Everyday Living

04 February 2012

Yum Yum Peels Out

A few weeks ago, I was peeling some carrots in preparation for making carrot soup. Well, all was going swimmingly, until I had a visitor who just insisted in snoopervising my work...

photo of yum yum in the sink with carrot peelings

photo of yum yum in the sink with carrot peelings

Yes, she made a pest of herself and seemed to enjoy having carrot peels land on her head. The recipe I used came from something my wife found, but of course, I had to improvise. I doubled it and we ended up with roughly 6 quarts of soup, which we froze (we don't have a canner). This was just one of three soups I made this day and once I get a few pictures of the finished product, I'll share the recipes.

27 January 2012

My Pizza Dough Recipe

Here's a copy of the pizza dough recipe I use most every week. I use it not only for making pizzas, but calzones, cheesy bread, and French Bread.

The Pizza Dough

Warm water...1 ½ cups (about 110 degrees)
Flour...3-3 ½ cups
Yeast...2 ½ tsp.
Brown sugar... 1 tsp.
Salt...1 tsp.(I use onion salt for more flavor. If you do this, you can omit the onion powder)
Garlic powder...1 tsp.
Onion powder...1 tsp.
Oregano...1 tsp.

Putting it Together

Set your bread machine to the "Mix Dough" setting and then add the brown sugar, water, and yeast. Let proof for about 5 minutes
Add 1 cup of flour and then olive oil, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and oregano
Start the machine and add the remaining flour ½ cup at a time. Once all dough is added, make sure the dough is not too wet or dry (add flour or extra water as needed)
Once the dough cycle is complete (about 1 hour 40 minutes), remove dough and gently roll into a ball (or remove dough from machine after it is finished kneading- about 20 minutes- a place in a large, oiled, bowl. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and place in a warm area until doubled- about 1 hour).
Let rest for 10 minutes and then you are ready to create your pizza
You will have enough dough for 1 very large pizza or 2 smaller ones. Also, you could get 2 smaller pizzas and 2 calzones out of this recipe.

Here are a few ideas for you...

Taco Pizza

How to Make Calzones

My Version of Papa Murphy's Cheesy Bread

Here's a photo of the dough after it's been "de-fluffed" and shaped. This is the photo I used for the Cheesy Bread, so the dough is in a log shape. The dough for your pizza, should be in a ball shape. I forgot to get a photo of it in the bowl, so this will have to do for now...
photo of dough shaped in log