Delicious Homemade Pizza for MUCH Less

The other day, I decided to make some homemade pizza. My husband loves pepperoni, so I went to the deli counter of my local gourmet grocery (think Whole Foods, but not) and bought some sliced pepperoni. As I was walking away, the woman who sliced the pepperoni for me mentioned that she planned to make pizza that night, too, and was going to ask the pizza chef there in the store for some dough. She thought I might want to do that, too. That thought had never occurred to me!

So I selected a few incredibly fresh balls of mozzarella, a lovely green pepper, and a can of pizza sauce from my favorite organic canned food company, Eden Organic. Then I approached the chef. I said quietly, "I've heard you sell your pizza dough - can I buy some?" (In retrospect, I must have sounded like a Dead Head hanging out on Sheep Meadow in Central Park, asking the "sandwich guy" for something illicit!) He chuckled and said "of course," then wrapped up three plump balls of dough for me.

Once home, I rolled out the dough with a bit of flour, spread the sauce, sliced the mozzarella and green pepper, decorated my three pizzas and popped them into a 400 degree oven until the cheese bubbled and the crust was golden brown.

All in, the at-home prep plus cook time was maybe 20 minutes. Unbelievably easy. The result? Some of the best pizza we've ever had, at a price that beats even the cheapest of pizzerias and rivals the frozen variety. (The figures below are pre-tax.)

INGREDIENTS PURCHASED FOR THREE MEDIUM-SIZED PIZZAS:
3 PIZZA DOUGH		$3.00
PEPPERONI 0.5 LB SLICED		$2.94
EDEN ORGANIC PIZZA SAUCE		$2.54
2 FRESH MOZZARELLA		$10.87
GREEN BELL PEPPER		$1.19
		$20.54
PRICE PER PIZZA MADE:		$6.85