, pork, turkey, etc.
- Diced cooked ham or chicken
- Leftover taco meat
- Bacon bits, pepperoni slices, sliced ham or sausage, chorizo, etc.
Don't forget the veggies:
- Peppers
- Onions, scallions, chives
- Mushrooms
- Tomatoes
- Pineapple (I know, it’s a fruit)
- Sliced olives
- Zucchini, thinly sliced
And bake at 450° 12 to 14 minutes until it is done and the cheese
is bubbly.
Here is
a tip a friend of mine found out the hard way.
Don't overload your pizza with toppings or your crust will always be
soft and doughy. Lightening it up allows
the crust to bake evenly along the bottom.
As the
year progresses I will be doing additional posts of the "gourmet pizzas"
my family enjoys. And you'll be
pleasantly surprised to find that gourmet doesn’t mean expensive. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Another
great tip is whenever you brown meat like hamburger or sausage take out about
1/4 to 1/2 cup and put into a small container to freeze and use as a pizza
topping.
Do you
regularly make homemade pizza? What is
your favorite pizza?
Thank you for the easy instructions! I have never used the dough hooks on my stand mixer and it never dawned on me to make pizza dough with them. I will certainly give your recipe a try!
ReplyDeleteLet me know how it turns out! :)
DeleteYummy! Now I want pizza.
ReplyDeleteMe too!!!
Delete