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Making pizzas at home can be a fun filled way to spend time with your family. It is one of the few activities that all can enjoy in the kitchen. Pizzas made at home have no secrets to them. You can load up on any or all the toppings you wish for your own personal creation.

Pizza dough can be made from scratch, or can be bought at the local grocery store. If you are not going to make your dough from scratch, I suggest you by the pizza dough from your local bakery, not the dough that comes in the tube. Your dough will come in a ball shape and will be a little tough to spread out. My tip is to slowly spread it in your hands first like play dough. If you goof it up, just put it back together and start again. A round pizza pan is a much better choice for cooking than your average cookie sheet. A very thin layer of pan spray will keep the dough from sticking. Once your dough is the shape and size of a small Frisbee, place the dough on the pan. Start pushing the dough towards the sides with your fingers, spinning the pan as you go. Any thin spots in the dough will cause huge air bubbles during the cooking process.

Once the dough covers your pan, it is time to add the sauce. The pizza sauce is of your own recipe, but store bought canned sauce is a good way to start. The sauce you buy at the store may say ready to use, but it is not. There are very few spices included so you will have to add your favorites. Depending on your sauce liking, start the sauce in the middle of the pizza dough and start swirling it towards the edges. Leave no more than an inch of space between the edge and your sauce.

The cheese that you put on your pizza is the key ingredient of the whole pie. Pizza is not meant to be a healthy food; it is one of guilty weaknesses. Whole milk shredded mozzarella is the only cheese I suggest for your pizza. Part skim mozzarella will turn very dark and give your pizza a burned look even before it is fully cooked. Feel free to mix in a little Monterey jack, Parmesan or cheddar even, but the base must be whole milk mozzarella. I personally like to throw a little provolone down first with the mozzarella on top.

Your toppings are your own choice, from pepperoni and sausage, to ham and pineapple with maraschino cherries. The toppings you place on your pizza make it unique to yourself. Place the toppings only where you have spread your sauce and cheese, to allow your crust to form and less burning to occur.

When your pizza is ready to come out of the oven, you will take the great satisfaction of creating it yourself. Crust golden brown, cheese bubbling and steam rising from every last topping will leave you drooling in anticipation of devouring it.

Learn more about this author, Tammy L Mahan.
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