My Homemade Pizza Recipe

We were trying to figure out what to have for dinner tonight. We wanted something tasty and we were thinking of ordering a pizza, but then I decided to make it for two reasons. The first was that it would save us some money and the second was that we had all of the ingredients at home, so it was actually easier than going to pick up the pizza (the pizza place in our town doesn't do delivery!)

I've made this recipe loads of times and it always comes out great.

Here are the ingredients followed by a step by step guide:

• 2 and 1/2 cups flour (white flour makes a nice fluffy dough or use whole wheat for a healthier choice)
• 1 packet of quick rise yeast (I use Flechman's)
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1 cup of milk (you can use water if you're lactose intolerant)
• 1 tbsp olive oil

 Directions:

• Pour the milk and oil into a small saucepan and place on medium-low heat. You want the milk/water to be warm to the touch, not scalding hot. I would probably compare the temperature you want it to be to a nice warm bath. It can't be too hot, otherwise it will kill the yeast and won't rise.

• While the milk is heating, place 1 cup of the flour in a large mixing bowl. Add the yeast, sugar and salt and mix until combined.

• Add the milk  and oil mix to the dry ingredients once it has reached the desired temperature. Stir this in with a spoon or spatula for approximately 1 minute.

• Slowly add the last cup and a half of flour (about a 1/4 cup at a time), mixing inbetween. Add flour until the dough is silky. You may need a little more or less, so keep the flour handy. Don't add too much, otherwise your dough will be tough and chewy.

• Once the dough is pliable, knead it by hand for approximately 4 minutes. I usually knead it in the bowl so that I don't have to clean up a big mess on the counter.

• After kneading, cover the bowl with a tea towel. Let the dough rise for 35 minutes.

• Preheat oven to 375 about half way through the rising time.

• After 35 minutes have passed, stretch your dough out on a slightly floured baking sheet. You can use whatever shaped sheet you'd like. I sometimes use my round pizza tray, or just a cookie sheet.

• If I'm having company, I'll usually make individual sized pizzas so everyone can put what they want on their portions. I've also made bite sized pizzas for larger parties.

• Apply all of your toppings. I usually just use canned pizza sauce and part skimmed mozzarella cheese as my main toppings.

Here are some of our favourite pizza toppings:

• Olives
• Peppers
• Sundried tomatoes
• Jalapenos
• Sweetcorn (if you haven't tried this, please do. It tastes great!)
• Anchovies (my husband, not me though!)
• Spicy pepperoni

Be creative. If you have kids, let them put their own toppings on their pizzas. Pizza tastes even better when it has a smiley face on it!

Bake for around 17 minutes or until the crust is slightly golden.

Let cool for a few minutes, slice and then dig in!