Make Your Own Pizza-Homemade Pizza
It's Simple!
Many people don't realize how simple it is to make your own pizza. Plus, you can save a lot of money doing so. For example, let's say you buy pizza once a week. You probably get a large pizza for about $12, right? Well, if you make your own pizza you spend a little over $5 saving you over $300 dollars a year! If you want to make your own pizza in under 30 minutes, just follow the simple steps below:
1. Go to the Super Market and buy Pillsbury Pizza Dough (it costs about $2.50 where I live). A lot of people will tell you that you should make your own dough, but that is time-consuming as it takes the dough about an hour to rise. Pillsbury, on the other hand, is ready to bake right out of the tube and you won't have to worry about quality. Plus, it tastes great! NOTE: When you find the dough, you will probably see that there is a thick crust and thin crust dough. I have tried both, and I like the thick crust a little better. However, a little experimentation can't hurt!
2. If you already have all of the desired topings, then it is time to roll your pizza dough. This step can be tricky the first time you do it if you have never baked before. I make my own pizza about once a week when I am not at boarding school, so I have mastered this step. What you should do first is make the dough into a ball. Now put some flour on the surface you are working on as well as on the dough and rolling pin. Put the dough on the counter and begin rolling. After about 5 rolls, your dough should have a greatly increased surface area. You can continue rolling however you want, but I like to start with my rolling pin in the middle of the circle and push forward. I then return the rolling pin to the middle of the dough and pull it towards me. I keep doing this until the dough looks rather rectangular. I then start rolling out the other sides to make the dough more like a square (or circle depending on how perfect your original dough ball was). When you are finished rolling, you should have a very large, very thin piece of dough.
3. Don't put on your toppings yet! This is a mistake that I have made many times. If you put toppings on your pizza before putting in on the oven pan, you will have a very hard time moving the whole thing. Therefore, you should first get out a pan and put some cornmeal on it. The corn meal will add a nice crunch to the crust of your pizza. Now carefully move the dough onto the pan (you may need more than one person to do this). The pan should be big enough so that the pizza doesn't do over the sides of it.
4. Now comes the fun part: add the toppings! When you order a pizza, you usually have to choose from some predetermined toppings. However, when you make your own pizza you can put whatever you like on it! Plus, you can choose how much of any given topping you want to put on. I even stuff the crust with cheese sometimes. If you are like most people, you probably want to put the sauce on your pizza first. However, what kind of sauce is completely up to you. I have to say I like Prego better than pizza sauce. It makes the pizza sweeter. I have also tried putting pesto on my pizza. If you like pesto, you should really try it when you make your own pizza. Some ideas for toppings are:
Pepperonis
Mozzarella Cheese
Cheddar Cheese
Onions
Pineapple
Peppers
Olives
Mushrooms
Hamburg
Chorizo
Garlic
...The possibilities are endless when you make your own pizza!
5. Congratulations, you have made it to the final step: put your pizza in the oven, let it cook, and enjoy! As you will read on the Pillsbury tube, you should preheat the oven to 450. The tube says you should cook it for about 17 minutes with toppings. However, I have found that 20-25 minutes works better (though I think I might add a few too many toppings!). Just keep checking your pizza until it starts to become brown. If you like it crunchy, leave it in for longer. If you like it soft, take it out earlier. It may take you a few tries before you make your own pizza exactly to your liking. But for $5, you don't have much to lose! I hope you try to make your own pizza; I know you won't be dissapointed.
