Making homemade pizza is a good way to control the amount of sodium, fat and calories that go into it and, as an added bonus, the kids can help assemble their own. Premade crusts and pizza dough take a lot of the prep work out of the process, while low-fat, low-sodium pepperoni erases makes the recipe more healthful. Pepperoni, cheese and anchovy pizza offers a range of flavors, from spicy through mild to salty, and adding Italian seasonings gives it an extra kick. You can bake the pizza in less time than it takes to prepare a whole meal.
Step 1
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit for a prebaked pizza crust. Use the temperature suggested on the package for raw pizza dough. Spray a round pizza pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Step 2
Place your prebaked crust or pizza dough on the oiled pizza pan. Most raw dough comes in a rectangular shape, so either pat it into a circle or bake it on a rectangular cookie sheet.
Step 3
Pour just enough tomato sauce on the crust to cover it. Between ¾ and 1 cup is usually enough, but if you like more saucy pizza, add more. Pizza sauce is available in jars, but it tends to be sweeter than plain tomato sauce, so choose which one best suits your taste. Spread the sauce evenly with the back of a spoon.
Step 4
Sprinkle about 1 cup of grated mozzarella cheese over the sauce. Low-fat, low-sodium mozzarella contains less fat and salt than whole milk mozzarella, but it does not melt into the same creamy texture. Mixing them in equal proportions is a reasonable compromise unless you're counting calories.
Step 5
Sprinkle a generous amount of Italian seasoning mix over the grated cheese.
Step 6
Place sliced pepperoni evenly all over the pizza, on top of the grated cheese.
Step 7
Blot most of the oil off of the anchovies with paper towels. Break them up with your fingers and distribute them all over the pizza, among the pepperoni. Anchovies have a strong taste, so make the pieces very small.
Step 8
Bake the pizza for 8 to 10 minutes for a prebaked crust, or according to the package directions for raw dough. In both cases, the pizza is done when the cheese is melted and bubbly and you can clearly smell the ingredients.
Tips and Warnings
- Prebake raw pizza dough for 10 minutes for a crispier crust.
- Cool pizza completely before serving it to young children so the cheese doesn't burn their mouth.
Things You'll Need
- Pizza pan
- Nonstick cooking spray
- Prebaked crust or raw dough
- Tomato sauce
- Spoon
- Mozzarella cheese, grated
- Italian seasoning
- Pepperoni, sliced
- Anchovies
- Paper towels
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