Friday Night Favorite - Pizza Four Ways

Clockwise from top left - cheese, shaved
asparagus with scallions and goat cheese,
spicy salami and basil, white.

Say what you will about Sunday suppers, but for me, Friday night dinners are the best of the week. There's something about Friday night that feels worth celebrating - whether it's with a family date night at one of our favorite kid-friendly restaurants or a cozy dinner at home with a meal that I know everyone will love. This past Friday we opted to stay home and celebrate the end of our week with handmade pizza, topped four different ways.

When it comes to making pizza dough from scratch, I'm still experimenting. This recipe I used was from one of my favorite cookbooks and food blogs, Smitten Kitchen. Thought it was easy and did produce a nice crisp crust, it turned out a bit too crisp for me. I liked this recipe because it used the dough hook of my KitchenAid and rested overnight in the fridge requiring little babysitting. I pulled it out about 2 hours before dinner to give it a chance for a second rise. If you have a favorite pizza dough recipe, send it to me - I'd love to see it!

I love making pizza for my family because it's easy to please each of them with their excruciatingly different tastes. One kid prefers plain cheese pizza, one won't eat sauce, my husband craves spicy, and I always like something green (arugula, basil, zucchini - or in this case a shaved asparagus salad).

If you don't want to bother with making the dough from scratch, you can always pick up a batch from your favorite pizza place, Italian deli, or grocery store. Then load up on your favorite toppings and let your family choose their own. I baked these pizzas on a pizza stone set on the bottom of my 475 degree oven for 6-8 minutes, but you'll have to adjust that time based on how thick you roll out the dough.

No Friday night celebration is complete without a cocktail, and since you're not driving, you can have two! You can't go wrong with beer, but if you're feeling more adventurous (and you've got some mint hanging around), a mojito would be nice. Happy Friday, everyone!