Favorite Eats - Homemade Pizza

As a busy family of 6 soon to be 7 it's important that we have quick, easy, and fun recipes to make (and that we don't mind repeating... often). I wanted to take sometime each week to share with you one of favorites from the previous week.

Homemade Pizza

We love Pizza and with four kids it's definitely a favorite. But ordering Pizza out for a big family can get expensive quickly! It is a lot of fun to make homemade pizzas, everyone can pick their own toppings and the kids can get involved.

We were given a recipe for homemade pizza dough from a work friend and it is amazing. I have made it several times each time tweaking it a bit and I think this past weekend it was the best yet!

Recipe (with my tips)

Prep Dough: at least 1.5 days before Pizza day (make sure you do this! I usually make it the day before in the morning for the next evening and it works out great)

Pizza day: Max oven temperature with pizza stone 30 minutes prior to baking.

Ingredients: 

600g (4 cups) bread flour
2 1/4 teaspoon yeast (dry instant yeast)
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 cups  water (warm about 110F)
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

                        

1.

In a Kitchenaid bowl, combine flour, yeast, and sugar and salt.

2.

Warm water in measuring cup, then add oil and pour into the dry ingredients a little at a time. Kitchenaid should be running on lowest setting. Keep running on lower setting until all ingredients are mixed - you can tell it’s ready when the dough keeps comes off from the sides of the bowl but still slightly sticks to the bottom.

3.

Cover with a clean cloth. Allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.4.Punch dough down. Divide into quarters. Shape into balls, lightly coat with oiled hands, and place into four containers. Refrigerate for 1-3 days.

On Pizza Day, remove from fridge when you start to pre-heat oven - at least 30 minutes before baking. (I find you don't really need oiled hands to place the dough and I typically use a zipper baggie for the dough balls... also you will need more than 30 minutes for your dough to reach room temperature)

5.

While oven heats, slightly stretch ball into a flattened disc about size of hand. Place on slightly floured surface, cover with towel, let rise. Prep toppings - less is more. Bake times are short, so thin cuts are helpful. (Stretching the dough usually goes easier by holding the dough in your hands and turning it while the other end hangs.. think of a steering wheel. When the dough is starting to stretch nicely I place it on a surface prepped with corn meal to keep from sticking. Then I continue to flatten and stretch the dough a bit more)
6.

When oven is as hot as it can be, and stone has had a chance to come up to temperature you can begin prepping the first pie for the oven. Dust paddle with a generous amount of flour (I use corn meal). 

7.

(I like to put the dough in the oven on the pizza stone to brown and crisp up before adding toppings... if you do this be sure to poke some holes in the dough) When done, place on floured (Corn Meal) paddle, and top as desired. (if you have a paddle to easily move the dough from surface to surface it will be easier if not simply remove your stone each time)

8.

Quickly slide from paddle onto hot stone, being careful to leave oven open for as little as possible.9.Bake on highest temperature for 5-10 minutes, or until crust is golden and center is bubbling.

10.

Serve immediately, and allow oven to reach max temp again while prepping next pie. 

Tips:

Have fun and don't be afraid to try different things to make the recipe easier for you and your family. 

It's ok if your dough isn't round :)

Dough in the oven before toppings

 I like to move my pizza from the stone to a cutting board so that I can begin prepping the next pizza.