Pizza

Ever since my husband and I got married, we have delegated Friday night as "pizza night". So...for the past almost 19 years we have had pizza for dinner pretty much every Friday night. When we were newly married, we would make a pizza using the Jiffy pizza crust mixes, pizza sauce, and hamburger and cheese. It was a pretty easy pizza to make and we enjoyed it. Then we went through a phase where we ate the premade pizza crusts from the store and then added our own toppings and baked it. That was pretty good too. But then....I started making a yeast bread crust and we have never turned back!

I recently have had to graduate to preparing two pizzas for our growing family instead of the usual one. I love this crust recipe..it is quick and easy to mix up in my Bosch mixer and I can double the recipe to make two crusts. It raises so nice and tastes so good! Since I am making two pizzas now, I make one hamburger and sausage and one Canadian bacon and pineapple. Yummy!

I would like to share with you our pizza crust recipe as well as a recipe for pizza sauce. I can't remember where I got the recipe for the sauce. It tastes great and is quick and easy to make...and much cheaper than the store-bought pizza sauce! It has been fun having this family "tradition" of having pizza every Friday. The kids have enjoyed it too. We kind of make Friday night our family night...with pizza, then maybe a game or movie, then ice cream later!

I hope you enjoy these recipes...and maybe be inspired to start your own "pizza night" too!

PIZZA CRUST (makes 1 large crust - can double to make 2 crusts)

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon sugar or honey
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 1/2 cups flour (I use 1 wheat and 1 1/2 white, but use whatever combination you like)
1 cup warm water
1 Tablespoon yeast

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Put above ingredients into heavy duty mixer. Mix and knead for about 8 minutes. If mixing by hand, dissolve yeast in warm water, then add remaining ingredients and mix well. You will need to use your hands to work in all the flour and then knead it for about 10 minutes to make a nice smooth dough.

Roll into a ball and place on greased (buttered) pizza pan.

HINT: Place a wet dishcloth on the counter and put your pizza pan on top of it while you roll out the crust. This keeps the pizza pan from moving all over the place!

Once the crust is rolled out to the edges, spread with sauce (recipe below) and toppings.

Bake in 425 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is lightly browned and crust is done.

_______________

PIZZA SAUCE (makes enough sauce for 1 pizza-can be doubled for 2 pizzas)

8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 teaspoon sugar or honey
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 tablespoon olive oil for flavoring (optional)

Mix the above ingredients in a small bowl, then it is ready to use!

If I double this recipe, I use two small bowls, keeping the two batches separate. This makes it easier to divide up the sauce between the two pizzas!