Make-Your-Own Pizza Night

We love pizza at our house and that love is amplified in my mind by the fact that my kids will all eat pizza without the word "yucky" ever leaving their mouths.  So, that's a definite plus to me!  In fact, be it pizza of the restaurant, take-out, frozen, or homemade variety, it makes no difference.  There are always smiles and squeals of delight when I announce that we'll be eating it.

When I knew I'd be heading out the door for a committment soon after dinnertime tonight, I knew I had to make something fast and easy, that I could easily put together with the kids around.  So, the idea of having a Make-Your-Own Pizza Night popped into my head.  What could be more fun than getting to eat pizza for dinner?  Getting to assemble it, of course!   I always love something that doubles as something useful (dinner) and something fun (afternoon craft). 

Our pizza night started with good 'ole Mr. Breadman.  Some people have mixed thoughts on bread machines, especially compared to traditional homemade bread, but we love it.  The breads we have tried have been moist and yummy and the best part about the Breadman is that it frees my hands up to do other tasks, which is always a bonus in my book.

So, enter Breadman pizza dough recipe.  We use all-purpose white flour or semolina flour, but you can certainly use whole wheat flour if you'd prefer.

Pizza Dough (for two 12" pies)
1-1/2c. warm water
2T. olive oil
2tsp kosher salt
4-1/4c. flour
2tsp. sugar
2tsp. yeast

Set the machine to the Dough cycle.  Add ingredients in order listed, or in the order in which your bread machine tells you to add ingredients.  When it is finished, place in a bowl brushed with olive oil and brush the top of the dough with olive oil, too, before covering with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate until ready to use. 

When ready to use, knead lightly and divide into two pieces.  With lightly floured hands, spread the dough on an oil brushed pizza stone, sprinkled lightly with cornmeal. Spread dough to within 1/4" of the end of the round stone.  Or, we actually opted for two personal pizzas in lieu of one larger pizza with one half of our dough.  This seemed like the best option for two little boys who each wanted to put toppings on their own personal pizza.  Bake crust for 20 minutes at 375.

Remove crust, brush with olive oil, add toppings and cook for an additional 25 minutes, until lightly browned and the toppings are bubbly.

Voila, time for the oven.  Looks yummy, doesn't it?

And to the table we go!  Dinner is served and it looks just as yummy as Pizza Mia at the end of your road, doesn't it?  (Disregard the excess cheese oozing off the side of the personal pizzas.  Apparently, the kids had a little too much fun adding cheese to their pies.  Now...mangia!