Home-Made Pizza

Tonight I made pizza for dinner.  I love this pizza...  It's one of my go-to recipes when I don't know what to make for dinner (as long as I have the fresh veggies I need for it).  It's not terribly time-consuming, and it's easy.  Plus, it tastes yummy!

It may not be as cheap as a Little Caesar's hot and ready pizza...  But it's way better for my health -- and my taste buds!  (Not that I don't enjoy a Little Caesar's every once in a while.)  And, actually, the price of this pizza can be changed to fit the tastes and desires of the cook!  My pizza is usually a bit pricier, because I enjoy artichoke hearts on it :).

So here is how I make our pizza (the crust is from a Betty Crocker cookbook):

Crust:
2 1/2 to 3 cups flour (I use 1 cup whole wheat and the rest white)
2 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon yeast
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup water

Combine two cups flour (for me this is one cup each) plus next 5 ingredients.  Add remaining flour a little at a time until it is not sticky, but still a little tacky.  Knead until it becomes smooth and supple.  Grease a large bowl, place dough in bowl and turn to coat.  Cover with damp towel and place in a warm place to rise 30 minutes to 1 hour (depending on how much time you have).

While dough is rising, prep veggies.  I use the following:

1/2 to 3/4 small zucchini, sliced into coins no thicker than 1/8"
1/2 to whole roma tomato, sliced thin
2 to 3 white mushrooms, sliced thin
1/4 cup chopped green onion (or equivalent sliced regular onion if I have it)
1/2 can quartered artichoke hearts
1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced
1 to 2 cups baby spinach
(if I have green pepper, I use that too)

Once the dough is ready, spread it out on a pizza stone (I usually lightly oil the stone so the crust doesn't stick to it while baking).  Start preheating oven to 450.  Spread 1/2 of an 8 ounce can of tomato sauce (or more if you want) on the center of the dough (I usually build up a little dough wall around the edges for grabbing purposes :)).  Sprinkle with 1 to 2 teaspoons each oregano and basil (depending on tastes).  Pop the dough into the oven for about 10 to 15 minutes while the oven is still pre-heating. 

When the dough has baked a little and is very lightly browned on some edges, pull it out (it will have puffed some).  Place your vegetables on however you want (I usually put the garlic on the bottom, then tomatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, onions, artichokes, spinach.)

Top with 1 to 2 cups cheese (we sometimes use mozzarella and sometimes cheddar -- whatever we have).

Bake an additional 10 minutes when oven is completely up to temperature.

Cut pizza and enjoy!

I started doing the baking the way I do (putting it in while the oven is still preheating), because the original recipe for the crust called for 450 for 25 minutes and our pizza was always getting too burnt and hard.  So this is the way that works for us.

Anyway...  It was a long day.  A good day, but a long day.  And so I am grateful I could decided at the last minute to do pizza for dinner :). It's always yummy :).

What are you grateful for today?