Pizza Day!

 Who doesn't love pizza day?

Making your own pizza is surprisingly easy.  I wonder, does Chef Boyardee still make pizza kits in a box? I remember those as a kid and even then they were terrible. But it was a different time and women had not learned to juggle their new and ever growing careers and family lives and I image pizza in a box had its place.

With ever soaring prices I still find it hard to swallow that pizza is coming in at $30 plus! What?! that's shear madness. I mean really, who needs them when you can make a crust of your own for pennies? Literally pennies. I made this crust for maybe .50 cents. Seriously and that's pushing it. 

So what do you say? Shall we make a pizza? I said heck yeah!

Pick out your toppings. Mine are little outside of the box but if you have never had corn on a pizza you don't know what you are missing! 

I prebake my crust for 10 minutes, be sure to poke holes in it with a fork or you'll end up with a puffed up round that resembles something that flew undetected through the night sky, kills your car battery and beams you up Scotty.

Spread on the pizza sauce of your choice, of course you could make your own fairly easy but in this case I had some left over jarred pasta sauce so that's what I'm using.

A tip I learned is to add a bit of cheese directly onto the sauce before adding the toppings and it will help everything stay in place a bit better. Seems to inhibit sliding.

Then add your toppings. I have here red onion, corn, red bell peppers, kalamata olives, and some vegan pepperoni that I made, a little homegrown....basil that is, top with what ever chesses you like. You don't have to stick to mozzarella. I use anything and everything that I have in the fridge. This one has a blend of mozzarella, leftover 3 cheese mix, and even a little Feta cheese. 

Bake for another 10 minutes and look at this beauty! Just the way I like it.

No soggy bottom nice crispy crust.

As you can tell I made this pizza using a lot of leftovers but even if I had intentionally purchased every item it would have come in at $3-4 maybe.

My dough recipe:

Put a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of sugar (helps to activate the yeast) and teaspoon of active dry yeast in a glass cup or jar, add 1/2 cup 120 degree water, stir and let set until you see bubbles. This only takes a few minutes. I use a glass 2 cup measuring cup.  

When it has a good amount of bubbles about 10 minutes or so add a tablespoon of oil and stir.

Mix in flour, start with about 1 cup and mix, adding flour until you can pick it up with your hands and it's not a sticky mess. Knead it out, just a bit adding flour as you go until it's not too sticky anymore and is a smooth solid ball. This only takes a minute, don't freak out we are not kneading bread here. Make it into a nice little ball then cover and let it rest for about 10 minutes. 

Meanwhile heat the oven to 425 degrees. I've used a baking stone with a bit of corn meal sprinkled on it but use what you like. I like a thin crust so I just roll it out to fit my stone and I'm done.

I prebake my crust, poking holes in it first, for about 10 minutes then add the toppings and bake until desired crispness. I start with 10 min and check on it, sometimes depending on the toppings I like it a little crispier so I leave it in a little longer. 

If you want a pan style pizza you will have to roll your dough to fit  whatever pen you have that has elevated sides. A cast-iron cast-iron pan works great. Add a generous amount of oil in the bottom of the pan, a couple tablespoons, cover and let your dough rise until doubled in size. Also bake this at a lower temp, aroud 375 degrees until crispy brown. Bon appétit!