We heart pizza.

This pizza was as festive as things got around here yesterday. But don't worry, plenty of candy was still consumed, despite our lack of valentine crafts and decor. I think Elliot had a sucker in his hand just about all day long.

Homemade pizza is a standard at our house. My kids love it, and it is so easy to put together. Once I gave up pretending it was as good as our local pizza parlor, and realized that it is almost like a different food altogether, even I started enjoying it.

I thought I'd share my favorite dough recipe. It makes two 12-inch pizzas.

Into your bread machine, place the following ingredients:

1 1/3 cups water
1/4 cup olive oil
3 1/2 cups, or 16.6 oz flour (All-purpose tastes best, I'll be honest. But I usually use at least 1 cup of whole wheat flour to make it "healthy".)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons SAF yeast, or 2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

Use the dough cycle. My machine takes about 2 hours, so I try to start the dough by early afternoon. Once the cycle is complete, knead the dough a few times on a lightly floured surface. Then divide in half, shape into balls, brush with olive oil, and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let it rest on your counter while you heat up the oven (or for about 30 minutes). You can also put the dough in the fridge at this point to use later in the day or even the next day, just let it rest again for about 30 minutes before shaping and cooking.

I bake our pizzas on one of those woven metal pizza pan-things (kind of like this) on a pizza stone on the lowest rack, and I set my oven as high as it will go, 525 degrees. (During the summer, I put the pizza stone in the grill outside so I don't heat up the house.) After letting the dough rest, shape the first pizza, add toppings (hint: go easy on the sauce), and bake for 10 minutes. While the first pizza is baking, I shape and top the second.

Sometimes, if we are feeling particularly fancy, Mike will make garlic butter for dipping. And we might even put more than just cheese on top. :)