by Cindy Wagner

Created on: July 14, 2008   Last Updated: August 09, 2008

Quick and Easy Homemade Pizza

Homemade pizza is a great choice for lunch, dinner or a quick snack. Try out the following homemade pizza recipe; it combines preparation ease with great flavor. This pizza dough and pizza sauce mix saves you time in searching for ingredients at the last minute, and will make dough and sauce for four mini-pizzas.

Make Ahead Pizza Dough Mix

Mix in a bowl:

2 cups all-purpose flour,
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour,
1 tsp. salt,
1 tsp. sugar,
2 tsp. yeast.

To make the pizza:

For each mini pizza, add 1/2 cup pizza mix to a medium sized bowl.
Add 1/4 cup hot water
Add 1 tsp. olive oil.

Continue kneading the dough for two-five minutes. Kneading will let air mix with your pizza dough mixture. Knead until the pizza dough stretches without breaking, over-kneading can result in brittle pizza dough. While kneading the dough, use flour to prevent the mixture from sticking to your hands and the bowl, but use as little flour as possible.
Cover and let sit 10-15 min.

Grease cookie sheet or medium circle pan, or use a baking stone. If you do not have a baking stone to bake pizzas on, simply rub the crust with a small amount of olive oil and prick with a fork, and then bake the crust by itself for about 5 minutes at 425. Take out of oven; put the toppings on and then bake for an additional 8-10 minutes longer. This will make a nice crusty pizza without a baking stone and save you from having an undercooked crust and overcooked toppings.

Shape dough into a circle. (You may want to flour the surface of your work area to keep the dough from sticking).Top with pizza sauce. (See recipe below) Arrange whatever toppings desired onto the newly formed homemade crust. Add cheese, sausage, onions, mushrooms, hamburger, pepperoni, ham, bacon, and peppers, whatever your favorite pizza toppings might be.

Pizza Sauce Mix

(Make this sauce, and freeze for use with the mini pizza recipe above).

1Tbs. olive oil
(6 oz can) tomato paste
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. basil
1/4 tsp. cumin

Cook and stir over medium heat for five minutes.
Freeze in 1/4 portions for use on mini-pizzas.

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