Homemade (kinda) pizza

The Basics

• Pizza Dough – You can get pre-made dough from the grocery or from practically any pizza restaurant. I bought pre-made dough from Trader Joe’s for about $1.
• Mozzarella cheese – chopped; about a handful
• Spinach – chopped; about a handful
• Onions – chopped; about a handful
• Green bell pepper – chopped; about a handful
• Grilled, pre-cooked chicken- chopped; about a handful
• Mushrooms- chopped; about a handful
• Sauce – I personally don’t like marinara sauce, so I used regular white pasta sauce.
• Italian seasoning
• Spray oil

The Rundown

1. Take the dough out of the packaging. I like to lightly dust my hands with dough to make the dough easier to work with. Roll out the pizza dough on a lightly floured surface. I tried to use a floured rolling pin, but the dough kept retracting. I used my fingers to stretch it.
2. Place dough in a lightly oil pizza pan.
3. Pre-heat oven for 450 degrees.
4. Spread thin layer of sauce on the pizza.
5. Sprinkle toppings on the pizza — save the cheese for last. I seasoned my chicken with a half a package of onion soup mix. Sprinkle Italian seasoning. Lightly spray the pizza with oil.
6. Put pizza in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. Check occasionally because the crust will brown very quickly. If the crust is a little too doughy for you, keep in the oven for increments of 3 minutes.
7. Cut and serve!

Additional Notes

• You can use pre-made crusts like Boboli, if you don’t want to bother with rolling the dough out.
• Of course, use whatever toppings you like! =) I especially like making pizzas with left-overs.
• I prefer using a pizza pan that has holes on the bottom, because it makes the crust crispy. This is the one I have: Cuisinart Chef’s Classic Nonstick Bakeware 14-Inch Pizza Pan. My mom had a pizza stone, which I would prefer to use if I had extra money!
• I like my pizza with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and ranch dipping sauce.