Every Day May Blogging (Homemade Pizza)

So, I don't claim to be a great cook.  I'm DEFINITELY not good at baking (I really struggle with chocolate chip cookies for some reason) but I do know there's one thing I'm pretty good at making.  I call it my "specialty" - it's homemade pizza.  Granted my "homemade" dough is actually made in my bread machine, but still, I measure everything and add all the ingredients, so that counts, right?  Anyway, last night I made pizza for dinner and decided to take pictures of the process and share my little tricks here with you guys!

So, the first thing I do, after the dough is done being made in the bread maker, is I spread flour all over my counter, in preparation of rolling out my crust.

Then I roll my dough into kind of a rounded ball (doesn't have to be perfect, as you'll see) and I sprinkle a little flour on top.

Then I roll out the dough, trying to keep it as even as possible.  This is where you can make it as thick or thin as you like.  Again, don't worry about making a perfect circle, just try and make it an appropriate size for the pan you'll be using. 

Now, I flip my crust over, so the side that will be the bottom is facing up and I rub EVOO all over it.

Then I sprinkle cornmeal onto the crust and rub it into the EVOO.  I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of this is, a friend of mine suggested it to me.  She said it's what they do in restaurants.  I don't do it every time, but it does taste good :)

Then I flip the crust back over and put it on the pan.  You can try and stretch it to make it more even if you want.  If I'm making a stuffed crust, this is when I'll do that.  I used string cheese and just line then around the edge and wrap the edge of the crust over them and press it down.

Once the crust is set on the pan I take a fork and poke all over the crust.  This will keep your crust from puffing up when the pizza is cooking.

Now I add the sauce.  I've used everything from spaghetti sauce, to homemade pizza sauce, to store bought pizza sauce and I don't notice too much of a difference.  I don't love a lot of sauce, so I BARELY use any.  This is where you'll do it to preference.

Next will be the cheese.  Again, use as much or as little as you want.  I always just use plain mozzarella.

Then add your toppings.  This half pepperoni/half cheese was for me and Breckin.

This BBQ Chicken was for Bryce (instead of pizza sauce, I used BBQ sauce, sometimes I add a little brown sugar), I still used mozzarella, shredded chicken, chopped red onions and a little cilantro.





Then you bake the pizza.  The instructions in my bread maker cookbook say 425 degrees for 20 minutes.  Be sure to follow whatever instructions you have (whether for your bread maker, or whatever recipe you use to make your dough.) 

When my pizza comes out I brush the outside crust with a  little butter, then sprinkle with garlic salt!

Then you get to enjoy!!