Homemade Pizza

When I make pizza dough, I like to add some Italian spices to help give it some more flavor. I haven't replicated a pizzeria salty crust, but I do make a crust that is good whether you are going for a more classic pizza (like tonight) or fancier with caramelized onions, fresh mozzarella and drizzled balsamic reduction.

Tonight's toppings

Half of the 2lb dough went into tonight's pizza, and the rest into the fridge for another night. I pre-baked the crust at 400 degrees F for a few minutes to crisp up before adding the sauce and other toppings.

The bread maker is my hero, the bread maker is my hero!

Making pizza dough in the bread maker is so simple and easy, that it is never worth buying a frozen pizza ever again. Now that Keith and I are married, we have a lot of awesome appliances. In fact, we have three different ways to make dough (Cuisinart Bread Maker, KitchenAid Mixer and Cuisinart Food Processor).

The bread maker will always be my preferred method for breads (although I never use it to bake the bread.) What are the most valuable features? The heating and kneading cycles to allow the dough to rise... and the delay timer. Since none of the ingredients in pizza dough are perishable, you can set up the dough as you get ready in the morning (which takes about 2 minutes) and set the delay timer so it will be ready when you get home.

I almost forgot to take a picture of my meatless "supreme" pizza!