I order pizza almost every other week. It’s kinda sad, I know. But can you resist a cheesy and/or meaty slice of this staple of Italian-American cuisine? If you can, I bow in reverence to you. I, on the other hand, just cannot pass it up. There are times when I actually crave a pepperoni slice, or two, or three. I have tried pizza from several places; fast food joints to gourmet restaurants but like hamburgers, depending on who’s making them and what they’re using, pizza can quickly become “junk” food. As cheap and as readily available pizza is, it should be no surprise that this is one dish, I had no experience in making. I love it but just didn’t know how to make. Uh, let me rephrase: I KNEW how to make it but just never really made the time to make it. Until……..Dominos, Pizza Hut and Vocelli Pizza became…….boring. I had had enough and wanted to do it MY WAY, mixed with a little bit of Sandra Lee’s way, you know, the semi-homemade way because I just have not brought myself to mixing, kneading and rolling dough. So thanks to Pillsbury prepackaged pizza dough, I was armed and ready to rival any and every pizza parlor I had ever frequent. The result?

Today I have an actual recipe because all the recipes over the web either didn’t have enough meat, not enough cheese. It was something. So I made my own. I doctored up some pizza sauce using THIS as a base and then added more of my herbs and spices to make it my own. One trick I used was to broil the pepperoni slices before hand, for about 2-3 minutes, to make them crispy and to get rid of the excess oil.

THINGS YOU’LL NEED

Pillsbury Pizza Dough

Pizza Sauce

8 ounces whole milk mozzarella-provolone  cheese

2-4 ounces sharp white Cheddar cheese

3 ounces Hormel pepperoni

6 slices bacon (broiled and then chopped)

pineapple pieces, mushroom, onions, green pepper or any other toppings you like.

1. Roll out pizza dough into a 12 or 13 inch pizza pan. Spread sauce all around the dough making sure to cover everywhere except the crust.

2. Sprinkle with 4 ounces of mozzarella-provolone mix.

3. Place the pepperoni pieces on orderly, one by one. I like a LOT so my entire pizza was covered

4. Sprinkle Cheddar cheese on, then place your pineapple pieces on

5. Sprinkle more Cheddar and mozzarella-provolone cheese on, then add your bacon. Who loves bacon?

6. Finally, add all other toppings  or toppings of your choice and remaining cheese. I only added mushrooms, onions and green peppers on one side of my pizza.

7. Place pizza in 375F pre-heated oven, and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Then dig in!

(Please excuse the appearance of the area where my slice is. It was a very fun, Patron filled night and this is the only photo of a slice I have from that night)

Final Thoughts: I must say that I was rather pleased with the finished product. The edges were nice and golden brown and the dough was thick enough to hold all the goodies I had piled atop. The pizza was definitely flavorful and the delicious homemade sauce underneath it all managed to shine through. I’d definitely make this again. Maybe next time, I might even make the dough from scratch. Maybe.

Bye For Now…..