Cheap Delicious Grandma Pizza

Cheap. Fun. Delicious. In this Instructable we'll see how to make a grandma pizza.

Step 1: Get the Ingredients

Equipment

1. 18 x 13 inch cookie sheet. It's all I have. They make a 21x15inch sheet too, but you'll need to adjust the recipe for that.

Dough

1. 2.25 teaspoons of bread yeast.

2. 4.25 cups flour

3. 2 tablespoons olive oil

4. 1/3 cup of any oil for the pan ( say we use olive oil )

For White Pizza

1. Ricotta cheese ( whatever amount looks reasonable to you )

2. Mozzarella cheese ( see above for quantity )

3. Garlic ( ditto )

4. Basil leaves / Tomatoes / Broccoli / Your other favorite white pizza topping, if you want any at all.

For Regular Pizza

For sauce:

1. Tomato sauce ( 2 parts )

2. Tomato paste ( 1 part )

3. Garlic, oregano, basil, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes ( whatever herbs you want ).

Toppings:

1. Mozzarella cheese

2. Whatever else you want.

Step 2: Cost

Dough

1.Yeast. ( Fleischmanns 4oz bottle = 16 portions = $8 )

2. Flour ( 5lb bag = 17cups = 4 portions = ~$2 )

3. Olive oil ( Big freaking bottle = ~$20 )

... So 16 pizzas cost you about $8 + $4 x 2 + $20 = ~$36 dollars in dough.

White Pizza

1. Ricotta cheese ( big container ~$5, enough for 5 white pizzas or so )

2. Mozzarella cheese ( $4 brick is good for maybe 5 pizzas )

3. Garlic ( negligible cost )

... So toppings for 16 white pizzas costs about $5 x 3 + $4 x 3 = ~$27.

Regular Pizza

1. Tomato sauce ( negligible )

2. Tomato paste ( negligible )

3. Herbs and seasonings to taste ( negligible )

( Assume a dollar a pizza for the above, it's all very cheap )

4. Mozzarella cheese ( $4 brick is good for maybe 5 pizzas )

... So the fixings for 16 red pizzas is about $5 x 3 + $1 x 16 = ~$31.

If you want pepperoni or broccoli anything else, just throw in a couple of extra cents. That big pepperoni you get in the store will go a long way if you cut it thin. You probably don't want big pepperoni chunks!

No matter how you slice it, you're looking at 16 pizzas for something in the neighborhood of $60, which is under $4 a pie ( Sorry to my buddies in OH, so far as I'm concerned a pizza can be called a PIE! ).

Step 3: Make the Dough

Make the dough the night before you're going to make the pizza!

1. Mix 2 cups flour, the yeast, and the olive oil in a big bowl.

2. Add 1 1/2 cups of warm water ( the Fleischmann's bottle says to heat the water to 120 degrees, but I don't have a thermometer, so I just run the tap until the water is warm to my hand ).

3. Stir this all together until well mixed.

4. Add the remaining 2 cups of flour a half a cup at a time, mixing it in as you go.

5. You can add a little salt to taste if you want.

6. Put out a bit of flour on the counter now ( I put a piece of parchment paper on the table and put the flour on that. Our counter tops aren't that big ).

7. Knead the dough on the floured surface for 10 minutes.

8. Put a bit of oil in your big bowl and toss the dough ball in there.

9. Cover bowl in plastic wrap.

10. Let sit for ten minutes at room temperature.

11. Put bowl in the fridge. Let it stay there until tomorrow night.

Step 4: Prepare the Pizza

Dough

A day has passed.

1. Take the dough out of the refrigerator, let it get to room temperature

2. Stretch the dough to cover the cookie sheet.

3 .Leave the dough to rise for a half hour at room temperature, or until it's fluffy.

Regular 'Red Pizza'

Sauce:

Mix the tomato paste and tomato sauce in a bowl with the seasoning and herbs you like.

Add to pizza:

Some folks like just a little sauce. Some folks like the sauce spilling off the crust with every bite. You decide. Add your cheese and whatever else you want, however you want.

White Pizza

Put a small amount of olive oil on the dough and then add your toppings.

Step 5: Bake the Pizza

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit ( hotter than you've probably ever set it ). Bake the pizza until the dough is brown and the cheese is melted. Oven thermometers vary wildly in accuracy, so I won't prescribe a time here. You know what a good pizza looks like! About 20 minutes is probably good, but to be safe I'd start keeping an eye on the pizza around 12 minutes in to see how it's going until you get everything dialed in.

Enjoy.