It's NOT Digiorno. And it's definitely NOT delivery.

Personally, I DO NOT like pizza.  Years of eating pizza almost every night of every week literally killed it for me.  My taste buds were never the same after college.  But as much as I dislike delivery and frozen pizzas, I absolutely love me some homemade pizza!  And because my family loves it so much, I had to learn to make it :-).  My first pizza I ever made was about 3 years ago.  And ever since then my family has been spoiled with having their own pizza parlor right in my kitchen :-).

As of late, my family has had an obsession with pizza and all things cheese sticks.  Our pizza stone probably had a lot to do with this obsession because boy oh boy did our pizzas turn out amazing!  Even after refrigeration the crust held up really well and still tasted like it was fresh out of the oven.  And using the pizza stone, it took only 10 minutes or less to bake the pizza, because the high heat and even distribution made possible by the pizza stone made for faster baking.  So I highly recommend a Ceramic Pizza Stone  for your kitchen, especially if you are a beginner like me.

Do not get intimidated by pizza stones like I was.  Which is the very reason why it took me so long (3 years) to go out and buy one.  They are relatively inexpensive, ranging from about $12-$20 for a good quality stone.  And they are easy to use and maintain.  Just follow the directions on the product booklet or these simple instructions:


1. Preheat the pizza stone for 15 minutes at 425F.

2. Be very careful handling the pizza stone, into and out of the oven.  Use oven mitts!  Or get a second pair of hands.  The stone is heavy and will be hot!

3. After using the pizza stone, DO NOT WASH with detergents.  Using a clean sponge, wash with warm water only and scrape off any stuck on food.  Soak in warm water if needed.  Then let it sit out in the air until completely dry before putting it away.  Your pizza stone will darken with age and use.  This is a sign of it seasoning, and it is perfectly normal and actually preferable.  It will give your pizzas even greater flavor over time!

Pizza stones are every pizza parlors best kept secret!  For way less money, you can have your own pizza parlor pizza right in your own home.  Going out for that pizza at the pizza joint downtown can cost you on average $20 per pie (very small pies I might add that will feed only 1 person in my family).  But making your own, you can prepare to spend yourself $1.90 on the ingredients for the best pizza to come out of your oven.  Add the toppings (and depending on what you put on there), and you are looking at a $5 homemade pizza just as good as the $20 pizza parlor pizza. Need I say more?

So this past weekend, the siblings were over and I had to make a double batch of my dough, which is the same dough I use for my bread.  Out of that double dough, we made 4 pans of large cheesesticks, and 2-15inch pizzas.  My sister created a beauty with her Truffle Egg Pizza featured here!

Disclaimer: Organic Protein and Meal Replacement are NOT ingredients for pizza making.

Rolling out the ball of pizza dough and stretching it out using my fingers.  Also created a raised edge to make a crust.

My sister working her magic.  Pepperoni, Red Onions, Mushrooms, Black Olives, Red and Green Peppers, and Spinach go on with a flourish of course!

Parmesan and Mozzarella cheese go on top with a crack of black pepper and kosher salt.

2 eggs went on top of the pizza halfway through cooking (at about the 5 minute mark) and this is the result

With a drizzle of truffle oil, this masterpiece is complete!

After cutting it through with a pizza cutter, and feeling very spiffy and professional about how pretty the pizza turned out, we dove right in and this pizza didn't stand a chance.  The crust was crisp, but not hard, with just enough chew.  The toppings were not overdone and heavy.  The choice of veggies added freshness.  And the egg and truffle oil just put it over the top!

Here are my tips for making great pizza:

1. Stretching is better than rolling - When it comes to pizza dough, it can be very springy and elastic making it difficult to stretch out to a decent round size.  So flatten and stretch your ball of dough as much as you can without resorting to the rolling pin.  But if you do use the rolling pin, don't even sweat it.  I've done that a million times and no pizza has ever died because of it :-).

2. Sauce it up the way you like it!  I use as little pizza sauce as possible (and yes I make my own...See below for a easy pizza sauce.  :-)), but only as a personal preference.  My kids do not like the overpowering tomato-ey flavor.  And I prefer a more crisp crust, so I go less on the sauce.  But if you use the pizza stone and worry that your sauce might make your crust soggy, well the pizza stone will solve all of that for you - sauce it up as much as you want without fear of soggy crusts when using your pizza stone.  

3. Always create a crust when stretching/shaping your dough.  It will make a huge difference when laying on your toppings.  It doesn't hurt its looks too :-)

4. Thick or thin.  Whether you like your crust thin or on the thicker side, its all in your control.  The pizza stone will cook it up perfect every time.  

5.  Use the freshest and best quality ingredients you can get.  I use unbleached, unbromated flour and fresh vegetables.  

6. A little goes a LONG way.  Two peppers is more than enough for 4 pizzas or more.  A container of mushrooms will be more than enough for 15 pizzas.  And 1 onion will make you about 10 pizzas.  Don't sweat the small stuff. Use whatever you have on hand.  Frozen meatballs, ham or turkey sandwich meat, or even SPAM dare I say it for my local people, can be thrown right on top of your pizza pies!  We had tequila lime and honey bbq chicken wings in addition to all of our gluten-ful feast yesterday, so if I had the energy I could have shredded up some wangs and added that to my pizza :-).

7. Use my dough recipe!  It is easy and budget friendly.  I always have ingredients for dough on hand.  All you need is FLOUR, SUGAR, SALT, YEAST, OIL, and WATER.  That's it! With a little elbow grease you will always have dough whenever your heart desires!

If you have any questions or comments or issues with any of this babbling I just got through about pizza, shoot me an email, hit me up on Facebook (using one of the social media buttons to the right of this), or just leave a comment below and I will get back to you  :-). 

Pizza Sauce:

All of these ingredients just go straight into one pot/pan.  Easy peezy right?

- 1 small can (6oz) tomato paste

- 1 can tomato sauce (12 oz)

- 1 can water

- 3 tablespoons brown sugar (or more, taste first then add more if you want it sweeter.  My perfect number is 3 tablespoons :-))

- seasonings: I add whatever Italian seasonings I have on hand.  I am always stocked on these so these always go into my sauce: garlic powder, dried italian seasoning, no-salt seasoning. When I do not have italian seasoning, I do a combo of dried oregano, dried marjoram, and dried thyme.  Again, seasoning is whatever you want to go in there.  Experiment and you will find you favorite combo :-)

Let it come to a boil and voila...Pizza Sauce!  You will need to stir it occasionally and depending on how adventurous you are feeling, you can simmer it for longer (all day if you want :-)) but once it boils its good to go. I use this same sauce for dipping and dunking cheese sticks too.  And any leftover sauce goes into spaghetti later in the week!

Here are some recommended products for your next pizza making session!

Until next time, happy pizza, happy eating, Happy Monday!