Pizzas I've Known

I can't remember any conversation where someone announced, "I don't like pizza." Pizza has such variety that it would be hard for a person to say he or she has never found a pizza to please. After all, aside from the traditional bread crust, tomato sauce, parmesan variety, there is also taco pizza with a corn meal crust, refried bean spread, and taco toppings. Or one could choose the cookie pizza with a sweet crust and cookie dough topping. I've even heard of an "American pizza" served in England that had a dressing (as in turkey and dressing) sauce and turkey and cranberry toppings. I remember being in India and driving into a small town with my American fellow travelers and spotting a Pizza Hut. Apparently everyone but me was sick of Indian food. We checked into our hotel, put our bags down, and made a beeline for Pizza Hut. I can say some of my fellow travelers achieved nirvana in that Pizza Hut.

My first pizza, I'm quite sure, was a frozen, cardboard-like thing. But soon after that, my Mamaw Koon bought a Chef Boyardee pizza-making kit for my brother and me to make pizza with her. Making those cheese pizzas with Mamaw Koon were some of the best times of my childhood. I remember my brother Thomas and I puzzling over the packaged ingredients and testing out the grated parmesan that came in the box. I remember following the directions with Mamaw, and then rolling out the dough on a baking sheet. Once we got it in the oven, we all drank Dr. Peppers and waited forever until our pizza was done. The results always confirmed that we were definitely gifted pizza chefs. Even now, 20 years later, my Mamaw Koon will smile and say "Remember when we used to make those pizzas, you and Thomas and me?" and I'll smile, too, and say, "Yeah, they sure were good."

Living close to Atlanta means pizza delivery options are plentiful, and Richard and I enjoyed it a lot. But with the pinch of the recession, being the smart folks we are, we quickly realized that $15 for a delivery pizza vs. $6 for a pizza from the supermarket freezer, well, the math showed the path. But even though those frozen pizzas were a far cry from the first pizza I ever had--frozen pizza quality can be quite high these days--frozen just isn't as good as delivery. And that's when I got to thinking, how can I have cheap AND wonderful?

The answer, of course, is make it myself. So here are some ideas about how to make a good, homemade pizza on a budget.

If you have a breadmaker, the best thick crust comes from throwing a box of bread dough into the breadmaker and letting it mix and rise. Then, roll it out for pizza crust. But you don't need a breadmaker. In my pursuit of great homemade pizza, I've also mixed up my own crust, and it's easy enough, but storebought is easier. I've tried the Pilsbury pizza crust, and it is fine, but the best thin crust is the Martha White crust mix. It's cheap, too.

I do make my own pizza sauce just because it's just as easy as opening up a jar, and it has far fewer calories. For that, in a small sauce pan I mix a small can of tomato paste with 2 cans of water. I add an inch squirt of Gourmet Garden brand Italian herbs. (If you are not familiar with this product, it usually lives in the vegetable section of the grocery store. It's a tube of chopped herbs that squirts out like toothpaste, and it comes in several varieties, including parsley, ginger, garlic, and Italian herbs. I keep them in the freezer, and they last forever--very cost effective and practical stuff.) I also add a tablespoon of sugar. I stir it around until it is warm and mixed up. Voila! Pizza sauce. Now, for an even better pizza sauce, you can start your sauce by heating up 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the sauce pan and add chopped onions. Stir around on medium heat until the onions are translucent, then add the tomato paste, water, herbs and sugar. Voila! Gourmet pizza sauce!

So, to make a great and economical home made pizza, you will need

Martha White pizza crust mix

Sauce stuff:

1 small can tomato paste

1, 1 inch squirt of Gourmet Garden Italian herbs

1 tablespoon of sugar

Toppings:

Whatever you want, of course. You can add 1 cup of Boca crumbles to the sauce mix, above, for hamburger pizza (for you carnivores, you can add 1 cup of hamburger meat, already cooked). For pepperoni pizza, add Yves meatless pepperoni--yum! I also add peppers, broccoli, and tofu on occasion. That's the great thing about pizza. You add whatever!

Cheese:

Shred 1 cup of your favorite type of cheese to make your pizza. Richard likes parmesan. I eat Galaxy brand veggie shreds, a low cholesterol cheese substitute. (If you are into cheese substitutes, I highly recommend Follow Your Heart brand over Galaxy, but Galaxy is all that gets carried in our local grocery store, so that's usually what we have on hand.) I make a pizza with half real cheese and half fake.

Preheat your oven to 475. Follow the directions for mixing up the Martha White pizza crust. Then, a trick my Mamaw Koon taught me: in a bowl that you can cover (say, with a plate), put a teaspoon of olive oil. Put the mixed up dough in the bowl with the olive oil and then, turn it upside down (so it is coated in oil). Then put the plate or other cover on top and set it on top of the oven that is preheating. The dough will rise, but it won't be too sticky to roll out.

Next, if you have a pizza stone, put it in the oven to heat up. If you don't have a pizza stone, spray some nonstick cooking spray on your pizza pan (or the pan you intend to use for the pizza).

Start preparing your pizza sauce (see directions above). If you are topping your pizza with broccoli (or another vegetable that won't have time to bake nicely in the 15 minute pizza cooking time), then steam your broccoli. If you are using Boca crumbles, add them to your pizza sauce to warm them up. If you are using hamburger or bacon, then you need to cook it thoroughly before topping the pizza with it.

Once the dough has risen, you want to put it on your pan. If you have a regular pizza pan or baking sheet, just roll out the dough. A mini rolling pin is great for this task. There should be enough oil on the dough that it doesn't stick. After you've rolled it out, push the dough toward the edges so that the edges are a bit thicker than the middle. If you have a pizza stone, carefully remove it from the oven. Sprinkle cornmeal on it (I use Martha White's cornbread mix, which is not 100% cornmeal, but the self rising flour added in it gives the crust a salty "spark" that I like), and carefully roll out your pizza dough with a mini rolling pin. The stone is HOT, so be very, very careful not to touch it. The crust will start to cook on the stone as you roll out the dough. That's okay, but don't dawdle.

If you have garlic on hand, you can crush it (or open the jar, or squirt some Garden Gourmet garlic paste) and rub it around on the crust at this point for extra garlic crust. If you are a big fan of the reverse liposuction delight called stuffed crust, you can roll mozarella sticks (or sticks of butter, whatever floats your boat) into the crust edges at this point, too.

Put the crust in the oven for about 5 minutes, or until it turns slightly brown. This trick makes your crust nice and crispy. It also allows you to have a fully done crust without burned cheese.

Take the crust out when it's done and top with pizza sauce and your toppings. Finally, add the cheese and bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese melts. Lift up the crust, too, and make sure it is done.

Cost? For the basic dough, sauce, real cheese version, $4, if you already have the herbs on hand. And if you buy a block of store brand cheddar and shred your own cheese. And you will have pizza sauce left over, so if you buy an extra packet of dough mix, you can make two cheese pizzas for about $3 each and freeze the second one (already cut up, in a freezer bag), so you make your own frozen pizza that you can snack on by the slice.

Bon appetit!

Thanks for reading, and please share your own favorite pizza secrets, below.