Perfect Homemade Pizza

One of our favorite things to make at home is pizza! We enjoy making them together and experimenting with different toppings. We love to make all different kinds, but a margarita pizza is always a safe bet. The ingredients are minimal but the flavor is amazing. This weekend we made a margarita pizza, a mushroom pizza, and a chicken pesto pizza.

We cook our pizza on the Big Green Egg. It’s the best way to make pizza! It’s incredible how much more flavorful the pizza is on the Big Green Egg. If you don’t have one, a normal grill will do. You can of course cook them in the oven, but I think pizza on the grill is so much better. I use to make my own dough but who has time for that? Now we just get dough from a local pizzeria. Call your favorite pizzeria and see if they can sell you just dough. Many of them will.

This mushroom pizza was AHHH-mazing! My mouth is watering for more of it. I think the key to this pizza is a variety of good quality mushrooms. I used porcini, shiitake, and portabella. Saute them first with garlic and shallots.

I used a combination of ricotta and parmesan cheese. If you love mushrooms this pizza will definitely become your new favorite.

If you’ve never had a pesto pizza before, you’re missing out. It’s another favorite of ours. I used homemade pesto which is a must. Homemade pesto is so easy and way better than store bought.

How colorful is that pizza?! I love it! This is a flavor packed pizza. The feta cheese with the pesto is a great combination. It’s so fresh tasting. We sprinkled a little bacon on this one which was a good choice. It added a little crunch and took the flavor up a notch. I enjoy a salad with my pizza. This salad has just three ingredients; bacon, spinach, and blue cheese. The homemade balsamic dressing was perfect on this salad.

Pesto Pizza Ingredients

• Store bought or homemade dough
• 3 tbsp pesto
• 1/2 cup of feta cheese
• 1/4 cup fresh parmesan
• 3/4 cup chopped chicken (already cooked)
• 1/4 cup bacon bits

Wild Mushroom Pizza Ingredients

• Store bought or homemade dough
• 8 oz of wild mushrooms
• 3/4 cup of pizza sauce
• 2 cloves fresh garlic
• 1 shallot
• 3/4 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 tbsp truffle oil

Directions:

We like thin crust pizza. When we order dough from a local pizzeria, we get dough for a “small” pizza. We use half of the small dough for one pizza. We roll it out to make the pizza really thin. If you like thicker crust pizza then roll it out accordingly.  For the margarita pizza, layer the sauce first, then the cheese and sprinkle with fresh basil and fresh garlic. For the pesto pizza, layer with pesto first, then the cheese, followed by chicken and bacon. For the mushroom pizza, saute the mushrooms, garlic and shallots in a pan over medium heat. Set aside when done. Layer the dough with pizza sauce, then the mushroom mixture. Dot the pizza with ricotta cheese and lastly sprinkle parmesan cheese on top. The green egg cooks the pizza really quickly. It heats up to between 500 and 600 degrees. As a result, we only need to cook the pizza for 3-4 minutes. If you’re using a standard grill or cooking it in the oven, use a pizza stone and get the heat as high as you can. When the pizza is done, drizzle the margarita with a little bit of olive oil and drizzle the mushroom pizza with a little bit of truffle oil. Enjoy!