Finer Things Friday- Homemade Pizza

I have been waiting for this day ALL week...it's PIZZA night! Oh, how we love our pizza, our homemade, dough from scratch pizza. You want to know the secret to GREAT, FABULOUS, AMAZING pizza?!? It's a little thing called a pizza stone. Oh my, I never knew that was the key until I was watching a cooking show (It's called "Chef at Home"). He was making pizza and he used a stone, he was so enthusiastic about it that I decided I needed to try one out. Our attempt at homemade pizza prior to this revelation was, well let's just say we were usually disappointed.



Using the stone truly makes the biggest difference in how the crust turns out. I use a dough recipe I found in my bread machine cookbook, but I use my Kitchen Aid to mix everything up. I usually make the dough in the morning and let is rise all day. YUMMY! I also season my own sauce. I get organic tomato sauce from Costco and add garlic powder, basil, and oregano until my oldest, Z (future foodie I tell ya), gives his thumbs up after a little sampling. The rest will crack you up. I usually make at least 2 pizzas. One is good old pepperoni and cheese and the other is 1/2 combination (K needs his veggies), 1/4 Hawaiian (for L), and 1/4 pepperoni and sausage (for N). It is piled so high it barely fits in the oven. :)



Here's the crust recipe I use in case someone wants to try it out, but I am telling you unless you have a pizza stone I cannot vouch for the results.

Rob and Holly's Pizza (I double this recipe to get my two crusts.)

3 cups flour (I use unbleached)
1 1/8 cup water
1 1/4 tsp salt (I use sea salt)
1 1/2 TBS olive oil (I use organic)
1 1/2 tsp yeast

I mix everything in my mixer until I get a good sized dough ball. Then, I turn it out into a well oiled bowl to rise most of the day. When it is close to dinner time I preheat my stones according to the directions. Next, I cut the dough in half and roll each of the halves into a circle. I also dust the stone with a cornmeal-flour mixture before I put my dough on it. I then poke the crust with a fork all over and precook the crusts for 6 or 7 minutes. Finally, I add our toppings to the crusts and get plates ready for our treat!

It truly is a Finer Thing and so much more frugal (and healthy) than eating take-out pizza!

Stop by Amy's Finer Things for more Finer Things Friday.

Until next time,