Friday night Pizza!

 For a handful of years our family has used Friday night as a pizza and movie night. I know that the days of having Friday nights at home with all my family members is really not that far off... makes me kind of sad how fast it goes. I wanted to establish some of these family nights sooner rather then later. I know the time will come when we have one kid with a football game and another with a cross country meet and we're all going different directions. It will feel really normal and needed to gather on those few Fridays we have left in between all the games, places, and things that will fill up our Friday nights soon enough. I love having my family home most nights now and making Friday's a special pizza and movie night has been so great. The kids really look forward to it, I don't have to think twice about dinner plans, and I am ready for a good snuggle time around the ole big screen. I love when we all land at the end of the week in our cozy little family room. It's one of my favorite days (and meals) of the week! I say no to many things outside our home on Friday nights, simply because I already have some pretty important plans right here under my own roof. I think it's good to build traditions for your kids and I hope our home will be the place our kids will be bringing their friends for pizza on Friday nights before the big game or after a day at the pool. Until then, I will capture these years with my little clan of Hansen men surrounding me and be ever so thankful for good pizza, good movies, and the best Friday night companions a mom could ask for!!

Now, I won't lie...some nights we splurge and pick up a yummy Papa Murph's pizza, but most the time we make our own. Dough and all! Here is a tried and true pizza dough recipe. Just choose your favorite toppings and enjoy! If you haven't ever made homemade bread, don't let this scare you off. You can totally whip this up!

Mama's Homemade Pizza Dough

I like to use a large ceramic bowl for this. 

1.In your bowl put: 2/1/4 tsp active dry yeast, 1Tbsp brown sugar, 1 1/2 cups warm water. Let this sit for 10 minutes (should be slightly "bubbly").


2. Stir in 1 tsp salt and 2 Tbsp olive oil.


3. Now add 2 1/2 cups flour (sometimes I replace one of those cups with 1 cup whole wheat flour, don't use all whole wheat flour or you will have very heavy dough). This will be a sticky doughy consistency. I prefer a wooden spoon.


4. Here is where it can get tricky. I like to slather up my hands with tubbed margarine, sprinkle flour on my counter, and dump my dough onto this. Sprinkle flour over your dough and start kneading. (you may very well add up to another 1 1/2 cups of flour as you sprinkle more flour and knead). You should knead away until the dough is no longer sticky and you can roll it into a ball.


5. Spray your same big bowl with pan spray and set dough in there. Cover with a tea towel and let raise. Could take anywhere from 1-3 hours...depends on air temp in your kitchen. (really, you can let sit for a short time, but you just won't get a nice light crust and the flavor is better, I think, with complete raising time.) Dough should rise until doubled in size.


6. Punch down your dough and roll it out or push it into your pizza pan.


7. Cover dough with your sauce of choice and toppings. I also like to sprinkle a little garlic salt on dough before I spoon sauce on it.


8. Once pizza is put together, bake at 425 until golden brown cheese appears!

 Get your kids in the kitchen and make it a fun cooking night for all!

 Dough ready to rise

Dough that has risen for about 3 hours

Roll dough out (I prefer to use a stone pan) and cover with toppings. My fave- bbq chicken, my boys fave-pepperoni, my hub's fave- anything meat!

 

Yum! Cook pizza in preheated oven at 425 for 20-30 minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes before cutting. Enjoy!

(oh, and I like to take a stick of butter and brush the crust edges the last couple minutes.....mmmmmmm, so good!)