Having the most frugal grocery budget in the world isn’t going to help you and if you can’t put together at least a few healthy, tasty, and cheap eats! Every month, The Outlier Model features a cheap recipe idea, along with the cost breakdown.
Pizza is the ultimate comfort food. Ever since I was a kid, my Mom used to make pizza on Friday nights, with a home-made crust from the bread maker. Fast forward a few years, take away the bread maker and insert a hankering for some ‘za! Making your own crust is actually just like making most other pastries or bread. Not difficult, just requires some forethought and planning. I often make the dough ahead of time, flatten it out on the pan and throw it in the freezer for later in the week.
Pizza is easily customizeable, so feel free to mix up the toppings to create your ideal dish.
Dough
- 3 3/4 cups flour ($0.12 a cup based on ~40 cups per 11lb bag at $4.99)
- 2 Tbsp. yeast ($0.60)
- 2 tsp. salt (< $0.05)
- 1 Tbsp. honey ($0.25)
- 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil ($0.10)
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 cup water (separate portion)
- 1-2 Tbsp. oregano (free!)
Sauce and toppings
- 1 can tomato paste ($0.55)
- 1 Tbsp. oregano (free!)
- 300g (1 block) mozzarella cheese ($4)
- Sliced sausage meat ($0.83)
- 1 – 2 cubed red or green peppers ($0.50)
- 1/3 can black olives ($0.35)
Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water and let stand for 3 minutes. Mix the flour, salt, and spices together. Pour the yeast mixture, the rest of the water, honey and olive oil into the center of the flour and mix to the dough. Knead for 15 minutes until dough becomes smooth and elastic. Once I achieve dough consistency, I like to put some flour on the counter and transfer it to the counter to knead properly.
If your dough mixture is too sticky, add a bit more flour until you get the right consistency. Divide the dough into two round, equal pieces – this recipe makes TWO pizzas! Sprinkle a baking sheet with flour and transfer the rolls to it. Cover the baking sheets, place it in a warm spot and come back an hour and a half later.
When you return, punch the dough down and roll it out into as thin or thick a crust as you desire. This recipe works best with thin crusts and the flour on the baking sheet helps get that nice crisp crust.
Now comes the fun part! To make the pizza sauce, empty one can of tomato paste and the oregano into a bowl. Mix the spice into the paste and add approximately 2-3 Tbsp. of water to get a nice sauce-y consistency. CF likes to add the cheese at this point, which goes against my years of pizza making experience, but she’s got a point. Adding the cheese at this point lets all the ingredients added after get crispy and flavorful. Proceed to add as many or as few toppings as you like. I noted the toppings that we used, but you can really improvise here as much as you want.
Heat the oven to 375 degrees and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let the finished pizza rest for 5-10 minutes before cutting and serving.
Slices: 12 large slices
Cost per slice: $0.63
Frugal hack: Use ingredients from your garden – we used oregano from our herb planter and a banana pepper from our community garden.
Feeling adventurous? Add some spice! We added a banana pepper from the garden and a jalapeno pepper for good measure. It’s got kick!
This post also appeared at Life as Mom, in Frugal Friday – Just Say No
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