Every family should have a pizza night. For the past 15 years, this tradition has never wavered unless something else earth shattering was happening. In our house, Saturday night is a dinner date for all 7 of us, and the star of the show is homemade pizza. Since it takes at least 3 pizzas to feed this crowd, we instead make it from scratch. It's super simple to do. Here is my crust recipe:
Pizza Crust
2 cups warm water
2 teaspoons yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
6 cups of all purpose flour
2 Tbsp Olive oil
-Add yeast, sugar and salt to water and proof(allow to get foamy) for 5 minutes.
-Add flour and oil and using the kneading hook on your mixer, knead for 5 minutes, or until dough cleanly pulls away from sides of bowl.
-Remove hook from bowl, bowl from mixer and cover for 1 hour.
This crust is easy to make and works beautifully every time. Divide it into thirds and each ones fits a cookie sheet. I like to sprinkle some cornmeal on the sheet and always switch the pans from top to the bottom rack for a few minutes to give the pizza an evenly crisp crust.
If you want to make your own pizzeria at home, here are some tips:
Despite loving homemade tomato sauce, I prefer using tomato paste to keep the moisture low and the pizza won't be soggy. Your home oven doesn't get nearly as hot at a pizza oven does.
Pizza is a great way to introduce your kids to veggies in a positive way. Cut them into bite sized pieces and top the pizzas.
Let the little chefs help with this one. They love making pizzas their own way.
Once you have made pizza night a regular a family tradition, it becomes a special time that even cranky teenagers look forward to. When we lived out west, one of my sons had a best friend who would call to see what I was making for dinner that night. He never missed a Saturday if he could help it. I am not "that" great of a cook, but who can resist a good pizza and the nonsense that happens around the family table?
Here is a great video showing how to make pizza crust.
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