Scratch That: Pizza

Here's a post dedicated to the love of making things from scratch. It's not something I always do, but it's certainly never something I regret! Keep in mind my idea of "from scratch" is not fully from scratch. For that, I think I'd have to grow every conceivable vegetable and herb, own a cow for my dairy source, and learn how to mill wheat into flour. Not exactly things I have time or resources...or knowledge to do. At least at this time! (I say, with much wishful thinking haha). So I'll keep it at mostly homemade while I....   Scratch That: Pizza  

Punnyness most definitely intended.

The Recipe

*Preheat the oven to 350˚F

*For the crust, mix:

2.5 cups flour

2.75 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Add 1 tablespoon oil and 3/4 cup water and stir until the mixture forms a ball. If dough is stiff, add more water. Dough will be soft, not sticky. Knead on a floured surface for 3-4 minutes. 

*Pour a few tablespoons of oil on your pizza pan. Use the ball of dough to spread it over the whole pan. Turn the ball over so both sides are now oily. It's much easier to handle this way. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough or just stretch it out with your fingers until it covers the pan, or until crust is the thickness you desire.

*Add toppings. For my pizza, I used:

Meat flavored spaghetti sauce

Lots of pepperoni

Sliced mushrooms

Diced onion

Garlic powder and dried oregano

Shredded Mozzarella and Shredded Italian cheese

*Bake for 10-20 minutes, depending on how hot your oven runs, until cheese is completely melted and crust springs back to the touch. 

*Total prep and cooking time: about 20-30 minutes!!

The crust can also be made in advance and put in a sealed container or bag in the fridge until you're ready to use it.

The Grocery List and Calculator
(Based on amount used for recipe)

Spaghetti sauce (4 oz) 0.30

Pepperoni (2 oz) 0.75

Sliced mushrooms (4 oz) 1.25

Shredded cheese (16 oz) 2.00

Diced onion (3 oz) 0.20

Garlic powder and dried oregano (sprinkling) 0.01 or less

Flour (2 cups) 0.80

Baking Powder (1 t) 0.01 or less

Oil (1 T) 0.01 or less

approximate total cost of 12" pizza: $4.53 (yeahya!!)

The Nutrition Factor

Unfortunately, I didn't record some nutrition things before throwing away containers, like for the pasta sauce. Maybe next time I do a "Scratch That" I'll have some actual stats in this section. For now, I think it's just common sense that anything homemade is going to be more healthful if only because it isn't completely loaded in every possible way with every strange preservative known to man. 

The Resulting Lack of Any Regret

Mmm, mmm, mmm.  =]