Homemade Pizza...... Help!

I buy the pizza dough in the rolls back in the fridge section by the cookie dough rolls and biscuits. I do cook my dough a few minutes before putting any toppings on it and it comes out less...doughy.

The dough in the roll makes a large rectangle. I cook Jimmy Dean Sage Sausage in a small pan then drain it. I saute red onion in the remaining oil. Along with any bell peppers or mushrooms I chose to put on the pizza. I use Ragu or some other chunky garlic and herb spaghetti sauce. Then I top it with the sausage and onions or other veggies. I use the regular shredded Mozzarella cheese. Everyone loves my pizza.

.

The raw dough I buy from Publix has instructions on the label. :)

I would assume you would do pretty much the same thing, depending on the amount of dough in the bag...

Set it out (out of the refrigerator) for an hour to "rest". Then, with lightly floured hands (I find it helpful to sprinkle a little onto the bread dough itself, too), pull/stretch/pat and/or USE A rolling pin to roll out the dough into an approximate 16" crust.

You put the crust onto a 16" pizza pan (spray lightly with oil if it isn't a non-stick pan). Preheat the oven to 400.
Spray a little olive oil on the crust, spoon/spread your desired amount of sauce, and add toppings.
I usually sprinkle a little italian seasoning, then sprinkle a thin layer of cheese before adding the meat & veggies. (pepperoni, canadian bacon, sausage, sliced mushrooms, bell peppers, onion, black olives, whatever you like). Then another layer of mozzarella.
Bake for 18-25 minutes or until browned and it looks "right". :)

We had this for dinner last night!
Enjoy!

ETA: btw, when I don't have the time to wait for the dough to rest (or 30 min cook time) I use Mama Mary's pizza crusts. They only take 10 minutes to cook and you just cut open the package and start putting the toppings on. They come in "individual" sizes, too. When you use dough (like what you are talking about) it takes a long time to do multiple pizzas, and if you want to prep one while one is in the oven, you have to have multiple pans. With Mama Mary's, you can make the next one and have it ready to go in, because you cook them directly on the oven rack--no pizza pan or cookie sheet needed.

I always cook my crust for a bit before adding the toppings - it will give you a crisper crust and avoid the soggyness - don't over cook though, otherwise it will burn when you put it back in with the toppings on it. Punch a bunch of holes in it with a fork so it doesn't puff up on you.

My grandma has made Sunday pizza for the last 40 years. She makes her own dough though, which none of us in the family can remotely recreate.

Do what isn't going to stress you out every Sunday night. For a big group, keep it simple. It's the getting together that's important, not the food.

If it were me, I wouldn't have everyone top their own pizza - that's a lot of chaos and probably extra expense and ingredients to supply a "pizza topping bar" of choices.

And, oh yea, tell people to bring something to pass too. That way others are contributing and there are other things to eat - that way you won't have to make so much. I liked doing that because it was a great time to test out a new dessert or dip or something on my unsuspecting family.

I hope you have a Convection oven to cook 5 pizzas at once!

Good luck and ENJOY your family - it should be a non stressful, fun time.

you've got some good tips - i just wanted to add that "pizza night" does not have to be all gourmet. do it your way. FIVE pizzas is A LOT. it will be fun having that many people together. do you plan to have the kids help you? let them "top" their own pizzas.

i don't do homemade ANYthing when we do pizza night. we do canned sauce, storebought toppings, and instead of pizza dough, we use canned biscuits, flattened.

don't make this a "keeping up with the Jones'" thing. do it YOUR way and keep it fun. otherwise what's the point??? sounds like a blast to me!

I have a recipie for homemade dough if you survive this and want to pm me.

I find that i have to preheat the oven, and also bake the crust and sauce for 10 mins. then put the toppings on and bake again for 10 mins or so.

Maybe my dough isn't spread enough and is too thick, I dunno, but thought i would mention it so you don't end up with raw crust and burned cheese.

Fresh dough is very easy to stretch, just pat out a circle, and then hold it up with both your thumbs and two fingers on both hands and keep going round and round until you reach the desired size.

