Pizza, Pizza

Time for a recipe, friends. I don't know if I really consider this a "recipe."  It is more like a "how-to tutorial." I actually made homeade pizza. It somewhat defeats the purpose of Friday pizza nights in the Bettelli house because one of my biggest reasons for instituting pizza night was getting a break from the kitchen. I pretty much cook all three meals every other day, so the Friday night break is well received.(Well, daddy has breakfast duty, but you get the point) However, I do recognize the un-health that comes with a pizza in a pizza joint.And I wanteed to see if it would be a money saver. I have also always wanted to make homeade pizza, so I decided this was the week. This is not to say it will be repeated on a regular basis, because not only was I working in the kitchen.I also got a sweet burn on my arm from my 500 degree pizza stone.Yes, I have the skills of a five year old when it comes to not touching hot things. Anywho . . . on to your tutorial. I didn't really follow one person's suggestions on how to make the best homeade pizza.I sort of took bits and pieces here and there to put together what I thought would turn out best. I bought already made, fresh pizza dough in our grocery store deli.(I had to do something un-homeade to keep things simple) The directions on the bag said to take it out an hour before cooking time to let it rise and all that.So, that was step one. About ten minutes before the dough was ready I let my oven heat up to 500 degrees.I also put the pizza stone in the oven, so it could heat as well.I guess you are supposed to do that with pizza stones.  Who knew? Once the hour was up, I enlisted a trusty helper to roll out the dough on a floured surface. 

Once it was all good and flattened, we put a little of our sauce on it.

I used a can of diced tomatoes with basil, oregano, and garlic in it.

I like chunky pizza sauce, but you can do whatever you like best.

Then we put that in the oven for 5 to 6 minutes to let the crust get a little crispy.

That was an excellent tip from some good friends of ours.

This helps the dough not be soggy in the end.

Good choice if you don't like soggy pizza, yuck.

Once we took it out, my trusty helper and I added the rest of the sauce and all the toppings.

We like an eclectic pizza in our house.

Ethan takes his with just cheese; George likes pepperoni; Tim gets pepperoni and mushroom; and mommy likes mushroom and onion.

After the toppings are set, drizzle a little olive oil on top.

Then put it back in the 500 degree oven for 8-10 minutes depending on how crispy you like your crust.

Here was our finished product.

I don't like to brag, but it was pretty dang good.

And even though it wasn't labor-free, it wasn't too much work.

I guess it was more of a semi-homeade pizza with the store bought dough and sauce.

Whatever.

We may shoot for an every other week semi-homeade pizza.