I (stupidly) volunteered to make a homemade pizza at the weekend complete with yummy garlic bread, onion rings, summer salad, dips etc etc :-) however......i havent made pizza for a llloooooong time and am a bit nervous as i wont have time to do a dummy run.
So....any failsafe recipes or advice? I read somewhere that using poenta on the base stops it sticking??
Would i be able to make the base the day before (to save me some time on the day) or will it just go flat and horrible?
Do i cook the base first and then put on the topping?
How easy is it to do 'stuffed crust'?

Thanks in advance :-)

Quick and easy recipe from me, well i say recipe i mean cheat. Buy it and hide the box and smile when you serve and say How hard you worked over it. 

lol same advice from me on this one im affraid id be straight off to pizza hut sorry ;-( lol

I would buy ready made bases and just add the topping.  Works every time for me :-D

i buy the pizza base mix, you just add water and can make what ever shape base you want, i get mine from asda, then just top it with whatever you fancy, sometimes i will use bbq sauce for the main base cover and top with cheese, chicken, peppers etc, :)

I must admit we would buy bases from Sainsburys with tomato puree or diced in a jar. Do some cheese, with peppers, ham, pineapple, olives, pepperoni, ect all ingrediants from Sainsbury's. I do prefer home made galic bread, french stick cut in pieces the make! heap the  butter and squeeze in garlic cloves butter both sides, stick it all back together roll in backing foil hot oven and prepere to smell for a week lovely.
Stuffed crust!! dont go there!! you can buy pizza cheese as a mix already in Sainsbury's.

If you make the base before hand - grease the tray that it is going to be cooked on, cover the tray with cling film and place it on top (you will then know if it will be the right size for the tray) and freeze it. It should freeze fine and can be cooked from frozen (after adding toppings etc) If doing more than one, cling film between the bases and stack them up. We sell 100+ homemade pizza's here and they are lovely done like this (hips now say everything :) )
Good Luck! x

Thank you people, but i want to make my own & cant afford to take the whole family out to pizza hut!!! :-)

masonsmum:you say about freezing ready made bases which is somkething i will consider for next time, but for the weekend, what if i make the bases on saturday - will they be ok to store overnight in the fridge until i do the topping and cook on sunday??

Have you not considered using alternate bases....me and my children use french sticks or ciabatta bread, halve them and put the sauce, cheese and toppings on...much quicker and nicer in my book =]

> Have you not considered using alternate bases....me and my children use french sticks or ciabatta bread

or a plain naan bread especially if you have a spicy topping

i'd say not, as they expand (yeast i think) but they do defrost very quickly. about 15 minutes if they are quite thin. This is not technical info btw just what we have done, trial and lots of error :)

As it happens I'm just about to make homemade pizza for tonight's tea, it is really easy but I make the dough and then leave it to rise for an hour or so before cooking.  Not sure how the dough keeps if made the day before as I have never done that, but I use Delia's recipe and it always works -
6oz plain white flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon easy blend dried yeast
half teaspoon caster sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 fluid oz hand- hot water
this quantity makes one 10 inch pizza, I always double it.
She also recommends cornmeal (polenta) to roll out but I just use flour.

First warm the flour slightly in the oven for 10 mins. Then sift flour, salt, sugar and yeast into a bowl, make a well in the centre and pour in the oil then water, mix to a dough. Transfer to floured work surface, knead for a few minutes. Then leave it covered by the upturned bowl for about an hour, by which time it should have doubled in size.
Then preheat the oven to 220 degrees C. Tip the dough back onto floured surface, knock air out of it and knead for a few seconds.  Shape it into a ball then roll out.
Top with your chosen toppings, cook the whole thing for 10-12 minutes. No need to pre cook base. Have never tried stuffed crust! I cook mine on a pizza tray which has holes in it, it never sticks.

Do you have a breadmaker? If so you could put the ingredients in for the dough before going to bed, or in the morning, and then fridge until you are ready to use it.

Im sure a friend of mine did that, to have dough ready to take into work the next day, to be cooked early afternoon (teaching young people how to fend for themselves).

The ready made bases from the supermarket i always find quite dry and a bit icky... so doing your own dough is definately the way to go and it should keep for a day in the fridge as long as your fridge isnt toooo cold and you dont squish it in (put it in an oiled bag thats v roomy or in an oiled bowl with a baggie over the top).

I agree with honeybee I teach cooking and our students love making pizza this is the recipe we use but dont have timein lessons to leave it so long it still works although by choice I would leave it tp prove longer.
Delia also does a quick scone base which is nice if you dont want to muck around with yeast and waiting..
Make your own tomato sauce with tinned tomsheated add pinch of sugar and any herbs and onions you like then puree. You may need to drain off some of the juice first as itcan be abit runny. Ahter that top how yoy fancy.

This is the recipe I always use when I make pizza, it's nice and easy, grease the bottom of you tray with olive oil and it shouldn't stick

1/4 tsp sugar
1 tablespoon of dried yeast
120ml of tepid water
1 tsp salt
225 grams of plain flour

mix the yeast with about 30 mills of the tepid water and the sugar and leave it to activate till its nice and foamy. Put the flour and salt into the bowl and make a well. Put the yeast liquid and the left over water in the well mix till it forms a dough. If its too sticky add a little more flour if its too crumbly add a little more tepid water.
Knead the dough for 10 mins t, then put into an oiled bowl, cover and put in a warm place until it has doubled in size (normally about 30-45mins).
KNead it again for about 2 minutes.

Roll out the dough and shape to fit the pan and put what you like on top :)

I usually put the oven on 190-200 and depending on how thick you like the base is, it should be 20-30mins. Also I double the quantities in the recipe because to me that amount isn't quite enough for a nice deep base, if I have any left over I freeze it and make mini pizza's.
I have a garlic bread recipe as well if you like

Only just realised someone has already given you a recipe! Beaten me to it HoneyBee! :)

Thanks everyone for the pizza recipes. Garlic bread is my speciality so i'm ok making that :-)

Will let you know how it goes over the weekend

:-)

Well, i made a ham& pineapple and a meat feast pizza. BIG success - they were gorgeous!! Will definatly be making more of them in the furture

Thanks for everyones help

:-)