12/07/2010

Homemade Pizza

One of my very best friends, Stephanie, gave me this recipe. She told me a couple times about this pizza and how easy & fast it was. I wasn't sure what her definition of "easy" was until she told me it takes about 15 minutes to make it! That is my kind of easy. I knew I had to try it too. I have always had a hard time with pizza dough - I never found the recipe that made the kind I liked. Well, I am happy to say that I have an easy, new favorite! I have made this recipe about 5 times now and my whole family loves it. And I love that I can make it quickly - the only thing I need to plan ahead for is to make sure I have mozarella cheese!

Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe

2 1/2 c. flour
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 cup hot water (120-130°)
1 Tbsp. Rapid Rise or Bread Machine yeast
2 Tbsp. olive oil


Preheat oven to 500°. Mix dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Add hot water and olive oil. Mix for five minutes and then let the dough rest 10 minutes. Press dough on pizza pan, pizza stone, or jelly-roll pan. Bake at 500° for 3 minutes. It will look like this...

After you take it out of the oven, you can cover it with toppings.

I cheat when it comes to the sauce! I have found an easy solution that my family loves. I use the Hunt's brand "Garlic and Herb" sauce for my pizza. It tastes great, makes it even easier and costs under $1 at Wal-mart!

When you are done adding your toppings, return to the oven and bake 8-10 minutes. I usually just make the traditional pepperoni, but have also done a BBQ chicken which was great. I might have to make this today and experiment!