pizza party!

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It’s PIZZA FRIDAY! A day I love to celebrate!

I honestly can’t remember the last time we ordered take-out pizza. I have nothing against take-out pizza, in fact I love it, especially Pizza Shack in Edinburgh, Indiana! For the most part, I just prefer to make pizza at home, where everything is fresh & everyone can get it the way they like it. I get my crispy crust & browned cheese, Monica gets her selected vegi toppings & Mark gets dinner to his stomach, hot out of the oven, instead of after the pizza takes a car ride.

This crust is simple & quick. It doesn’t require rising & it’s delicious. The sauce couldn’t be easier either. This recipe is from my 1986 Better Crocker cookbook. We make lots of different homemade pizza but this is one of the classics at our house!

Two tips for homemade pizza: Hot oven & pre-bake the crust before you add the toppings!

Pizza Dough

1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Dissolve yeast in warm water in large mixing bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients; beat vigorously with a spoon 25 strokes. Let rest in the bowl 5 minutes.

Pizza Sauce

1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1/4 cup chopped onion or 1 Tablespoon dried onion flakes
2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Stir all ingredients for sauce together & set aside.

Pizza

1 lb. shredded mozzarella cheese
Desired toppings: I like pepperoni, fresh mushrooms, black olives, green peppers, green onions, crushed red pepper flakes, fresh rosemary & shredded parmesan.

1. Prepare Pizza Dough. Prepare Sauce. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. With this recipe I make one pizza on a a 15" PIZZA STONE. Lightly spray stone with cooking spray & toss a little flour across it.


3. Pat dough to the very edge forming the crust w/ floured hands. For a thinner crust or if you don't have a Pizza Stone, divide the dough into half & pat each half into 11" circle on a greased cookie sheet or 12 inch pizza pans with floured hands. "Dimple" the dough with your fingertips. This helps it hold flavor & also keeps it from bubbling up when you prebake the crust.

4. Optional: Drizzle dough with 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil & sprinkle with 1 sprig of chopped fresh rosemary.
5. Bake dough for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove crust from oven.

6. Spread the sauce over the pre-baked crust.

7. Arrange cheese and desired toppings over sauce. I like to do sauce, half the cheese, meat & vegetables, then the other half of the cheese. Some picky people don't like pepperoni or mushrooms or black olives!



8. Then top with a sprinkle of Parmesan and more fresh rosemary or a bit of dried oregano or this AWESOME McCormick Pizza Seasoning Grinder. It's got the perfect blend of garlic, red pepper, onion, red bell pepper, etc. I love a sprinkle of this on my pizza before it goes in the oven.


9. Bake for an additional 10 minutes.

10. Since I like my crust crunchy & my cheese browned I slide my whole pizza off the stone directly onto the oven rack for a few more minutes until it's nice & crusty. Then I slide the stone back under the pizza to remove it from the oven. I call this my ninja moves because it's freaking dangerous, the stone weighs a ton, the pizza is at least 450 degrees & the stone is probably even hotter so be careful if you do this!

Congrats on making it through the week! Friday is worth celebrating!

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Come share in the tomato love at the Tomato Love Recipe Exchange, hosted by Gimme Some Oven & Bake Your Day, sponsored this week by Pizza Home Chef. Also visit Recipe for Change to learn more about how to support tomato farmers.