Homemade Pizza. Easy, Affordable and Fun!

I have been wanting to make homemade pizza for a loong time. We finally did it, and I'm so glad. It was cheap, easy, fun and of course...delish! My very picky eater even liked it. She also had a great time helping me make the dough. Making your own pizza will also save you loads of $$. I got this recipe from Allrecipes.com. It works, it is super easy and fun. I added my own special tip. You are welcome.

Ingredients

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

 1/2 tsp brown sugar

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 tsp salt

2 Tbsp olive oil

3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

The crushed garlic was a lovely addition. See my tip below about the cheese and tomatoes.

Directions
In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes.
Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution.
Mix in 2 1/2 cups of the flour. Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky but still fairly soft. This was the fun part for Caylee-

Don't let her facial expression deter you from trying this recipe.

Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise until double; this should take about 1 hour. It will make you feel like a real chef. Text people that you are bored while your dough is rising.

Before the dough rises. Don't forget to cover it!

Preheat oven to 425.
 
After your dough rises, you will need to punch it down. Then let dough relax for a minute before rolling out.
 Line a cookie tray with parchment paper, press the dough onto it, and let the dough rise for about 15 minutes before topping and baking it. (I skipped the parchment paper when I used my pizza stone)

**Tip**

The first time I made the pizza, I used shredded cheese and lots of sauce and it was not so good. The cheese slid right off the pizza when we cut it. That made my daughter crazy. The next time we made it, we used light sauce, sliced roma tomatoes, thick slices of mozzarella, crushed (fresh!) garlic cloves and any other toppings we are in the mood for. It made a huge difference! So much better! 
Please note that my husband is from England and he put lamb (gyro) meat on his pizza. That is weird. Mine is the plain cheese.

Bake pizza in preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.  

Pizza Stone = No parchment paper. Cookie Sheet=parchment

Lamb Meat Pizza. Weird. Makes my hubby happy.