Whew... I survived 2 birthdays in one week! it was a bit busy and heavy on the budget, but you only get one birthday a year right! And the best part was Bacon Jr and Little boy bacon both enjoyed their birthdays and I didn't break my budget even with eating out twice in one week (all from good planning!)
For little boy bacon's trip out to eat we decided to make it a lunch adventure instead of dinner. The place he wanted to go was a bit more expensive so going for lunch let us use the lunch menu at cheaper prices. Also a bonus for Mr & Ma Bacon, it wasn't so busy there.
For dinner we decided to make homemade pizza on the grill! Mr. Bacon got a pizza stone for fathers day and we thought it would be a great day to finally try it out. Who doesn't like homemade pizza!?!
Every time I mention to someone we're making homemade pizza I get the same response " I LOVE homemade pizza, but it takes so long to make. I end up making a frozen one instead." I used to say the same thing. I would make my pizza crust dough in the bread maker and it would take 1.5hrs to just make dough! By the time I decided on making pizza for dinner it was too late to start it all up. I did some digging and found a great dough crust recipe that only takes 10 minutes to make, add toppings and put in the oven and 20min later you have fresh homemade pizza! This recipe can also be made into freezer pizzas!
FAST QUICK PIZZA CRUST (ready in 15min!)
1/2-3/4 c. warm water 110-115deg.
1pkg (1 TBSP) dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 cups flour
1 TBSP oil
1/2 tsp salt
Mix 1/4 c of the water with yeast and sugar in small bowl- let sit for 5min or until bubbly. Put flour, salt and oil in food processor (or mixer, I use my kitchenaid mixer for it with the dough hook)- mix for 5 sec. pour in yeast/water/sugar mix. mix for 10 sec. Turn on processor and slowly drizzle in remaining water just until the dough pulls away from sides of processor and turns around about 25 times. The dough should not be too sticky. Place dough ball on greased pizza pan- cover with bowl for 10 min. Press into pizza pan and add your favorite toppings. Bake 425 for 15-20min until golden brown and cheese is melted and bubbly.
You can also make 2- 15" thin crust pizzas from this instead of one thick crust. I do this when I make the pizzas to put in the freezer.
For homemade Frozen pizza:
Mix crust as above. Add sauce (I make my own homemade pizza sauce from the tomatos I grow in the garden and can it each year, it's delicious!) and meat/veggie toppings. Do NOT add cheese yet. Bake at 400* for 10 min. Allow to cool on pan. Once pizza is cooled, add shreaded cheese. Wrap in tin foil and put in freezer. To bake- take out frozen pizza and place on pizza sheet or directly on rack still frozen. Bake 400* for 12-15 min our until crust browns and cheese is melted.
These are very cheap alternative to the frozen pizza's you buy in the store and always made with the toppings you want! I've had them last in the freezer for up to 6mths though they usually don't last that long.
When we make our shopping trips to SAM's club we usually stock up on bulk pizza supplies to make these. The kids favorite is still just pepperoni and sausage. But I do make up some with more toppings for Mr. Bacon and myself. They don't take much time to make up either. The kids love helping put the toppings on so we usually take a day on the weekend and make up a bunch.
I'm wondering how you go about making multiples-do you do one at a time-after they are cooked do you use cardboard when you wrap them=thanks
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to try this...
I usually make 2 pizzas at a time. When I mix a batch of dough, I divide it in 1/2 so I can make 2 crusts. I bought 2 cheap pizza pans from walmart ($3 each I think!) SO I put one pizza on each of my oven racks when I par-bake them. After I par-bake them, I just leave them on the pans to cool. Then top them with cheese once cooled. I just place them right on tin foil then. (heave duty and the long stuff, I can't remember how big it is- I get them at sams club and I'm out of it right now to check the length- at least 15" since that's how big the pizza is) Once they are wrapped up, I put them back on a pizza pan- usually stack 2-4 pizza's on a tray and put in the freezer. That way they stay flat when they freeze. Once they are frozen take them off the pan and the pan out of the freezer. Hope this helps! I'd love to hear how your pizza adventure goes!
ReplyDeletethis sounds fantastic! We're going to give this crust a go for some home made pizza this week. I have that very same conundrum with how long pizza crust recipes take to make. By the time I've decided I'd like pizza for dinner it would take too long etc. I can't wait to try this. And making extra for the freezer sounds fantastic. I wish we had a deep freeze.
ReplyDeleteCould I use mixture of wheat and white flour? Would the dough still turn out?
ReplyDeleteYes you can! I have replaced up to 1/2 of the flour with wheat and it turns out just fine. I also sneak in some ground flax seed and wheat germ to really give it a good boost!
ReplyDeleteCan I use completely whole wheat flour? We omitted white flour from our diets a year ago and as much as I am trying to save money, there are not many low cost/cheap "healthly" alternatives. I do still use Bisquick for pancakes, etc....if I had a good whole wheat flour recipe I wouldn't mind making from scratch that either.
DeleteRebecca you can try it. I haven't because I find when I replace more than 1/2 of white flour with wheat it gets really gritty, but it might be something you get used to when you make it more often. If you do try it please let me know how it goes for others who have that question too! Thanks for stopping by.
DeleteI'm doing this tonight for dinner, I've never made pizza dough before because it seems so intimidating, this recipe seems to easy! My dough is resting at the moment!
ReplyDeleteJust wondering if you have your homemade pizza sauce recipe here some where. We always have tons of tomatoes and I would like to try canning pizza sause. Thanks, gelswood@aol.com
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by! I do have my pizza sauce recipe posted as well! Here is the link.
ReplyDeletehttp://baconinmypocket.blogspot.com/2011/09/saucy.html
This recipe is fabulous! I made pizza puffs for dinner tonight for my boyfriend and I... we gobbled up the majority of the puffs very quickly. There are only three left! I am impressed you find a way to make it feed six. This recipe has made it onto my weekly dinner plan. It is so affordable for a college student. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if you may be able to include cost breakdowns of your recipes? For example, I know that you get your sauce for free because you use homemade sauce using your own tomatoes. However, I also know that you buy pepperoni from sam's club. So, how much pepperoni do you use per pizza? Just trying to figure out how much each pizza is costing you in order to decide whether it's really worth it to make your own pizza. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by Julie. I did do a cost breakdown for my pizza once. I'll include the link. The costs are slightly different due to rising food prices but you can get the pictue. Depending on what you put on the pizza will effect the cost. I hope this helps you out and I'll try to include cost breakdowns with more of my recipes.
Deletehttp://baconinmypocket.blogspot.com/2010/08/is-it-really-cheaper-homemade-pizza.html
Thank you so very much for all of your information, your blog is a great helpto our family. I was wondering if you can freeze the dough.
ReplyDeleteTried it. Loved it. Another A+ rating from the family. I did vary mix to be 1/3c whole wheat flour & 1 1/2c all purpose flour rather than 2c all purpose flour to make it a tad healthier. Nobody noticed the diff., but I bet the crust would have been thicker if I had used the whole 2 c all purpose. Thanks for the very quick recipe for this short on time mom.
ReplyDelete