Monday, September 7, 2009

Simple, Cheap Pizza Recipe - Can Be Made in Crock Pot

UPDATE: Click on food photos to view in color.

It was a success! My first try at crock pot pizza, and it worked!


So, for baking in my crock pot, I use two 9" cake pans that fit nicely inside my round crock pot. I'm not sure what to do if you have an oval crock pot. I put the first pan face down, and the second one face up on top to give it some height. This makes it easier to remove the pizza from the crock pot.
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I wanted a hearty pizza, just as hearty as our regular, large oven-baked pizza. So, I didn't change the recipe at all. So, this recipe can be made just as cheapy in the oven. Here is the dough:
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2 1/2 cups flour - $0.40
1 teaspoon salt - $0.02
1 teaspoon yeast $0.04
1 cup water - $0
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UPDATE: I cut out some of the yeast, down to 1 teaspoon, so that it woudn't rise as much. This brought down the cost from $2.24 to $2.19, and made the recipe simpler.
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I kneaded it just as I usually did, but I did NOT let it rise. I just spread it into my greased cake pan and put it on high. After a half hour, it had risen anyway, just as I feared. So, I opened the crock pot and smashed it down flat with my fingers.

After another half hour, I put my already prepared toppings on the pizza in layers:
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2 tablespoons tomato sauce - $0.07
cheese, 2 slices - $0.16
12 oz browned and drained sausage - $1.00
one more slice of cheese - $0.08
4 oz chopped frozen peppers and onions - $0.26
two more slices of cheese - $0.16
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It is important to drain any meat well. It is also important that if you use frozen veggies, defrost them and make sure they are drained, otherwise the pizza may get soupy. I put cheese between ingredients because this recipe makes a tall pizza. This helps bind the ingredients together.
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Let the pizza cook for another half hour on high, this will be one and a half hours total.
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I asked my husband what he thought, and he said it was a 10 out of 10. I asked him what he thought the regular pizza was, and he said that was a 10 out of 10 as well. So, that means it is just as good, which is what I was going for.

pizza 012

Usually crock pot recipes mean less work, but I would say this was the same amount of work as making a regular from-scratch pizza, just timed differently. I saved around $0.17 by not turning on my oven. We have pizza every other week, which is an annual savings of $4.42. If I live another fifty years making pizza this way, that will be a lifetime savings of $221.00. Of course, energy efficient ovens may become more mainstream at some time before I die. I still won't want one because it's such a large appliance and to me, isn't worth the space it takes up.
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This provided enough leftovers for my husband to have another meal at work and a meal for the kids at home. So it stretched beyond one meal, but not quite to two, which is what happened with the oven baked pizza as well.
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UPDATE: This is the same recipe as my large pizza, so it will make a large pizza for the same cost. The only difference is, add 2 1/2 teaspoons of yeast instead of one to the crust.

For more tightwad tips, head on over to Being Frugal and Raising 4 Godly Men.

7 comments:

Scrappy quilter said...

WOW very impressive!!

Treva said...

Quite inventive, I must say. Gotta ask though: what will you do when you have more kids to feed and you need 2 pizzas? Or even 3 pizzas? I know that's a ways off, but since you're not planning on using your oven much it leaves me questioning that scenario.

Nice blog by the way. I totally get the b/w theme, but once in a while you may need a color picture of the food. Just a suggestion!

Emily said...

I've been thinking of that, Treva. I'm thinking of making something similar to a wire pie rack that will fit into the crock pot, holding the cake pans. Can you picture it? I'm thinking I can fashion it out of coat hangers. That idea still has some time to swirl around in my mind before it becomes a necessity.

Sometimes I think color might help, but I'm addicted to b/w. There is a color YouTube video on one of my posts. I couldn't convert it.

Mrs Swan said...

Looks good! Me thinks I will stick to oven pizza though. LOL I am spoiled by my clearance kitchen aid to do the dough work.

Stacy said...

That is a neat idea! Since I use my bread machine to do my crust, I'll probably stick to that method, but yours is very interesting.

Mary @Raising 4 Godly Men said...

What a neat idea ! I love it !! The sad thing is I can't make enough to feed four very big and hungry boys and a man on one. I guess I will have to stick with filling up the oven for now.

Anonymous said...

Your children look perfectly happy eating their pizza, Emily (and quite healthy too :)!

I wonder what Happy in Houston feeds her children. Perhaps a frozen pizza from the store filled with MSG and HFCS? Maybe boxed Betty Crocker brownie junk? I doubt that a daily vitamin makes up for a processed food diet.

I'll take a homemade 100% whole wheat crust, sausage, pepper, onion and cheese pizza ANY day!

Jen

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