A Strassman family tradition and your guide to making an easy pizza night and easy pizza recipe at home.
October is National Pizza Month and, some people may question why I even mention it, or write a whole blog dedicated to pizza, however, for me, pizza has special meaning.
You see, Friday night was always pizza night in our household. What once turned into a thing to have for dinner at the end of the work or school week, because, “it was easy”, and “we didn’t really want to make anything too crazy”, turned into a way for our family to get together and connect.
We didn’t always make homemade pizza, my parents share they first started ordering pizza,
and then transitioned into making pizza themselves, because it was more economical, a way to save money, and I am so glad that they did. I may be biased, but our pizzas are pretty phenomenal. Even the kids on the street coined our pizza “Strassman Hut Pizza”, because they thought it tasted so good!
My mom shares that she remembers making the dough from scratch, when first starting homemade pizza night, and then when she saw that ready made pizza dough balls were available at the grocery store, she started buying them to make it a little bit easier on herself.
What are the benefits to making pizza yourself?
1) Easy to make
2) Cost effective
3) Pretty forgiving, you can’t really mess it up
4) Interactive
5) Allows people to be a little creative:
Coming up with different flavor combinations
Designs
Etc.
6) You can customize the ratio of sauce, to toppings, and even the crust size, to get the exact combination, size, thick or thinness that you want.
7) You also have the opportunity to collaborate with others and make a pizza for everyone to share in, or, make an individual pizza, with your own favorite toppings, created just for one.
8) It’s an easy way to clean out any leftovers you may have in your fridge.
9) Pizza can be a great thing to make with kids.
From rolling dough, to poking the crust with a fork, spreading sauce, cutting and placing toppings on top, this is a great activity to introduce cooking tasks to kids(see here for some age appropriate cooking tasks for kids, if you are in need of some ideas).
10) It also can be a fun thing to do as a date night, or, to make with friends!
Some equipment you may need for homemade pizza night:
A pizza stone or pizza pan
A Rolling pin to roll dough out
A pizza wheel to cut slices of pizza
Easy Make Your Own Pizza Recipe Template
Ingredients:
12-14 oz pizza dough or pre-cooked pizza crust(follow instructions on crust, if using)
¾ cup pizza sauce(feel free to use less or more as you desire)*
Pizza toppings: this can be anything you want(see below for some ideas)
Shredded/sliced or crumbled cheese of your choice
Flour, if using pizza dough
Cornmeal, if using pizza dough, to help prevent sticking
Method:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
Place empty pizza stone in preheated oven and cook for 15 minutes
While the pizza stone is heating, sprinkle flour on a clean flat surface, roll out the pizza dough into your preferred individual size or the size of your pizza stone or pan. Be sure to use enough flour, so that the dough does not stick.
After the pizza stone has been in the oven, for 15 minutes, take it out and dust the pizza stone with cornmeal.
Carefully, put the rolled out pizza dough onto the pizza stone, pierce with a fork all over, to help prevent bubbles from forming.
Spread sauce and add pizza toppings
If making a pizza with veggies, we like to add the veggies, sprinkle them with salt and pepper and cook for 10 minutes, before adding the cheese, placing back in the oven and waiting for the cheese to melt- about 5 minutes more.
If making pizza with just cheese and pepperoni/other protein simply add sauce, cheese and pepperoni and cook for 15 minutes, or until you feel your pizza is done.
Take your beautiful pizza creation out of the oven.
Slice and enjoy!
*This is for traditional red tomato sauce, adjust the amount if choosing a different sauce to top. See below for some ideas.
Pizza Topping and Sauce Ideas:
The following are just a few ideas, to get your brain rolling on coming up with some different flavor combinations for pizza toppings that you might like to enjoy.
Let me know if there is anything I am missing, and I'll add them so others can try!
Sauce | Veggies/Fruit | Protein | Cheese |
Pizza sauce(red tomato), BBQ sauce, pesto, enchilada sauce, olive oil with garlic and herbs | Sliced/diced onion, artichokes, broccoli, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, asparagus, spinach, multicolor peppers, jalapeños, any leftover cooked vegetables, olives, avocado(topped after the pizza has cooked) pineapple, sliced apple/ stone fruit, halved grapes | Cooked chicken, beef, egg, or shrimp, leftover or frozen meatballs, sausage, pepperoni, black beans, refried beans, soy/vegan/vegetarian crumbles, tofu | Mozzarella, Italian cheese blend, cheddar, Mexican cheese blend, asiago, fontina, ricotta, gorgonzola, goat cheese, feta, vegan/plant based shreds |
Do you make your own make pizza at home? What's your favorite step in the process, or what do you most like about it?
Interviewing mom and dad, at home, about how Friday night, pizza night, came about.
תגובות