Friday Night is "Pizza Night"...

I've started a new tradition since we moved to our new house. Friday night is "Pizza Night." This week we're ordering in, once in a while it's a frozen pizza...but usually it's good 'ole homemade pizza. I've been experimenting with some new ones lately.

I'll start with the crust.

Italian Pizza Crust
Makes two

1 1/2 c. water
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. yeast
1 1/2 tsp. salt
6 tbsp. oil
2 1/4 c. flour
1 1/2 c. flour

Combine all the ingredients up to the first amount of flour. I switch to my dough hook on my Kitchen Aid after the first amount of flour. Add as much of the remaining flour as needed to make a soft dough that pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide into two halves and spread out on two greased pizza pans. This dough requires no rising time.
Bake topped pizza at 400F for 20-25 minutes or until golden cheese and crust.

If you are not needing two pizzas, simple freeze one of the halves and you will have a crust for next time.

Toppings?

I have two favorites at the moment.

The first one is BBQ Ranch Chicken Pizza. I mix a chicken & rib BBQ sauce with Ranch salad dressing. I just taste it until I'm happy with the mix. I usually use one chicken breast per pizza. Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and brown in a frying pan. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Other toppings include: red pepper, mushrooms, red onion, crisp bacon pieces. Top with mozza cheese & a sprinkle of parmesan.

The next one is Bacon Cheeseburger. I use pizza sauce as the base. Ground beef browned and prepared with a store bought taco seasoning (I usually freeze any leftover beef from tacos). Mushrooms, crisp bacon pieces, mushrooms, diced roma tomatoes (less seeds & less liquid). I use cheddar cheese on this pizza instead of mozza.