Hello my friends! I’ve been missing my dear bungalow so much lately and just had to post something tonight. I decided to post a pizza recipe. Yes, I already posted Noble’s pizza recipe a while back. But I gotta say, we like this one even better. Why? Because it incorporates the use of cake pans, olive oil, and a high baking temperature, resulting in pizza that (we think) is similar in taste and texture to Pizza Hut.

Whenever I told my brothers I’d be making pizza for dinner using our original recipe, there would be a general positive response, but it wasn’t anything special. I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the recipe. Upon its announcement, I wanted my pizza to solicit tears of joy, whoops of ecstasy, and exclamations of anticipation from my food-loving brothers…okay, that was a little very exaggerated, but you get the idea. ;)

I got to wondering how exactly Pizza Hut and other pizza chains made their pizza so tasty, and I think it’s really that hot, crispy, oily crust. How could I make something like that and still keep it relatively healthy? Sub whole wheat flour and olive oil? I was eager to try, so I got the green light from mom, looked up a mock Pizza Hut recipe, tweaked it a bit, and got to baking.

Happily, it was a hit in our family and produced a crispy, flavorful crust with a tender interior. I will say, though, that 3 cake pans makes just enough for our family of 6, so if we’re feeding a crowd, I would use the former recipe. And this pizza will not win the beauty contest either. But if you want a special treat and don’t crave aesthetic perfection, give this one a try and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. I don’t claim to have found the “best pizza recipe ever,” but I have found what works for our family and I hope you like it too! I decided to name this in honor of those special guys in my life who give me so much encouragement and fuel my motivation to make them yummy things.

Noblemen’s Favorite Pizza

Dough:
1 cup warm water
⅓ cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups whole wheat flour, freshly ground
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons instant dry yeast (1 package) p
2 tablespoons olive oil (for dough)
9 tablespoons oil – 3 tablespoons per pan

Toppings:
1.5-2 cups pizza sauce (either canned or homemade)
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Toppings of your choice (I like our homemade sausage, mushrooms, olives, and anything else we have on hand)
Oregano and basil, for sprinkling

Directions:
Put yeast, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add water and milk; stir to mix well. Let rest for two minutes. Add oil and stir again. Add flour and stir until dough forms and flour is absorbed (dough will be a little sticky – just use some oil to keep it from sticking to your hands). Turn out on to a flat oiled surface and knead for about 10 minutes, until elastic and no longer sticky.

Divide dough into three balls. Put 3 Tablespoons of oil in each of three 9-inch cake pans, making sure it is spread evenly. Using a rolling pin, roll out each dough ball a little wider than the base of the pans. Place in cake pans. It’s okay if it doesn’t go all the way up the sides. Place in warm area and allow to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat your oven to 475°F. Meanwhile, distribute sauce, cheese, and toppings evenly on pizzas. I usually end up using 1/2 to 2/3 cup sauce per pizza. Cook until cheese is bubbling and outer crust is brown. It takes our oven exactly 16 minutes. Use a knife to loosen the edges and immediately transfer pizzas onto a wire rack. Cut each pizza into 6 wedges and serve hot. Enjoy!