In our home, pizza on Fridays is traditional. Years ago, when money wasn’t as tight, it meant delivery boys. Lately, with every dollar being stretched to the breaking point, it meant super cheap store brand frozen cardboard.
I’m not into cooking on a Friday night. I think it’s ingrained from my childhood when my mom would set us down with tv dinners and a baby sitter as she and my dad headed out on Date Night. Friday=no cooking.
So how do I get a homemade pizza without spending hours in the kitchen, waiting for pizza dough to rise and chopping up a bunch of different toppings? Pillsbury* has solved that problem! They have pizza dough in a can, right next to the biscuits and crescent rolls! I printed some coupons off their website and headed on down to the super market.
The following is our quick and easy Friday night pizza recipe. It took less than 5 minutes to put together and throw in the oven! It takes WAY longer for delivery. Bonus: no tipping necessary!
Gather all your ingredients together.
Pizza dough
Spray cooking oil
Pizza, spaghetti or marinara sauce
Shredded cheese, your choice
Toppings. I used pepperoni and left over breakfast sausage.
Note if using breakfast sausage, do not use the maple kind. Trust me!
Spray the pan with cooking spray.
Open the can of dough.
Let it rest for 5 minutes so that is warms up a bit.
This keeps it from breaking and tearing when you spread it out.
Unroll the pizza dough.
It’ll be square. No worries.
This is not as hard as fitting a round peg in a square hole.
When it’s complete rolled it, give it another minute to rest.
This is a good time to have your helpers wash up!
The perfect job for our kitchen aids.
Pat and gently stretch into a round shape.
Keep the dough as even as possible across the pan.
Of course, if you are using a square or rectangle pan,
pat and gently stretch the dough into the appropriate shape.
Take a fork and poke holes in the dough a few times.
I think this was the kids’ favorite part!
This keeps bubbles from forming in the crust,
so your pizza doesn’t look like the surface of Mars.
Pour on the sauce. Probably not the whole can!
Just eyeball it. Some people like a really saucy pizza!
Take a spoon and using the back, spread the sauce around so that it covers the entire surface of the pizza.
Try to keep sauce from getting on the pan itself. It’ll burn in the oven and you don’t want the smoke detector to become your dinner bell!
Next, sprinkle on that cheesey goodness!
Less is not more here.
More is more! And the more the better!
Don’t be stingy with the cheese!!
Mmmmm! Cheese!!
It’s topping time!
We chose pepperoni and sausage.
But you are really only limited by your own imagination.
And budget. And common sense.
Same rule for toppings as for cheese.
Don’t be stingy with the toppings. This isn’t Dominoes!
I cooked it according to the Pillsbury pizza dough package directions.
425 degrees for 13-17 minutes.
Be sure to preheat the oven. I turn it on just before I roll out the dough.
We started with 13 minutes.
After checking on the pizza, we left it in for another two.
The crust will be golden brown around the edges
and the cheese in the center of the pizza will have melted.
Yep, just like that!
Let cool for at least 10 minutes.
Hot cheese is like molten lava!
Enjoy!
*This is not a paid ad for Pillsbury. I was not compensated in any way. I just think Pillsbury products are brilliant and super tasty. Pillsbury is welcome to send me coupons, samples and free products!
Yum!! Looks like my homemade pizza except I take Friday laziness a lot further than you… Favorite crust ever: http://boboli.bimbobakeriesusa.com/subcat.cfm/catId/6/subcatId/0
Of course, I’ll only buy on sale because $3 for a single crust + paying for toppings when any size, any toppings at Pizza Hut is $10 right now? Uhhh, no.
I love Boboli! However, it can be really expensive. It wasn’t on sale and I didn’t have a coupon so I had to rule it out this week. The Pillsbury was on sale AND I had a coupon. Double score! Plus, since it’s fresh baked from dough, it has a softer texture. It just tastes more homemade. I’m working on finding a recipe for pizza dough that I can make up on Sunday when I do my week’s prep work and then refrigerate until I’m ready to use it on Friday. Or earlier in the week if the mood strikes. I’ll post that for sure when I’ve got it!
Looking forward to it! We LOVE pizza!! I can’t get Zack to eat a lot of meals… but pizza is always a hit.
With Zack, it could be a texture issue. Cali is finally old enough to verbalize that she doesn’t like certain foods because of their texture. Like cooked onions. And tomatoes. There are others too that I can’t think of right now. I used to think she didn’t like the taste but that wasn’t it. Texture is a big issue for a lot of autistic kids.
Oh my word, does that ever look delicious! I love the roll out dough much better than mixing up my own. I always get holes in there!
It was so quick and easy. But I can’t buy it without a coupon and/or sale cause it’s just too expensive for us right now. I’m looking at finding a recipe that can be made up almost a week in advance. I might have to freeze it, but then it can thaw in the fridge all day and be ready to use when I get home after work. And that would be perfect!
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