Home Made Pizza

When I cook, I cook simple. Mostly because my Farmer likes his food that way. Nothing fancy. I have tried creative meals in the past, and the reaction is usually “it’s ok, but you don’t have to make it again on my account”. This is completely fine with me. The less time I spend in the kitchen the better. I would rather be outside helping my Farmer (most days anyways). There are a few things that I do spend a bit more time on and make from scratch and one of those meals is pizza. Today I thought I would share my pizza recipe. I’ve had a lot of people tell me I make a pretty good pizza. I make my pizza dough and my sauce from scratch. The dough I have a recipe for. The sauce, I do not. When I decided to share this recipe, I had to figure out the measurements for the sauce. This was definitely a challenge for me, because when I make it I just add a couple shakes of this and a few shakes of that, you get what I’m saying. I highly suggest that when you make it, experiment with the sauce and find how you like it best. If you like more spice add it. If you like less, put in less. That’s the fun of making your own. My Farmer likes his a bit on the spicy side so I add a touch more dried red pepper flakes and black pepper. When my mother-in law comes to eat I reduce the amount of red pepper flakes. So play with the ingredients to get what you prefer.

TOPPINGS This is the fun part. Our most common topping is pepperoni, Canadian bacon, leftover taco meat, and onions. When my father-in-law would eat pizza with us (which he hated pizza, but loved mine) I always had fresh sliced jalapenos for him to add. I figured that’s why he liked my pizza. The jalapenos made it so spicy that’s all he tasted!
The last pizza I made I used pepperoni and cooked sausage with onions. It was pretty dang yummy.

CHEESE This is one step that may be different then some, how I add the cheese. I use Tillamook mild cheddar cheese (I am a huge Tillamook cheese fan! It’s the only cheese I use), mozzarella cheese, or Monterey jack cheese. I switch back and forth with the last two. I add a thin layer of mixed cheese on top of the sauce, then I add the toppings, then I top it all with another layer of cheese, thicker this time.

PAN One last thing before I share the recipe….I make it on a cookie sheet. So yep, it’s square pizza. I’ve tried it on a round pizza pan but we just seem to prefer it square, cooked on the cookie sheet.

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SAUCE
1 small can tomato sauce (8oz)
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp McCormicks Italian Seasoning
1/2 tsp Parmesan cheese
3 shakes of crushed red peppers
mix all together and set aside

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DOUGH
1 cup hot water
1 pk or 2 1/2 tsp yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp canola or vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups flour
In a bowl, put hot water then add yeast. let it set for about a minute or two, then add the sugar and salt and oil. Stir.
Next add the flour and stir 20 times. This is very important. I have found if you over mix, the dough will not rise.
Let the dough sit for 5 minutes. Then spread it out onto a greased pan. As I said, I use a large cookie sheet.

LAYERING PROCESS Spread prepared sauce on top of dough. Spread a little grated cheese on top of the sauce. Add your favorite toppings, then top off with more cheese.
If I am making a half and half pizza, say putting olives on half, I will put those on top of the last layer of cheese so we can see them. My Farmer hates olives, so this way he doesn’t accidentally get a piece with olives and I don’t have to hear about it. haha

I hope you enjoy making your own pizza. When my boys were little, I would let them make their own little pizzas. I bought mini pizza pans for them. I let them roll out their own pizza dough and top it with what they wanted. They LOVED it! It can be a little nerve racking and a bit messy, but it’s so worth it. They are only little for a while, but the memories last forever.