Go easy on the sauce

DO AS MUCH ADVANCE PREP AS POSSIBLE

Use your desired toppings (I think less is more)

Reverse...go heavy on the mozzarella cheese

HOT HOT HOT OVEN 450 - 500

Sprinkle on Parmesan cheese when the pizza comes out

(have some dried hot peppers for those who want more spice)

PS.....Just in case I would also have some Boboli crusts on hand as back up.

I make pizza dough from scratch and my teenager learned to spin and throw it in the air to make it stretch to the right size. I'm too klutzy to try it myself but it only took him a few tries to get the hang of it. None ended up on the floor! A couple spins and the crust is round, thin, and large enough for my 14" pans with a little rim around the outside. If you are brave, you can give it a try.

After setting the dough in the pan (go ahead and pat it out if you don't want to toss it in the air), I spread a little olive oil, then bottled marinara or classico spaghetti sauce on it, throw on some meat and vegies, and top with cheese. We use whatever is in the house: cooked ground beef, ham cold cuts, pepperoni, sliced onions, tomatoes, mozzarella and parmesan or even cheddar.

One thing I've noticed is that the top of the pizza often browns before the crust is cooked through. It helps to set the pan on a lower shelf in the oven so the bottom dough has a chance to cook. Lift the edge of the pizza up to make sure the crust is cooked underneath before taking it out of the oven. About 400 degrees, about 15-20 minutes in my oven.

I can't help you right now....but, next time, Betty Crocker had a really good pizza crust and its a dollar. The kids love to do this and they make their own. Good luck.

I make pizza a few times a month. It's a great way to use extra food in the fridge.

The easiest homemade crust I've found is by purchasing "pizza yeast" in the baking aisle at the grocery store. There are 3 little packets, one packet per pizza, for about $1.79 total. Preparation instructions are on the packet and are easy to follow - add flour, water, sugar, salt - mix into a dough - roll out - top with stuff and bake. No waiting for dough to rise or pre-cooking the crust.

As another tip, I usually make a pesto sauce instead of canned pizza sauce. And I've learned that you can make pesto by blending 1) any kind of oil, 2) any leafy green (from basil, to cilantro, kahl, spinach, anything), and 3) any kind of nut. Traditional pesto is olive oil, basil, and pine nuts, but it's fun to depart and you can barely taste the difference.

I brush a bit of olive oil on my pizza crusts before I add the sauce and toppings. And don't add too many toppings or the pizza will turn out soggy. I think about 2 cups of toppings, like veggies, etc (not including cheese and sauce) per pizza might be a good rough estimate.

Call the deli and ask. Or look it up in a cookbook or on line.

My guess is you need to let it rise, as you would bread dough. You could split it into pieces to make several smaller pizzas. This way you can have some with extra cheese or meat or vegies and some with none at all. In other words you can make pizza with everything on it, pepperoni, onions, green peppers, mushrooms, black olives, cheese and others with just the veggies and cheese and others with just cheese ect.

Once the dough has risen you need to flatten it out and spread it out on a pan (pizza pan cookie sheet) then add sauce - toppings - cheese and bake it at about 350* until done.

Again I would look it up on line. When I was a kid we used to make pizza from a mix in a box. I believe it was Chef Boyardee, I don't know if they even make them anymore. But it's been a long time since we did this. So I'm not sure how long it takes for the dough to rise (it should double in size) or how long to bake.

Its simple my family does this on Thursdays its simple to stretch out your dough and form into a circle I put olive oil on my dough before I spread my sauce and toppings. I make Hot Wingz and Bread Sticks also. Good Luck!! I hope you guys have fun.

Ok, maybe I'm a cheater, but I use Boboli crusts. They are very good, readily available and tasty! Good luck!

put the dough ball on a greased pizza pan. let sit at room temp for an hour.Grease your fingers...push it out to form the pizza. Let it sit again for another half hour.push dough into corners if needed. Put on the rest of toppings. Bake at 450 for about 12. minutes.

We grill our pizza! It's super yummy this way. Check out this recipe at allrecipes: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pizza-on-the-grill-i/