Pizza

We make this just about every Friday, unless Zac opts out for Domino's. Mom used to make it, too - but I'm not sure of her recipe, can't be too far off from this, though. It's fun, and delicious! The kiddos love placing their toppings on it - we divvy them up into little bowls and they happily say "put one, eat one..." They're usually full by the time the pizza is ready.



1 Vented Pizza pan (haven't tried a pizza stone - if you do, let me know how it turns out)

1 Frozen Bread Loaf, thawed and risen - we get those packs of 3 or 5 from the freezer section in your local supermarket. Please feel free to be ambitious & make your own dough. I am not, however, that ambitious these days. :)

1 1/2 Tbs. Unsalted Butter

~1 Tbs. Italian seasoning - dried variety

~4 Leaves (more or less) freshly chopped basil

Handful of Shredded Parmesan

1/3 Can of Hunts No Salt Added Spaghetti Sauce - a must - it's no more than 89 cents.

3/4 bag of Italian 5 cheese blend cheese - can be generic, doesn't matter really - you can use Mozzarella if you so desire.

Various Pizza toppings - we use pepperoni, Canadian bacon, & mushrooms for the most part, but if we have Taco night on Thursdays, then I set aside a little browned ground meat before adding the Taco Seasoning. During Lent, we just use mushrooms or cheese. Knock yourself out on this one. I also like to add a little bit of artichoke or tomatoes marinated in Italian dressing if I remember.

Preheat oven to 375˚

Grease pizza pan.

(Make sure you cover your dough when you let it rise or else you'll get those nasty little dried out pieces of crusty bread.) After dough has risen, take out of container and "Atsa-mata pizza-pata" your dough into a nice, round, flat concoction that should resemble pizza dough. This technique has taken 2 years of Fridays to master. You're awesome if you can get it on the first try. Or maybe I just stink at it.

Place dough on top of pizza pan & flatten out as you go. Be careful not to make it too thin, but if you get a hole or two, it isn't the end of the world. Just mash it back together.

Melt your butter and Italian Seasonings in the microwave for about 25 - 30 seconds.

Brush butter mixture on top of dough with a pastry brush, all the way out to the crust. (The kids love this part - see holes in dough comment above)

Scatter sliced fresh basil leaves on top of that, making it as even as possible.

Sprinkle crust with a little Parmesan cheese if you have it. Use a bit of your Italian blend or Mozzarella if you don't.

Bake at 375˚ for about 10 minutes.

Take out of oven and spread your spaghetti sauce all around, leaving the crust bare.

Add toppings.

Add cheese. Don't skimp on cheese - too little is just not right.

Place back in oven & bake for about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on it for the last 3 - 4 minutes, all ovens act differently. Mine is gas, and we usually take it out at 19 - 20 minutes.

Slice immediately with pizza slicer & enjoy!

(You can also do the biscuit pizza alternative - just mash the dough a little more once you remove the biscuits from the tube. Very fun for kiddos - Mom used to do that with us all of the time, too.)