I {heart} Pizza.

I LOVE pizza.  There are not enough words in the English language to tell you how much I love pizza.  I craved pizza throughout my pregnancy.  When I took Bradley classes and our instructor had us write down what we ate each week to make sure we were eating a balanced diet, I shamelessly wrote down "2 slices of pizza and salad" on no less than 4 nights each week.  Each and every week folks.  And Bradley classes are 12 weeks long.  That's how much I {heart} pizza.

Pizza is easy, but, many more times than not, I was consuming the frozen variety.  I did a lot of Freschetta and California PIzza Kitchen brand pizzas, because they just seemed like they were the healthier options out of the grocery store freezer.  But frozen pizza really isn't that good for you.

Maybe it was the extreme fatigue that comes in your 1st and 3rd trimesters…but I completely forsook my former favorite pizza…the homemade variety.  It seemed really overwhelming to make my dough…all the kneading and rising and whatnot just did not appeal to me.  And now I feel like a dingbat.  Because until recently when the preggo brain fog cleared, it never occurred to me to make my dough in the bread machine ahead of time and freeze it for the coming week.  Super simple.  It's my newly re-discovered method for pizza at home.

I've tried several different recipes and combinations of recipes over the years, and this is the version that has been most requested in my house.  You can use your food processor or stand mixer to make pizza dough {or make dough by hand} but the bread machine is my new favorite method because you can just walk away and let it do it's thing.  Here's my bread machine method {you might want to double check your bread machine instructions first to make sure the order of ingredients will work for your machine}:

PIZZA DOUGH

• 1 cup warm water {I use filtered but you don't have to}
• 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 tsp. of sugar {I eyeball this}
• 1/4 cup of EVOO
• 3 1/4 cups of flour {all-purpose does the trick…and I'm not super precise with my measuring}
• 1 3/4 to 2 tsp. of salt {I eyeball this too}
• 1 packet of active dry yeast {equal to 2 1/4 tsp. if you have a jar of yeast}

Dissolve the sugar in the warm water and pour into the bottom of your bread machine along with the EVOO.  Next add flour and salt.  Hollow out a little hole in the top of your flour/salt to pour the yeast into.  Select the dough cycle and push start.  Don't think about the dough again until you hear the bread machine beep. :)

This will yield enough dough for 2 regular size pizzas.  Divide the dough in half and roll out on a very lightly floured surface to your desired thickness.  If you're super brave you can try tossing your dough…this never works for me…I always poke holes in the middle.

Top however you like, place on a cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick spray or a pizza stone, and cook for about 15 minutes in a 500 degree F oven {I start checking at 12 minutes to make sure it doesn't get too crispy}.  I like to brush the edge of my crust with EVOO and drizzle extra EVOO on top of the pizza before popping it into the oven…it makes it golden and delicious.

If you aren't making all the pizzas at once, you can wrap the extra dough in plastic wrap and a freezer bag and store in your freezer.  To thaw, I let the dough sit in a bowl filled with hot tap water {still wrapped up and in the bag…you don't want soggy dough!}.  It takes about 20 to 30 minutes to thaw using that method.

And if you have more time and would like to try making your dough by hand, check out Paul's post at What's Mine Is Yours.  He's super talented and puts my mushroom chopping to shame! :)

Enjoy!