06 Apr Simply Homemade Series: Homemade Pizza!

My husband loves to tell stories of when he was a teenager and the smell of his mother’s homemade pizza filled their home. There is something so warm and comforting about certain foods from our childhood and his mom’s pizza clearly ranked on the top of his list!

I never had homemade pizza growing up and felt a little intimidated by the idea of making it until one of my friends invited us over and taught me how to make pizza dough. It was so easy that even my preschool aged kids could put it together with a little help in measuring.

I love opportunities to get my kids interested and involved in cooking and baking and, as it turns out, they love making homemade pizza! They love mixing up the dough, taking turns rolling it out, and then choosing which toppings they want on their pizza.

While making homemade pizza takes a little extra time, it’s really not as time consuming as I imagined it to be, and the joy that comes when we make and eat it together makes any spilled flour and clean up worthwhile.

Since it’s Friday night, which is often pizza night in our house, I thought I would take the opportunity to share the pizza recipe we use:

Homemade Pizza

Stir until dissolved:
1 cup warm water
1 package of yeast (1T)

Mix in:
1 T. sugar
1 1/2 t. salt
2 T. oil
1 1/4 flour

Add:
2 cups flour (plus enough to knead until stiff and elastic) (Note: I use 1/2 wheat and 1/2 white flours).

~Knead for 5 minutes
~Form 2 balls and pat and stetch to fill two small or one large greased pan/s

~Bake crust in oven at 450 degrees for about 10 minutes. (Note: I’ve found this step to be very important to ensuring the crust is properly cooked, and able to hold all the toppings.)

~Spread spaghetti sauce on (tomato w/ oregano, basil, pepper and garlic)
~Sprinkle generously w/ cheese and any topping of your choice (Topping ideas: we like sautéed peppers,onions, mushrooms and cooked sausage or ground beef. I also love going fancy sometimes with a spinach, artichoke hearts, and feta cheese pizza. it can also be fun to have the kids top their own slices which gives them a “personal pizza.”)
~Bake in preheated oven @ 450 for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and crust is golden brown. Enjoy!

Semi-Homemade Option

Want to make homemade pizzas but just don’t have time to make the dough today? Our family loves making “semi-homemade” pizzas on Naan bread (we get ours from Aldi, but most grocery stores carry it). We have found naan bread makes an excellent pizza crust. Just add your sauce and toppings and bake at 450 for about 15 mins.

Let me know if you try out our recipe – TGIF!