My idea for this week’s post came during a shopping trip to one of my favorite stores, Trader Joe’s. Just last week I discovered refrigerated, pre-made pizza dough for only one dollar. One dollar!
It’s the perfect thing if you’re making food for friends — super cheap, super easy, and a great way to get creative.
Ingredients
* One package of pre-made pizza dough
* Pizza sauce (my recipe follows, but pre-made sauce is also available)
* Shredded mozzarella (or a blend) cheese
* Toppings: I recommend trying the pre-diced pancetta TJ’s sells. As my boyfriend described pancetta, “It’s, like, the better version of bacon. Not that there could be a bad version.” Italians are responsible for this delicious, delicious creation and I cannot thank them enough.
All you have to do is roll out the pizza dough, spread the sauce, then sprinkle your cheese and toppings. Bake according to pizza dough package instructions. And you really should spray your cookie sheet with cooking spray or oil if you want to actually get your pizza off the pan.
Don’t sweat if you can’t make your pizza dough into a perfect circle, or even something resembling a circle. As you can tell, I wasn’t successful at all.
The possibilities for these pizza doughs are almost endless, and I can’t believe I just discovered these. I have so many ideas spinning through my head — dessert pizzas, breadsticks — and I can’t wait to share them.
Homemade Pizza Sauce:
* One 6 oz. can of tomato paste
* Generous splash of oil
* About 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 cups of water
* 1 finely diced clove of garlic (or garlic powder if you have it)
* Italian herb blend, to taste
* Salt and pepper, to taste
Whisk together ingredients, adding enough water until it is your desired consistency. Let your sauce sit in the refrigerator for a couple hours so the flavors have a chance to develop and blend.
