Friday Night Pizza

Friday night is Pizza Night in our household. We normally order a pizza, however, I've recently been unimpressed with the consistency of the pizza from various pizza shops in our area. Good one week, not good the next, overcooked, undercooked, cold, veggies not cooked just thrown on the pizza. You get the idea, I'm sure you find the same thing where you live.


This past Friday, I decided to make my own pizza. Don't get me wrong, I have tried in the past. The taste was excellent, however, I have stayed away from making pizza at home for a couple of reasons.

Number One: I have a hard time making dough. You are probably saying "What", she's crazy, it's the easiest thing to make. I agree, the recipes for making dough are easy, but I somehow mess it up. Some people have told me it's possible that the water I use to combine the yeast might be too hot. Some say that I may be kneading the dough wrong. Whatever the reason, I screw it up somehow.

Number Two: I can't stretch the dough to make it fit on my pizza pan. I've tried all size pizza pans. Sometimes I get big holes in the dough after trying to stretch it to make it fit. Sometimes I get it to fit perfectly, only for it to shrink on the pizza pan after baking.

So, you can understand now why I order pizza rather than make it at home. The taste is always great, it's just a struggle to get it to look right. Well, this past Friday I am proud to say, it was fantastic. Not to mention, if I must stay myself, it didn't look half bad. My husband commented, "Tell me again why we are buying pizza when the quality of yours is so much better and cheaper". Of course, that made me feel good.

Before I started I call and consulted with a couple of family members, who by the way make the best pizza. It's so good they really should open up a pizza shop. Their homemade dough the best ever. I guess I was the family member who missed the dough making gene when they were handed out. Anyway, back to my story...

I used dough purchased at the bakery and with a rolling pin, rolled out each side very slowly. I didn't pull the dough, I just kept pushing the rolling pin toward the outside edges of the dough. No holes yet. Things were looking good so far. Then I put some olive oil on my fingertips and gently pushed the dough along the outer rim of the pizza pan so that it would hold. I baked the dough without toppings for about 5 minutes in a 400 degree F oven. When I took the baked dough out of the oven, I put on all the toppings. I put the pizza back in the oven for another 10-12 minutes or until I saw it bubbling and edges were brown.


I was so proud of myself. My persistence paid off. Now I need to learn to make my own dough, but that's another blog.