Change of Plans: Homemade Pizza

After seeing so many yummy versions of grilled pizza on food blogs all summer long, I was really looking forward to trying my own version last night.  But when we got home, the weather was muggy and the anticipated storm brought out a strange amount of small flying bugs from the woods near our patio.  I was petrified of these bugs getting in our food so we decided to postpone making the pizza on the grill.  Since we already had all of the ingredients, we decided to make a more traditional indoor pizza instead.

We decided to make a sausage, banana pepper and mushroom pizza using the following ingredients:

• Pre-made pizza dough
• 1/2 cup roasted garlic pasta sauce
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced sausage
• 1/4 pickled banana peppers, drained
• 1/2 cup sliced bella mushrooms

I preheated the oven to 400 degrees.  Then, I stretched the dough out with my hands until it fit the size of a greased circular baking sheet.  I really need to invest in a pizza stone!  I brushed on a small drizzle of olive oil onto the dough before putting it in the oven to bake for about ten minutes.

While the pizza dough was baking, I sauteed the mushrooms with a tiny amount of  olive oil.  I stopped cooking the mushrooms when they were still firm because I didn't want to cook them all the way through.

When the dough was done partially baking, it smelled glorious!

We topped it with sauce, half the cheese, mushrooms, sausage, peppers and more cheese.  No matter how old you get, it is still really fun making pizza together and Bret was happy to help!

The pizza went in the over for another twelve minutes before it was ready to serve.

I don't want to brag but this pizza might have been the best homemade pizza we've made so far.  The crust was chewy, the pizza was crispy and the toppings were sweet and spicy. 

Hurricane Irene may have postponed our plans for grilled pizza, but the "change of plans" indoor pizza really hit the spot!