After writing about how we love making pizza, we’ve learned that we’ve been fools to buy Boboli pizza crusts. In fact, Karen at MSN’s Smart Spending even said we were cheaters! Having learned the error of our ways, we’ve decided that the next time we make pizza we’ll be making our own pizza dough, which appears to be fairly simple.

Oh, I also had a revelation the other day. I was walking through Trader Joe’s (they sell 200 Cone #4 coffee filters for $1.69, cheaper than any other place I know of) when I saw they sold fresh pizza dough for 99 cents. 99 cents! What the heck have I been doing buying Boboli pizza crusts???

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In posting our Valentine’s Day dinner of Homemade Provençal Rack of Lamb, I learned that quite a few of us are quite capable chefs! Sheila of GoVisitHawaii shared her scrumptious meal of lobster tails, chicken, and asparagus. Jon made something similar – “lobster tails, mushroom risotto, asparagus with brie and artichokes as appetizers.” Even Tim made some “romantic ramen.”

So, to celebrate our mutual enjoyment of cooking our own food, I thought I’d throw out another frugal favorite in our household – homemade pizza. To be perfectly honest, we buy Boboli pizza crusts from the store because we don’t have a pizza stone (it’ll cook dough better than a pan, but I’ve heard a pan works well too) and because it’s cooks much faster. However, pizza dough is remarkably easy to make and recipes widely available if you do a little searching.

We grab a package of mozzarella, a can of Don Pepino pizza sauce (look at that guy, how could you not buy that stuff? and each can is enough for two pizzas!), and whichever toppings we’re in the mood for. That will typically include cooked onions, green or red peppers, and either grilled chicken or sauteed hot italian sausage. We throw in some other toppings in there from time to time but those are are staples. It’s about ten minutes of preparation, depending on how quickly you can chop, and another seven to ten minutes of baking time.

I think the next steps for us will be to make the dough ourselves, rather than pay Boboli to make it, and start getting more adventurous with the toppings. Do you have any tips for making your own pizza or any suggestions for crazy toppings to try?

(Photo: kodamakitty, the next time we make pizza, I promise to replace the pic with a “real” one!)