One of our favorite meals to make (and eat) as a family is pizza. It feeds a crowd, is highly customizable, and always hits the spot! For this Friday family pizza night, we’re going to keep things simple with pre-made pizza dough and some of our favorite toppings. We’re putting together two of our favorite pizzas: Prosciutto & Arugula as well as a classic Cheese. Keep reading to see a couple of our favorite pizzas to make as well as some tips for making pizzas yourself.
Before We Start:
You are more than welcome to make pizza dough from scratch. We do from time to time as well. At some point we will share our standard homemade dough recipe as well. We like to use pre-made pizza dough for our Friday family pizza nights for a few reasons: they’re easy to work with, they save time, and most of them are pretty darn good. We have tried a few different pre-made pizza doughs, and our favorite is Trader Joes. It rolls out well, crisps nice, and tastes great. Pizza dough is becoming more readily available at most grocery stores. It’s also not uncommon for some pizzerias to sell their dough as well. If you have a favorite local pizzeria, reach out and see if they sell their dough to use at home!
Prep Time: 45 Minutes (includes time for dough to reach room temperature)
Cook Time: 15 – 20 Minutes
Ingredients:
Here’s what you’ll need for tonight’s pizzas:
- 2 balls of pizza dough
- Olive Oil
- Red Pizza Sauce
- Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- Fresh Mozzarella Cheese
- Garlic
- Chili Flakes (we use Red & Green Hatch Chili Flakes from Trader Joes)
- Sliced Prosciutto
- Arugula
- Balsamic Vinegar (optional)
- Flour (to prevent sticking when rolling out pizza dough)
Non-Food Items:
- Heavy Rolling Pin
- Pizza Wheel or Rocking Pizza Slicer
- 1 or 2 pizza pans (a sheet pan works if you do not have a pizza pan)
Step 1:
Set dough on your counter for 30 minutes to allow it to reach room temperature. If using store bought dough, the dough can remain in the store packaging for this step.
Step 2:
Preheat your desired cooking appliance to 450℉. We like to use the Traeger grill to cook our pizzas, however the oven works just as well.
Step 3:
Sprinkle flour over your countertop in a circle and place dough in the middle of the flour. Lightly sprinkle the dough with flour as well to prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin.
Step 4:
Roll out dough to desired pizza size and crust thickness. We typically aim for a 10-12” pizza. During the rolling process, the dough will absorb the initial sprinkle of flour and may periodically stick to your counter surface. This is perfectly fine, it just means your pizza won’t be perfectly round. If the pizza continues to stick, apply additional flour to your surface and/or rolling pin as needed. If making more than one pizza, repeat this step for each pizza.
Step 5:
Transfer pizza dough to pizza pan.
Next, we’ll build and bake our pizzas. We’ll walk you through the steps for each of our two favorite pizzas, as they vary slightly for each:
Classic Cheese:
Step 6:
Apply sauce to your pizza dough as desired.
Step 7:
Sprinkle mozzarella cheese across the entire sauced area of the pizza dough.
Step 8:
Transfer pizza pan to your oven/barbecue and bake for 15 minutes. The edge of the crust should be light brown and all cheese melted when the pizza is done.
Step 9:
Remove pizza from the oven to cool.
Step 10:
Slice, plate, and enjoy!
Prosciutto & Arugula:
Step 6:
Apply olive oil to the entire top side of the pizza dough.
Step 7:
Break apart fresh mozzarella into small pieces and distribute across most of the pizza dough, leaving room for the crust. Fresh mozzarella is typically sold in water and may carry excess liquid. We like to squeeze the cheese inside a paper towel to remove any excess water prior to breaking apart and placing on the pizza.
Step 8 (optional):
Shake chili flakes across pizza dough as desired.
Step 9:
Transfer pizza pan to your oven/barbecue and bake for approximately 10 minutes. This will allow the cheese to melt and the crust to set up.
Step 10:
Open your oven/barbecue and cover the pizza with sliced prosciutto. Bake for an additional 5-10 minutes until pizza crust turns light brown around the edge and prosciutto begins to crisp.
Step 11:
Remove pizza from the oven and distribute arugula across the pizza surface. The residual heat from the pizza will be sufficient to slightly wilt the arugula.
Step 12 (bonus):
Lightly drizzle balsamic vinegar over the pizza.
Step 13:
Slice, plate, and enjoy!
We love these pizzas and hope you do as well! Check back for more Friday Family Dinners!