Make Amazing Pizza at Home

Making amazing pizza at home is much easier than you may think! Whether it's Family Fun Night or just Friday night, creating your own homemade pizza is fun for the whole family AND less expensive than delivery or take-out. Want to get the kids involved? Make smaller, individual-sized pizzas and let them have fun picking out their own toppings. Making pizzas together is a great way to spend quality time together in a special way. In our family, we've had some pretty wild combinations, but the memories of the time spent together while making our own amazing pizza is priceless!

Step One: Make the Pizza Dough

Any amazing pizza must start with an amazing dough! This recipe for homemade pizza dough is really easy to make and tastes great, too!

• Active dry yeast - 1 package
• Granulated sugar - 1 tsp.
• Warm water - 1 cup
• Kosher salt - 1 Tbsp.
• All-purpose flour - 3 cups

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the yeast, sugar, and warm water; stir gently to dissolve.
2. Let the mixture stand until the yeast comes alive and starts to foam, about 5 to 10 minutes.
3. Turn the mixer on low and add the salt and 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
4. Add the flour, a little at a time, mixing at the lowest speed until all the flour has been incorporated.
5. When the dough starts to stick together, increase the speed to medium, stopping the machine periodically to scrape the dough off the hook.
6. Test the dough by squeezing a small amount of together with your fingertips: if it's crumbly, add more water; if it's sticky, add more flour - 1 tablespoon at a time.
7. Mix until the dough easily gathers into a ball - this should take about 5 minutes.
8. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and fold it over itself a few times; kneading until it's smooth and elastic.
9. Form the dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl, turning it over once to coat.
10. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let it rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
11. Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down using your fist to let the air out and gently place it on a lightly floured countertop.
12. Roll and stretch the dough into one long piece and then divide into 3 equal parts.
13. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes while you make the Pizza Sauce

Step Two: Make the Pizza Sauce

What's an amazing pizza without an amazing sauce? This recipe comes together easily with ingredients that are already in your pantry and ready in just 5 minutes! My son and nephew are both fire fighters and do a lot of cooking at their respective fire houses. After trying his sauce they both said they were changing what they were using to this one! Enough said!

Step Three: Assemble and Bake the Pizza(s)

Here is a list of my favorite toppings - feel free to use whatever you'd like in place of any of these.

• Italian sausage, 1 lb., browned, drained and crumbled
• Fresh mushrooms, sliced (drained if using canned)
• Sliced black olives (drained if using canned)
• 1 lb. fresh mozzarella, sliced or shredded
• Fresh basil

Divide the first 4 ingredients evenly across the pizzas and top with whole fresh basil leaves.

Place pizzas in a pre-heated 450-degree oven and bake for 15 minutes or until cheese starts to turn slightly brown and is bubbling. Remove pizzas from the oven and allow to cool slightly before slicing. Now get out the games or start up the movie and enjoy you amazing pizza!