New Family Tradition, Homemade Pizza

On a Friday night during winter break we decided to make pizza dough in our bread maker. It had been stored in the pantry for months and we were missing that fresh baked bread smell. It ended up being a fun family event as we created our very own pizzas with a whole array of toppings. It's Friday again and the pizza dough is mixing. This could be a family tradition for the New Year!

The dough will take about 1 & 1/2 hours in the bread maker. This is the recipe for our Oster 2 lb Expressbake.

Pizza Crust 
1 and 3/8 (1/4 plus 2 Tablespoons) cups warm water
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoon active dry yeast
Sprinkle lots of love


1. Combine ingredients in the order listed above, yeast added on top of dry ingredients not touching water.

2. Select dough setting.
3. Press "Start/Stop". This will take 1-1/2 hours until completion.
4. When display reads, "0:00" remove dough.
5. Divide dough in half using sharp knife.
6. Pat dough into jelly roll pans or 12 inch round pizza pans. Might need a couple drops of oil on your hands to prevent dough from sticking.

7. With fork prongs, poke several holes in dough.

8. Pre-bake dough at 400 for 7-10 minutes, remove from oven.

Toppings we like:

• Pizza sauce, 1 can will do these 2 pizzas
• pepperoni, try diced salami
• mozzarella cheese, try feta cheese or provolone 
• canned mushrooms or saute' fresh sliced mushrooms
• pepper rings, try diced onions, green peppers
• black olives or green, sliced
• oregano, try pizza seasoning



Katie is brushing garlic butter on edges
of crust before baking.

• Don't forget the love

9. Spread sauce on dough, then add favorite toppings and cheese
10. Melt 2 Tablespoons butter, add garlic salt to taste. Brush on crust edges.
11. Bake at 400 for another 15-20 minutes until crust is golden brown.