Cheesy Oooey Gooey Pizza!

Every Saturday in our house has a common denominator... pizza and movie night!  Mmmmm.  Our favorites for takeout are Papa John's, Isabella's and Italian Pie.  Again, mmmmmmm.  But most weeks we actually make our own pizzas FROM SCRATCH.  Let's hear it again, mmmmm.  I heard that.  Don't call me crazy!

Reasons we love homemade pizza:
1. It's cheap to make!  It costs about $5 to make 2 pizzas and it's a great way to use up leftovers.
2. It's healthy.  Yep, I think pizza is healthy... at least, that's what I keep telling myself.  Think about it... everything in moderation and that's easy to control if you make it yourself.  Bread, cheese, veggies, meat... balanced.  And my white crust has 9 ingredients and the whole wheat has 7.  No additives!  And if I put the cheese on top of the toppings, I find that I use less cheese... I trick myself.  Convinced?  Me too!
3. It's fun to make.  The kids love to help.

We start with the dough in the bread machine.  I use one of two recipes: either a white dough or whole wheat.  The recipes are at the bottom of this post.  Within an hour, we have fresh dough, ready to go.  I've always been the cook in the house, which up until recently has included the pizza dough.  But on busy Saturday afternoons, if I'm out running errands, Dave and Joey enjoy throwing all the ingredients into the bread machine and then watching it do it's magic!

Water + EVOO + Salt + Honey + All-Purpose Flour + Whole Wheat Flour + Yeast + Bread Machine = Homemade Whole Wheat Pizza Dough :)

After an hour is up and the bread machine beeps, we flour the counter, roll out the dough, top it with sauce, whatever toppings are in the fridge and cheese and throw it in a 450 degree oven for 15 minutes or so until it's bubbly and brown.

This week's pizzas were red pepper, onion and green olive (left) and pepperoni (right), of course!

MmmMmmmMmmm... better than takeout?  I say "yes!"

My little taste testers will let you know how it really was:

I LOVE these plates.  Got them on clearance at Michael's for $0.50 each!

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
1 1/3 cup water (plus 2 Tbsp. water if the dough is dry when it comes together)
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. honey
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. active dry yeast

Add all ingredients to the bread machine in order recommended by manufacturer (the ingredients are listed in the order that mine recommends).  Start pizza dough cycle.  When cycle is complete, roll out dough on floured surface and place on a pan or pizza stone.  Top with sauce, your choice of toppings and cheese.  Brush crust with olive oil.  Bake in preheated 450 degree oven for 15 minutes or until brown.

White Pizza Dough
1 1/4 cups water
2 Tbsp. olive oil
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. sugar
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast

Follow directions from Whole Wheat Pizza Dough recipe.