Pizza Night!

Every week Friday rolls along and our family gets excited about Pizza night. It’s a time where we all work together to get pizza ready by six’ o clock .  Everyone has a job. One sister makes the dough, then Mother rolls out the crusts, Katherine shapes and tops the breadsticks, Matthew pours soda, while the little kids wander into the kitchen making movie suggestions.

Once the first pizza is out, everyone comes and grabs a deliciously hot slice and a cup of ice cold root beer and sits down to watch a family movie. It is an enjoyable time for everyone – even Nana comes over!

It has taken years to perfect this evening, and we’re still tweaking a few things every once in awhile. It is fun to see how much better our pizzas have become over the years – particularly the dough! Now we start the dough hours in advance to make sure it can rise into the puffy crust that we love. We’ve also added our own blend of home grown Italian seasoning to give it the delicious herbal taste and smell. Often times Dad will walk in and announce that it “smells like a pizzeria in here!” We have picked up a few tricks from local pizza houses. Now we make bread-sticks almost exactly like the pros! These are important to tide us over till all four pizzas are out.

Pizza nights reflect the season. In Spring, the onions on the pizza are sweet from long storage and once we even used our very own morel mushrooms! Through Summer, pizzas are piled high with zucchini and peppers. Fall brings lovely red tomatoes as toppings. In Winter they do look a little plain, but at least we supplement with our frozen peppers. Sometimes homemade mozzarella cheese even makes it on top! Pizza is a fun way to be creative with your garden produce.

We’ve also found a delicious brand of pepperoni we love and occasionally buy mushrooms to increase the yummy factor 🙂 .
Every time Dad prays and thanks God for the abundance of pizza night – that we can have mushrooms and homegrown oregano, and spend a whole evening enjoying His bounty.

Overall this has been a fun tradition to improve and enjoy. If you’re looking to start a family tradition, I highly  recommend the Friday Family Pizza Night!

~Jean

Deuteronomy 11:13-14
¹³ And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,
¹⁴ That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.

~Our tried and true simple Pizza Dough recipe~

Pizza Dough- Makes 4 large crusts
2 3/4 Cups Lukewarm water
1 1/2 Tablespoons yeast
1 1/2 Tablespoons Kosher salt
2 Tablespoons cane Sugar
1 Tablespoon Italian Spices ( Oregano, Thyme, Sage, Marjoram)
3/4 teaspoon Cayenne pepper flakes
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
7 1/2 Cups flour

-Combine all ingredients except the flour and mix then add in the flour.
Use dough hook attachment on mixer and thoroughly mix together until the dough pulls away from the sides of bowl.
Cover and let rise in warm place for 2 hours.
Once risen divide into 4 balls and roll out into a nice large circle with the edges thicker for the crust. Place on parchment paper and pile high with all your favorite toppings!
Place in preheated oven at 500 degrees and bake for 8 minuets then broil to crisp toppings for 2 min after that.
Serve HOT and delicious!

~ENJOY!