Our favorite way to end the week and start the weekend with a bang, is Friday night pizza night. This is a tradition that started when my husband and I were first married (almost 10 years ago) and has continued as we have grown our family.
Why We Started Friday Night Pizza
Having Friday night pizza is also a way for my husband and I to have some alone time and enjoy a date night at home, while the older two kids (ages 6 & 4) get to watch a movie. If you have little kids, it is so important to find creative ways to spend quality time together, & have fun together! And Friday night pizza has become our date night at-home, that we cherish & look forward all week long! And the kids look forward to it too.
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Investing in our marriage as we have grown our family, with three kids over the past six years, has been a huge priority! It can be so hard to get out on a date night, so creating a fun & manageable date night at-home is something you can easily do, in the season of having littles, or a time like this when we are in quarantine, and can’t get out for a date night.
We make our pizza dough from scratch and it’s such a simple recipe! Guaranteed to make you switch from ordering out your pizza from now on.
Here is what you will need for the dough…
- 1 cup of warm water
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 3 tablespoon’s of honey
- 3 cups white bread flour
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 1/4 teaspoon yeast
Add the ingredients in this order (yeast needs to go in last to stay away from the salt to activate). I use this bread maker on the dough setting to make our pizza dough. You can also use a kitchen aid mixer with a dough hook as another option.
The dough takes ninety minutes to mix and rise in the bread maker. I try to get the dough going in the afternoon so it will be ready to assemble the pizza around five o’clock (that is when date night for us & movie night for the kids commences!) That’s when my husband & I open a bottle of wine, cue the classical music, and send the kids downstairs to start their special movie.
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Some of our favorite Friday night homemade pizza’s:
- Pesto, chicken. tomato, spinach, goat cheese, mozzarella
- BBQ sauce chicken, red onion, peppers, cheddar cheese
- Italian sausage, red pepper, sauté’d mushrooms & yellow onion, garlic, mozzarella, parmesan
- Taco pizza: beef or shredded, black beans, tomato, green pepper, jalapeño, Colby jack cheese, taco seasonings
- All veggies: baked sweet potato slices, peppers, spinach, tomato, mushrooms, garlic, mozzarella cheese
The key to the best tasting crust is to bake it on a pizza stone. This helps to evenly & perfectly bake the crust, plus infuse lots of flavor!
We bake all of our pizza’s at 400 degrees for 19-20 minuets.
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My husband and I always enjoy making the pizza together, talking, sipping our wine and having a few laughs. Once the pizza is baking in the oven we set the table for two (now 3, with baby), light a few candles, and visit before we eat. This is the one time a week the kids get to eat on trays, while they watch their movie (they LOVE this part) and sip on bubbly water.
I hope this inspires you to plan a Friday night pizza night as a family or a date night at home for you and your hubby & a pizza/movie night for your kids.
For more family favorite recipes, date night at-home ideas make sure you are following me in Instagram as I share daily tips & inspiration. For a fun dessert try our family favorite recipe here.