I recently started what I hope will become a tasty Friday night tradition for our little family: Pizza Night! Not wanting to spend
too much money, however, I decided to go ahead and try making my own. Turns out, pizza making is super easy and super fun! If you have a little dude or dudette to entertain, let them knead and punch the dough with you for pizza making good times.

This week’s toppings: fried mushroom, zucchini, and fresh basil with mozzarella. But you can put anything on a pizza, right?

Have fun!

Pizza Crust:

* 3 ½ cups flour

*2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast

*1-2 tsp salt (I go low on salt because of the kid)

*2 tsp oregano

*1 tsp or so of cayenne (just to spruce things up a
bit!)

*1 cup warm water

*1/3 cup white wine (or more warm water)

*2 tbsp olive oil

In a big bowl, combine the warm water and yeast and let stand for about 5 minutes until the yeast has dissolved. Then add the rest of your ingredients and mix with your hands for one minute or so, until you have a ball of dough that you can knead. Now it’s time to work those pipes! Knead the dough for ten whole minutes – dough should be smooth and elastic-y.
Pop some olive oil in a bowl (I usually just use the same one the dough was in), lightly coat your pizza dough ball and then let sit covered and in a warm place for about 1-1 ½ hours (until dough has doubled in size).

Preheat your oven to 475°F and pull out your pizza pan.

If you are lucky enough to own a spiffy pizza stone, toss this in the oven to preheat for 40 or so minutes.

Now that your dough is all big and fluffy, work out some frustrations by punching the heck out of it and then divide it in two.

Roll one ball up and cover loosely to sit for 15 minutes; roll the other up, cover in plastic wrap and pop it in the freezer for next week.

While your dough is sitting, chop up your pizza toppings. Get creative and don’t forget your vegetables!

You’re finally ready to make pizza. Roll out the dough and lightly coat in a bit of olive oil. Be sure to press the dough down
so that there aren’t any bubbles. Now pop on your toppings, throw the pizza in the oven for 12-14 minutes or until the crust is all golden and eat up!

Many of Ezmy’s recipes are vegan or vegetarian – she was a vegan prior to giving birth to Ewan and continues to eat largely vegan cuisine at home. However, she does make the odd omnivore dish for A. and Ewan, and she has a special weakness for a good bit of cheese.

Ezmy blogs about her day to day goings on at ‘ezmy’. For ridiculous updates about stay-at-home mum-ing, follow Ezmy on Twitter: @ezmytweets.