Pizza Night

Friday night at our house is pizza night and I always make the pizza. It is usually a really thick crust, and even though Ryan has suggested that I cut the recipe in half, I haven't bothered. But now that we are counting our calories, I bothered and cut the dough in half and the pizza turned out great. The pizza with cheese and sauce came out at 250 calories/slice - and our slices are 1/4 of the pizza. Toppings add additional calories, but i just put on some fresh tomato (5 calories) and 1 slice of pepperoni (10 calories).

So in case anyone else wants to make my delicious pizza here is the recipe:

dough: 1/2 T yeast with 1/2 T sugar and 1/2 c. real warm water - give that 10 minutes to get bubbly. meanwhile, 1 c. flour, 1/2 t salt and 1/2 T oil (i like olive) go into the mixer with the dough hook attached. add the bubbly mixture to the flour combination and beat the nice little dough ball for a few minutes (adding more water if needed to make it into a ball).

put the dough ball on a lightly greased baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap or a bowl for ten minutes.

meanwhile i make the pizza sauce by just adding some herbs (basil, oregano, garlic salt, and an Italian blend) to a can of tomato sauce to taste. there is always more than enough for my pizza so i only have to "make" the sauce every few weeks.

i flattened the dough onto the sheet and spread 1/2 c. sauce and 1 1/4 c. mozzarella cheese on top and whatever else you want. bake at 400 for 17 minutes. i actually bake mine at 350 because i don't like crispy crusts.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out i don't have to quit our friday night pizza night for the contest.