Why make pizza from scratch? Well, it's a heck of a lot cheaper than ordering it. It tastes a heck of a lot better than frozen pizza from the grocery store. It's also a lot healthier--no preservatives--you have more control over what goes into and on it, and you can adjust for your dietary needs or desires. Want healthier crust? Use whole wheat flour. Looking to cut calories? Use less cheese, or make it thin crust instead of thick. Want less grease? Skip the pepperoni and sausage, or maybe use a different kind, like turkey sausage. Want flavored crust? Add herbs to the dough, or sprinkle seasonings on the edges just before putting the pizza into the oven. Not so fond of tomato based sauces? I made a pizza with yogurt once, for kicks, and it was awesome (plain yogurt for the sauce, feta, romano, parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, and tons of veggies and garlic for toppings).
Pizza making is another thing that can be a fun family activity. Especially if you let the kids make their own personal pizzas--give each one a hunk of dough to stretch into their very own pizza crust, and let them put their choice of toppings on it. Mine have been doing this since before they were old enough to go to school. Each, in turn, has gotten a kick out of classmates who say "You mean, you can make pizza?!? You don't have to buy it?"
I've posted my homemade pizza sauce recipe before, but I'll add it in here so it's easy to access with the pizza making directions.
Pizza Sauce
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1/4 cup red wine (optional, but really adds to the flavor and the alcohol cooks off, if that's a concern to you)
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried parsley flakes
1/2 tsp fennel seed
1/2 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp salt
Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, turn down heat and simmer about 10 minutes. Makes approx. 3 cups of sauce. Leftover sauce stores well for about two weeks in the fridge.
Leftover sauce is great for pizza sandwiches, french bread pizzas, mini pizzas using leftover hot dog or hamburger buns, pizza roll-ups using tortillas & cheese, dipping breadsticks in . . . use your imagination and that leftover sauce will never end up a fuzzy (literally) memory in the back of the fridge.
Pizza Crust Dough
1 cup very warm water (about 110 degrees)
1 packet or 2 tsp yeast
1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp veggie oil
1/2 tsp salt
2 3/4 to 3 1/4 cups flour
Dissolve the yeast in the water. Pour into a large bowl, then add sugar, oil, salt and 1 cup of the flour. Stir well, until mixture is not lumpy. Add remaining flour, 1 cup at a time, until dough is workable and not sticky. Place on a lightly floured surface, and knead about 5 minutes, adding more flour if necessary. Put in a greased bowl, cover with a cloth, and let rise in a warm place about 30 minutes or until dough is doubled.
Then you get to commence pizza assembly! Heat your oven to 425 degrees.
Grease a large pizza pan or two smaller pans. The pizza I show in my pictures below is made in a 14" pan. If you want 2 big pizzas, double the dough recipe; sauce should be enough as is. Lightly sprinkle pan(s) with cornmeal. Punch down risen dough. If making two pizzas, divide dough in half. Otherwise, just start stretching the dough with your hands, shooting for a shape about 1/2 the size of your pan. When you've stretched the dough to that point, place it on the pan and continue stretching evenly to edges of pan. Form the crust edges by rolling the extra dough (hopefully you've got some extra when you get the whole pan covered) upward and pinching with finger and thumb into a 'lip' on the edge of the pan.
Now I take a fork and stab the pizza all over, to prick the crust and keep it from forming large air bubbles while cooking. Don't forget to do the edges and the very center, too.
At this point, I stick the pan of crust into the oven to pre-bake for 7-8 minutes before I put the toppings on. This lets the crust get about half done so that you don't end up with brown cheese before your crust is cooked all the way through.
After 7-8 minutes in the oven, I take the crust out and proceed to butter the edges and sprinkle them with garlic powder (or whatever your favorite flavored crust tastes like). Then I apply sauce to the rest of the pizza.
Once you have the sauce on, add your favorite toppings. I start with some freshly shredded parmesan and romano cheeses, and a sprinkling of mozzarella. Then it's pepperoni, ham, mushrooms, onions, green peppers, olives (the olives go on DH's half--not on mine!).
You can, of course, put on whatever toppings you like. It's your pizza! Customizing it is half the fun of making it. Sometimes I fry up some sausage or bacon and put that on. Other times I throw hot pepper rings on DH's side. My girls don't care for green peppers or onions, so they usually have ham and mushrooms or just pepperoni.
After you have your selection of goodies on your pizza, cover it with a layer of cheese as thick as you like. Since I 'sandwich' the toppings between two layers of cheese, I don't put a very heavy layer of cheese on the top. I want to see where those olives are so I don't cut it the wrong way!
Then put the whole thing in the oven for about 10 minutes. When the crust is lightly browned on the bottom--check by sliding a spatula or pizza cutter under one edge and gently lifting up--your pizza is done cooking.
Because you partially baked the crust before adding the toppings, when the crust is browned on the underside, the top will be beautiful, like this:
Since the main idea of pizza from scratch is saving money by not having to order pizza, here are some tips to keep the cost of your toppings down:
I buy pepperoni from the local meat store. At their deli counter, I buy it by the pound and have them slice it to the thickness we prefer. I believe last time I bought some (I stick it in the freezer, and can get 3-4 pizza dinners out of a pound of pepperoni) it was $5.99 a pound. The slices are as big as slices of lunch meat, so I cut each piece of pepperoni into quarters before using. Compare that to the cost of those little 3-4 ounce packages of pepperoni circles at the store, and it's a big savings.
I also buy blocks of cheese and shred it myself, versus buying shredded cheese. It usually works out to be cheaper per pound, plus you don't have extra additives to keep the cheese 'free flowing'. Or, if you don't care about those additives, buy shredded cheese on sale and put it in the freezer until you want to use it.
Peppers from your garden (or in season from the farmers market/store) can be diced, flash frozen on cookie sheets, then put into reclosable freezer bags. All year long you can have pourable peppers to put on your pizza, in your omelets, etc for cheaper than buying 'fresh' ones at the grocery store, especially in the winter. Or, learn to check your store's discounted produce area. I often score peppers there for cheap--like a bag of 3 red ones that are just starting to wither for 99 cents total versus 1.99 each for ones in prime condition.
If you buy yeast in bulk (by the ounce, or in 1 or 2 pound packages), you can save a bundle over buying it in those single use packets. It stores well in the fridge, and larger quantities will freeze with no detriment to the effectiveness of the yeast.
You can have great pizza for cheaper than high quality take out. It just takes a little time and effort on your part. Instead of popping a frozen pizza into the oven for 25 minutes, spend 25 minutes working on building one from scratch. It will only take 20 minutes to cook, so total time from thinking about making pizza to actually eating pizza will be less than an hour once you get the hang of making and stretching the dough. Give it a try!
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