Confessions of a Cheapskate

2 large pizzas for $2.35!

I used to buy those pouches in the store to make pizza crust. They cost about $1 each and you need 3-4 of them to make large size pizzas. They taste exceptionally bland, like a saltine cracker.

Making your own pizza crust isn’t as difficult as you may think. I don’t have a bread machine, the recipe I use works well in a regular, everyday stand mixer. The recipe I used for this:

1 1/2 cups warm water (Follow temp. instructions on your yeast container. Usually 110-120.)

4 cups flour (I use 3 c. bread flour and 1 c. whole wheat flour)

2 TBSP. white sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 TBSP. oil

1 TBSP. active dry yeast

Directions:

Combine water, sugar and yeast in a bowl and cover for about 10 minutes. Mixture is ready when you see a creamy foam.

Next, add the salt, oil, and 3 cups of flour. I throw everything in and let the dough hooks do the hard work for me.

Continue adding the last cup of flour, one tiny bit at a time. When the dough starts pulling away from the sides of the bowl like in the photo below, there’s enough flour.

When you are done adding flour, allow the dough hooks to knead for about 8 minutes. Be careful to keep an eye on your mixer as it kneads, I once lost a mixing bowl when my mixer ‘walked’ itself off the counter and shattered.

Once the dough has been kneaded, place into a well-greased bowl to rise about an hour. Turn the dough to coat in oil, then cover with a towel.

You’ll want the dough to rise to double the size, which takes about an hour.

While the dough is rising, you’ll want to prepare a countertop for rolling the dough. You can either sprinkle the surface with oil, or flour or cornmeal. You’ll also want to pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees and pre heat any baking stones you may be using. This is a great time also to cook any meat toppings you want to add if they are raw, or chop your veggie toppings.

Next, “punch” down your dough. You can really punch it. Beat the shit out of it if you want, or just gently squeeze most of the air out. Divide the dough out into sections. I divide into half because I know 1/2 is the right size for the baking stones I use.

The next step is to stretch and roll out the dough. If your dough is a bit sticky yet, make sure you coat your (clean) hands with flour. You’ll want to press the dough out flat with your hands, stretching as you go. I do this by hand until I get about 1/2 inch thick, then I use the rolling pin to stretch it further and even it out.

I don’t advise tossing the dough into the air like they do on TV.

Place your dough on your baking stone or cookie sheet or baking pan and add toppings and bake for 10-12 minutes.

Yum. This really is pizzaria quality crust.

This dough recipe is versatile. I use the same basic recipe for rolls. After the dough is punched down, I divide into 16 pieces, shape round, and allow to rise on pan for about 40 minutes… then I bake for 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees with a pan of water in the oven to create steam. The steam gives an extra crisp French Bread crust.:

These rolls are light and fluffy and great with dinner, but also work well for sandwich rolls, hamburger rolls. If you roll them during shaping into longer strips, you’ll have hot dog buns. The rolls keep fresh well for 2-4 days stored in brown paper bags.

The Math!

Dough:

Bread Flour at Sam’s Club is $7.29/25 lbs. The bag contains 94 cups of flour. Cost per cup is roughly .08. Cost for this recipe = .32

(I bought whole wheat flour $1.39/5 lbs. last fall during Polly’s anniversary sale, cost is .08/cup for that as well.)

I picked up the yeast for free at Meijer by combing store coupons and manufacturer’s coupon. Cost for this recipe = 0

2 TBSP. oil. I use Canola which I buy by the gallon at Meijer for $7.19. One gallon has 256 tablespoons. $7.19/256=.03. Cost for this recipe = .06

2 TBSP. white sugar. I paid $2/5 lbs. of sugar. A 5 pound bag of sugar as 160 tablespoons. Cost for this recipe = .13

1 tsp. salt. I bought kosher salt at Meijer, 3 lbs./$2.13. There are 288 teaspoons in 3 pounds of salt. Cost for this recipe = .01

Total cost for dough: .52

Toppings:

Pizza sauce can be found in 15-16 ounce cans for about $1. I use 1/2 a can for 2 large dinner pizzas. Cost = .50

I bought Kraft cheese for less than $2/lb. back in December. I use just one 8 oz. bag for 2 pizzas, so cost = $1

I bought a 5 lb. bag of pepperoni at Gordon Food Service for $13. That works out to $2.60/lb. I used maybe 1/8 of a pound on one pizza. Cost = .33

I also used ground italian sausage. The last time I had browned some for a recipe, I put a tiny bit in the freezer for pizza later on. I also used some sliced ham from the freezer leftover from Christmas. The cost here = negligible.

Total cost for pizza = $2.35