I really enjoyed the pizza, but my dad thought it tasted too much like bread, and not enough like pizza dough.  He liked his homemade pizza better, but he bought his dough.   So really… his wasn’t fully homemade, and mine was.  So there!

I put everything in the bread machine under dough cycle again, and it was a lot different than the Italian bread dough.  This was a LOT stickier and I had a hard time getting it out of the container.

Then, I had to scrape out all the stuff that was still left in the container.

Then I started to cover it with flour and knead it a bit, when I felt something hard.  “Uh Oh, What’s that?”  I thought.  Oh, it was the little spinny thing that is suppose to be in the bottom of the container!  (I got my camera covered in lots of flour taking these pictures!)

After the dough sat for a bit, I rolled it out and placed it on the pizza peel (the wooden spatula thing).

Then I decorated it with sauce, cheese, peppers, scallions, mushrooms, and some deli ham we had in the fridge (for my dad).

I mixed some cooked TVP with tomato sauce and added that to a portion for me.  My mom wouldn’t try any until we looked up exactly what TVP was.  It is soy.  Now she is “not afraid of it”  and will eat it more willingly.

Here is the pizza cooked!  The second pizza was in the oven at 500°, the first one was only in at 400°.  The higher temperature was much better.  I also brushed the second pizza’s crust with olive oil.  So which of these made the crust better?  My mom thinks it was the higher temp.  So 500° it is!  I really enjoyed the pizza even though my dad said it was too “bread like.”  I like bread, so I was ok with it.

I did make a HUGE mess in the kitchen, and got flour everywhere.  This was a very messy and time consuming dinner.  That was the only down fall.  Oh, and getting the pizza off the peel and into the oven was also tricky.

Homemade Pizza

• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes.

1. Put all ingredients in bread machine following the instructions of the bread machine.  Flour is the second to last ingredient, and then the yeast is last.
2. After dough is done, separate into how many pizza you want.  I did two small ones, which was good cause a large one wouldn’t have fit on my pizza stone.
3. Once separated, leave the dough alone, covered for 10 minutes to let it settle.
4. Roll out the dough on a floured surface, and form on the pizza peel (or a wooden cutting board, or a clean piece of thick cardboard.
5. Decorate pizza with toppings
6. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (220 degrees C). If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, you may place your toppings on the dough, and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza in a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise for 15 or 20 minutes before topping and baking it.
7. Bake pizza in preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.