Making homemade pizza is one of my favorite and most creative culinary adventures! Trader Joe's has great whole wheat and herb fresh doughs, ready to use. From there I use TJ's jarred pizza sauce or make my own by using tomato sauce, sauteed onions and garlic, as well as any other herbs/veggies I have on hand (letting it all simmer for flavor).
Toppings are the most fun part, and I use whatever is in my fridge - chicken, spinach, garlic, tomatoes sliced or chopped, a variety of cheeses, chicken sausages (my favorite!), jalapenos, caramelized onions, basil, cilantro, etcetera!
Leftovers make excellent toppings, too - for example I used leftover Peppercorn Chicken with Lemon Spinach (from the new Food Network Magazine) and some caramelized onions, adding a little sauce and some mozzarella, to make a tasty pizza. :]
I love making my own pizza, however I buy the dough from the store instead of making it. What I make is normally very basic but I want to try making my own "gourmet" pizza with more exotic toppings.
I just remembered; I came across an interesting dough recipe last week that I'm going to try out over the weekend for homemade bread: http://www.recipezaar.com/Our-Daily-Bread-in-a-Crock-Weekly-Make-and-Bake-Rustic-Bread-340621
It can also be used to make pizza dough (I think you'll find info in the comments), and I love the idea of having dough already made in the fridge, that'll last up to two weeks. You just cut off what you need and adapt to make bread, rolls, pizza! Yuuuuum homemade bread at whim, even easier than a bread machine!
Smacks83, I'm with you on being able to choose healthy ingredients! We use the naan from Trader Joe's (the frozen ones) and the garlic naan is especially delish. (We also use the TJ's pizza sauce.) My daughter found the recipe in Nigella Lawson's "Nigella Express", and Nigella's suggestion of using fontina cheese makes a great choice for something slightly different and yummy!
I think next time I'm at TJ's I'm going to try their whole wheat pizza dough as it looks like a bunch of you like that one!
I don't eat pizza much, but if I make it I get the dough from Pizza Hut because my brother works there and makes it, lol. I like making my own because I can put less cheese and crap on it and put more veggies on it.
mamasitamalita: that's the kind we use! I love making pizza with my dad. We sometimes throw the dough on the grill before we put the topping on. Oh man, now I have a craving for homemade pizza...
Ever since you posted on polenta pizza a while back, I've been using polenta as the dough, then topping with whatever fresh veggies and cheese happen to be in the fridge.
Naan pizza is a great idea though. Maybe I'll try that for the superbowl.
Any yeast bread recipe can be modified by using a bit more liquid (so the dough is slightly sticky) and substituting olive oil for the shortening to make an excellent pizza dough. Give it a try!