Pizza Night

Recently a co-worker of mine wrote about making pizza, and I was inspired to do the same.

If there is one food I love in most of it's forms, it's pizza. My family loves it as well. With 7 of us (including grandpa) we can go through a couple of large pizzas without too much trouble and at $10-$15 a pizza, ordering in is expensive. I enjoy cooking a good meal and so about 6 months ago I started looking up pizza on the internet. I found a dough recipe that sounded good and the same with the sauce. I have over time altered the recipe a bit and have come up with something that my family loves and is fun to make. Also, depending on the toppings, is very inexpensive.

The Dough

2 Cups Warm Water

1 Tablespoon Sugar

1 Tablespoon Salt

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

4 1/2 to 5 Cups White Flour

(substitute 2 of the cups with whole wheat flour for a heartier dough)

1/2 Tsp dry yeast

Mix the water, sugar, salt, olive oil and 2 cups of flour till well mixed. Add 2 more cups flour about 1/2 cups at a time till it makes a sticky ball. Start kneading the dough adding a little flour at a time to keep the ball from sticking. Add the yeast and knead for about 10 minutes. Divide into 2 balls, and set them in a covered bowl for 1 to 2 hours.

The Sauce

2 Cans Tomato Sauce

1 Tablespoon Salt

3 Tablespoons Sugar

1 Tsp Olive Oil

Garlic Powder, Basil, Oregano, other Italian spices to taste.

Combine and bring to a boil for about 5 minutes. Cover and simmer on med-low for about 30-45 minutes.

Assembly

Preheat your oven and baking stone to 475.

Press dough ball into circle and use a rolling pin to extend it out to size (you can throw it if you so choose). Use corn meal to dust dough and place on stone. Add 1/2 the sauce, cheese and any other toppings you like. Cook for around 10-12 minutes on the middle rack. Watch closely so that you do not burn your cheese.

By the way if you are going to do this, I would recommend buying your cheese in bulk at Sam's Club. You can get a 20 cup bag of shredded mozzarella for about $8.50. That's really cheap compared to the little 2 cup bags of cheese you get at the grocery store for $3.00 or more each. That really brings the cost down. All in all you can make a couple large pizzas for only a few dollars each.