Joyeux Kitchen: Homemade Pizza Dough

Happy post-Halloween sugar coma, friends!  Hope everyone had a nice weekend.  Ours was... sort of manic, actually, but the kids had a great time.  I have a beef I have to get to before this yummy recipe.  Have you visited the SuperMall this Halloween season?  We took the girls trick-or-treating there yesterday afternoon and had to shield them from the display at the Spirit Halloween store.  The large store front was lined with (I kid you not) zombie-baby mannequins.  Realistic looking, younger than Holly, mutilated and bleeding from every orifice.  More than a dozen of them.  Seriously?!?  I'm pretty liberal and we love Halloween around here, but I shouldn't have to shield my children from a gruesome display of infant carnage at the local mall.  What a disappointment.  Poor taste and poor judgement, SuperMall!  So if you saw it and had a problem with it, send the SuperMall a message and let them know.  I did!

Contact The SuperMall

Homemade Pizza Dough

(from the kitchen of Doug's Great Aunt Myrtle)

You'll need:

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 pkg dry yeast (I use Quick Rise)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup warm water (NOT HOT)

In mixer bowl combine the first three ingredients.  **Note: I use unbleached all-purpose flour, but I've done the whole wheat thing too and it turned out great; if you go that route you'll need at least a quarter cup more water to get the dough nice and supple.  Add water and knead with bread hook (or by hand if you don't have a Kitchenaid) 15-20 minutes or until nice.  Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap; allow to rise until double in bulk. 

Roll out pizza shape--we like it rolled super thin--and top with your favorites.  We like pepperoni, provolone, sharp cheddar, mozzarella, ham and pineapple (or for Haley, just pineapple, please), crunchy bacon, red and green peppers, sweet onions, jalapenos... the list is endless.  Myrtle says: Bake at 475 until bubbly and fully cooked, 30 minutes.  It never takes anywhere close to 30 minutes for me, usually more like 12-14.  Enjoy!  Thanks Aunt Myrtle!