Weeknight Pizza Dough

It was so strange to see all of the school buses driving past the house this morning. Landon was amused for awhile watching all the little ones walking by hand in hand with their Mommy's, backpacks on their backs, and ready for the first day of school. It's so hard to believe the summer has flown by that fast and kids are back to school again. From what I can remember - the summer's always felt so long when we were kids! Well now is the time you start seeing the magazine covers and blog posts about quick and easy weeknight dinner meals. Those actually help give us the extra free minutes in the day that really do matter and make a big difference!

Even though my kids aren't in school yet, (and I don't even want to think of that bittersweet day anytime soon!) I'm still down for a meal that's quick and easy on a weeknight. I don't know about you but secretly I've always been intimidated by making homemade pizza. Just the words "homemade" and "pizza" already sound like so much work. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for baking or cooking something that takes time and effort - those dishes usually end up tasting the best! But sometimes easy dinners that require a crock-pot and require no effort are the best for us Mom's. Am I right or am I right? And who says a quick meal can't taste delicious? Ok back to the pizza. 

I found this recipe for fool proof pizza dough on Friday and figured I'd give it a shot. I've never tried a no-rise pizza dough before. But after making this recipe and tasting the results, I kid you not - I'm never going back! Often times we just stock up on frozen pizza's to throw in the oven on a busy weeknight, but I don't see much reason to do that anymore when you can have fresh pizza dough in such a short period of time. 

If you could choose between this...

Or a frozen pizza which would you choose? Yup, I thought so...

 Anywho, enough rambling here. Just wanted to share my new obsession with you all! If you guys are thinking ahead and looking for dinner ideas for this week, maybe add this one to the list. You'll love it! 

No-Rise Pizza Dough

2 1/2 cups flour

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 cup hot water (120-130°)

1 Tbsp. Rapid Rise or Bread Machine yeast

2 Tbsp. olive oil

Preheat to 475°. 

Mix dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Add hot water and olive oil. Mix for five minutes and then let the dough rest 10 minutes.  Roll out dough onto pizza stone or a baking sheet. Prick dough with fork and add sauce, cheese and toppings. Bake at 475° for  12-15 minutes, until cheese is bubbly.

Thanks for reading! Enjoy your week everyone!

S