Make It Yourself Monday: Homemade Healthy Pizza!

Homemade pizza crust in 10 minutes: sold!!!

A couple weekends ago, my 3 yr old insisted on pepperoni on a trip to Trader Joe's. That kid is becoming a major liability to my grocery budget, BUT he does force me into meals I might not otherwise prepare.

I used to buy the Pillsbury pizza crust - but it seems so expensive! And fairly greasy for an at home pizza. I've tried several recipes for pizza crust, and I think this one came out the best. I think it worked to roll it out fairly thin, and let it get brown and crunchy around the edges.

This pizza was all homemade except the cheese. The kids had pepperoni on theirs, but I prefer veggie (duh). The key to putting veggies on pizza, and not getting a watery mess, is to slice them very thin. Otherwise, the veggies will steam and give off a lot of water that will just float atop the cheese. I used thin sliced zucchini, orange bell pepper, and red onion.

The crust: I used this recipe, adapted a little. First off, I doubled the recipe (was making pizzas for 3 adults, 2 kids). In a large bowl I poured 2 cups of warm water (as hot as the tap runs), and sprinkled 2 tbsp of yeast on top (comes in a jar - not sure what kind). I don't stir my yeast. After many fails, I have my yeast coddling routine down pat.

I let the yeast soak into the water, then I sprinkled in 2 tsp of sugar, and poured in 2 tbsp of olive oil (doubled recipe called for 4 tbsp, stuck to 2). I let that sit about 10 minutes until the yeast started to bubble. Then I stir (I don't stir when adding the sugar and oil - my yeast is picky).

Added 5 cups of flour, and turned out onto my counter to knead for about 5 minutes, adding a little flour as needed, until the dough was smooth. I like to knead vs the "beat 20 strokes" method, as I never feel like I get it combined enough.

I forgot to let it rest. Oops. Instead, I used kitchen shears to cut the dough into 6 pieces, and rolled each piece out to a little smaller than my round pizza pans - they are not huge, with holes in the bottom.

I baked the crust on the pizza pan (sprayed with Pam) in the oven @ 425 for 3 minutes before I topped them.

The sauce: this time I decided to blend up veggies raw, not having the time to really roast them. I put red, yellow, and orange bell peppers in the vitamix with a jar of pasta sauce.

The cheese: 3 cheese shredded blend from Trader Joe's, sprinkled lightly on top

The toppings: some just cheese, some pepperoni, some veggie (thin sliced zucchini, red onion, bell pepper)

The cooking: Back in the 425 degree oven - no idea how long - maybe 10-15 minutes? I left them in there until the edges of the crust started to get brown and crunchy.

The verdict: everyone loved it! Kids asked for seconds! It was easy and economical, and healthy.