Pizza Friday

This family of mine has begun a fun little tradition *most* Friday nights.
We eat pizza.
We watch a movie.
We eat junk.
We put the kids to bed.
We eat even better junk.
It's a beautiful thing.
We've been out of it lately, so I've been-GASP-ordering pizza instead of just making it. And it's time to stop.
I really enjoy making our own pizza. It's pretty fast once you get the hang of it. I love how it tastes. I love how inexpensive it is. I love that sometimes the girls help me spread the sauce and the cheese (while scrafing down little handfuls when they think I'm not looking).
One very good thing did come out of our little ordering-pizza-from-the-chains gig.
Mr finally got me to try BBQ chicken pizza.
Oh heaven help me.
So today, I am trying it on my own so that I don't have sell my first born just to eat this pizza every day for the rest of my life.
We'll see how it turns out; ya'll might want to start praying for Little Miss.
Or my priorities.
However you want to swing it.
For now, I'm going to share my tried and true pizza tips. I'll give credit where cerdit is due and hope I don't get sued.

My Crust:
Once in the mail I received a bunch of little recipe cards (still no idea why or where they came from) and this pizza crust and my favorite cinnamon roll recipe found their way into my kitchen. Both cards are worn, smudged, and caked with flour.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups warm water (105*-115*f)
1 envelope (.25 ounce)(2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 TB olive oil
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp cornmeal (optional)

1 Place 1/4 cup warm water in large bowl. Sprinkle yeast over water; stir in sugar. Let stand 5 minutes. Add remaining water, oil, and salt. Stir in flour until dough pulls away from sides of bowl.
2 Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth, 8-10 minutes (if you have a stand mixer, use the dough hook attachement and knead on low for about 5 minutes). Coat large bowl with cooking spray, place dough in bowl, turning to grease top. Cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise in warm place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.**
3 Preheat overn to 450*. Punch down dough. Coat two 12-in pizza pans (or any baking sheet) with cooking spray; sprinkle with conrmeal (if using). Divide dough in half. Roll dough to fit prepared pans; press dough against edge to form rim(if you're having a hard time getting the dough to stretch, let it sit for about 10 minutes and come back to it). Bake crust for 10 minutes.***
4 Remove crust from oven and top with pizza sauce and toppings. Bake another 15-20 minutes until cheese is melted.

**I like my crust on the crunchier side, so I skip the rising altogether. I just roll out the dough after it's done kneading.
***I skip this step every time. Cuz I'm lazy like that.
You can also make your pizza ahead of time. Make as I do (no rising) and then top with sauce and desired toppings, cover with foil and pop in the fridge. You will have a softer, slightly airy crust this way.
I love to make pizzas for get togethers and play with the toppings. Pepper jack cheese with mozzarella and jalepenos for the spicy folks.
Cheddar and mozzarella for the kids.
Sometimes our store has mini pepperoni and I think it makes the kids drool. (Ok, maybe just me, but they like it, too). Just don't do what i did for Little's birthday party and try to make the pizza right before guests arrive. You will be a sweaty, flour-dusted, frazzled, going-to-cry-at-any-moment hot mess. Make the pizza ahead of time and put them into the oven as guests arrive. Trust me.
I use Mel's Kitchen Cafe sauce and I agree with her that pre-shredded cheese isn't nearly as delectable as the block cheese you shred yourself. It's a little more work, but the bubbly, ooey, gooey cheesiness of it is worth it.
Plus Mr and I think it's funny when the girls ask what we're doing and we answer, "Cutting the cheese."
Snicker. We're so mature, I know.