I make pizza every weekend and save quite a bit. Bread machines are best to use but by hand is fine too. Save money by buying yeast in bulk (1 lb. for $1.59 at Sam's club). Take care of your yeast since it is a living organism. According to Red Star, the yeast will live 6 days at room temp, 6 weeks in the refrigerator, or 6 months in the freezer (once opened). Thus, I put my yeast in a zip-lock and keep them in the freezer. Write the date on the bag. Remember too that you should activate your yeast with 110-115* liquid. If using a bread machine do NOT add warm water. Refer back to the machines instructions. Most call for the water to be around 70* and the machine warms it to raise the temp. If you start with 115* liquid the temp will get too hot and kill the yeast resulting in a low rise.
The pizza setting on a bread machine only takes about 50 min.
Various recipes can be found at my favorite recipe website
www.allrecipes.com Have fund on this site.
My son worked at a Italian resturant and he makes a white pizza. Great stuff. Instead of putting red sauce on, put a layer of olive oil on the dough, sprinkle garlic powder and italian seasonings. Add some veggies like thinly sliced/chopped green peppers, tomatoes, onions, or what ever you want. Top with Mozzarella. Great stuff.
If you use additional cheeses like romano, parmesian it adds flavor.
Also, if you use bread flour instead of all purpose flour it will have a better rise and taste much better. Bread flour sometimes goes on sale around the holidays for the same price as all purpose.