Gotta admit, most of the pizza that gets made in our house are of the frozen variety. Occasionally I will grill something on a premade crust, and those are good. We also do the easy sauce and fixins on a tortilla in the oven at 400 for 10 minutes, and the kids like those because they can customize them and they are really quick to make.

In my experience, it's a given that everyone loves pizza, so I am wondering what you folks do at your house when a pizza pie is the order of the day. Frozen? Homemade? Combo?

Any crust recipes, in particular, are welcome as I pretty much stink at baking anything. Probably goes back to my home ec class in high school in 1979 when Ms. Borgendale slammed my baking powder biscuits...

We love homemade pizza. I make dough from scratch now, but till I learned how, I often used quick crusts like Jiffy. They were pretty good. Pizza crust is pretty easy and I'm sure you can master it with a little practice. Here is mine, I've made it so long now, I don't use a recipe anymore.

For a large crust:
1 cup hot tap water in bowl
sprinkle on about 1 TBS (a little less) yeast
let disolve
add 1 tsp sugar
salt
some olive oil (flavored is a great addition) 1-2 TBS

You can add herbs like rosemary, oregano, basil, or chopped onions,fennel, or minced garlic.

Add 1 cup flour. I use white whole wheat or half white and half whole wheat. Stir till well combined. Add another cup of flour. Stirring well. Turn out onto floured counter and knead, adding more flour as needed, to make a smooth dough.

Place in greased bowl cover with towel and let rise in a warm place for 30-45 minutes. If your kitchen is cold, warm up your oven a little, turn it off and put bowl in.

My favorite pizza sauce (for the moment!) is Emeril's Vodka Sauce. I divide it in small portions and freeze it. I don't use a lot of sauce. Don't over load the pizza with toppings either, it makes for a soggy crust.

Any meat is good. I usually use hamburger, or leftover chicken. Leftover brats or meatloaf are good on a pizza too. I season the burger as I cook it with Italian herbs, garlic, fennel whatever sounds good.

Black olives, green, red, yellow or orange sweet peppers, onions are my veggies of choice.

I always have a variety of cheese in my fridge. My favorites for pizza are mozzerella, provolone and parmesan. But others will do in a pinch. I think more than one kind is the key.

Heat up your oven to 450 degrees. Put a generous ammount of olive oil in a large baking sheet. Spread dough, and bake it for a few minutes (about 5) without toppings. After you top it, bake it for about 15 minutes.

I have become obsessed with homemade New York style pizza crust and sauce. There is a website called "Serious Eats" that has outstanding New York pizza style dough and sauce recipes.

Pizza Dough Recipe (I also bought a small kitchen scale and weigh everything)

22.5 ounces (about 4 1/2 cups) bread flour, plus more for dusting
.5 ounces (about 1 1/2 tablespoons) sugar
.35 ounces kosher salt (about 1 tablespoon)
.35 ounces (about 2 teaspoons) instant yeast
1.125 ounces Extra Virgin olive oil (about 3 tablespoons)
15 ounces lukewarm water

Procedures

1. Combine flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in bowl of food processor. Pulse 3 to 4 times until incorporated. Add olive oil and water. Run food processor until mixture forms ball that rides around the bowl above the blade, about 15 seconds. Continue processing 15 seconds longer.

2. Transfer dough ball to lightly floured surface and knead once or twice by hand until smooth ball is formed. Divide dough into three even parts and place each in a covered quart-sized deli container or in a zipper-lock freezer bag. Place in refrigerator and allow to rise at least 1 day, and up to 5. Remove from refrigerator, shape into balls, and allow to rest at room temperature for at least 2 hours before baking.

3. Check out this link to see how to stretch the dough; it is fun, but it does take some practice! Meanwhile, preheat over to 550, and place pizza stone/pan in the oven while it heats.

4. Place dough on a floured pizza peel, top with sauce (recipe follows), whole-milk freshly grated mozzarella and transfer it onto the preheated stone/pan. Bake for 7-10 minutes and enjoy!

Pizza Sauce Recipe (also from Serious Eats)

Ingredients

1 (28-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 medium cloves garlic, grated on microplane grater (about 2 teaspoons)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
pinch red pepper flakes
Kosher salt
2 six-inch sprigs fresh basil with leaves attached
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and split in half
1 teaspoon sugar
Procedures

1. Process tomatoes and their juice through food mill, pulse in food processor until pureed, or puree with hand blender. Puree should not be completely smooth, but should have no chunks larger than 1/16 of an inch. Set tomatoes aside.

2. Combine butter and oil in medium saucepan and heat over medium-low heat until butter is melted. Add garlic, oregano, pepper flakes, and large pinch salt and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant but not browned, about 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, basil sprigs, onion halves, and sugar. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to lowest setting (bubbles should barely be breaking the surface), and cook, stirring occasionally, until reduced by 1/2, about 1 hour. Season to taste with salt. Allow to cool and store in covered container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

I normally use this recipe and throw it in the bread machine on the pizza dough setting. Sprinkle some corn meal in a cast iron skillet and make them deep dish.



If we're in a hurry or can't wait on the dough, we'll use english muffins, bagels, hoagie rolls, hot dug buns, etc... for the crust. The english muffins are probably our favorite shortcut.

Loaded pizza on split italian loaves

quote hooky: "I normally use this recipe and throw it in the bread machine on the pizza dough setting. Sprinkle some corn meal in a cast iron skillet and make them deep dish.





If we're in a hurry or can't wait on the dough, we'll use english muffins, bagels, hoagie rolls, hot dug buns, etc... for the crust. The english muffins are probably our favorite shortcut.

Loaded pizza on split italian loaves
"

Those look awesome! I use a cast iron pan for pretty yummy tortilla pizzas. Start the broiler, heat the pan on the stove, put tortilla in pan and then sauce and cheese it (and whatever other toppings). When all ingredients are on, I put it under the broiler for about 3 minutes. Quick and tasty.

I never thought about using tortillas in a cast iron pan. That's a great idea.

Check out the "Serious Eats" website; they have some serious pizza freaks lurking there!