A family favorite in our house is homemade pizza. I could seriously live off pizza, especially with all the different combinations out there: breakfast pizza, fruit pizza, tons of dinner type pizza, and we can't forget dessert pizza! So for Halloween, I wanted to do a fun pizza for the kids.
Pizza Crust
1 c. warm water (110-115 degrees)
1 tbsp. sugar
2 1/4 tsp yeast
Combine and set aside for 5-10 minutes, until frothy.
2 1/2 c. flour (may need 1/2 c. more, depending on your dough)
1 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. oil
Italian seasonings (optional)
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese (optional)
Mix the dry ingredients. Add in the water and yeast. Knead dough until it forms a round ball and is no longer sticky. You may need to add in additional flour. I sometimes need to add 1/2 c. extra, depending on the day. Once it is kneaded into a smooth ball, place in a greased bowl and cover. Let rise for 30 minutes. If you are short on time, you can heat put the oven on the warm setting and let it rise in the oven for 10-15 minutes.
Once the dough has finished, separate into 4 balls, if you are doing individual pizzas, or in half if you are doing regular pizzas. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Roll the dough out into circles. Don't do them too thick or the middle won't cook, for the small ones, about 8 inches is a good size. Sprinkle a pizza stone or cookie sheet with cornmeal and place the dough on it. Using a fork, poke a few holes in the dough. Bake for about 10 minutes. If you are doing the regular size, about a 12 inch diameter is good, but don't roll it too thick or the middle won't cook.
Place on baking stone or cookies sheet that has been sprinkled with cornmeal. Poke a few holes with a fork. Bake for about 13-15 minutes.
Toppings
You favorite pizza sauce
your favorite toppings
olives
about 4-5 string cheese sticks
Find a cute helper to string the cheese (you might need to pull out an extra stick just in case they decide to much on the cheese=) )
Once your pizza crust is done, spread your sauce. Spread your favorite toppings.
Get the strips of cheese and put them on to form a circle on the outer edge. then do another slightly smaller circle, and so on. once that is done, get some cheese and have them go straight out from the center, kind of like spokes on a wheel. Next put your cute spider on top. To do the spider, cut an olive in half. This will be the body. Then cut another olive in half and cut it in slices. These will be the legs. Put the body, cut side down on the pizza, then put the legs on. Sorry I didn't get a picture of the spider, but you can see it on the pizza.
(it looks a little better if you use smaller strips, but since I didn't want to hurt my helper's feelings I used the ones she did =) )
Then cook your pizza until the cheese is melted, approximately 15-20 minutes.
For the eyeball pizza
Make your pizza like above but instead of strips for a web, spread the cheese to cover the entire pizza. You can use shredded cheese for this one if you want. Make sure it is completely covered. In the center, place a pepperoni (or if you do a veggie one, use a bunch of tomatoes in a circle) and then put olives around the pepperoni. Sprinkle a little bit of marinara sauce to make it look like the blood vessels in the eye.
(you will need a bit more olives, but having 3 people that love to munch on olives made our olives not go as far as I thought =) and I was out of cheese so I couldn't do as much as I wanted so you will need more cheese then is pictured)
This is the cooked pizza
This is a great basic pizza recipe to use anytime of the year. It's lots of fun to make individual pizzas and have the kids put the toppings on their own pizza. My kids love it! We just have to watch out because when I'm not looking, they are eating the toppings instead of putting them on the pizza (but when they're not looking, I do the same =) )
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