Sister Johnson's No-Fail Pizza Crust

I love this pizza dough recipe and it hasn't failed me yet. In fact, it seems to get better the more I use it! I hope you think so too.

Pizza Crust
by Melanie Johnson

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Ingredients for 1 pizza(approx. size 16 inch round):

1 cup warm (room temp.) water
1 T yeast (or one packet)
Sprinkle of sugar

Let sit while doing the next step. In a large bowl sift or stir together:

2 cups flour
1 t sugar
1 t salt
1 T olive oil


Ingredients for 3 pizza's for a party or a big family:

3 cups warm (room temp.) water
3 T yeast (or one packet)
Sprinkle of sugar

Let sit while doing the next step. In a large bowl sift or stir together:

6 cups flour
1 T sugar
1 T salt
3 T olive oil

Add the now activated foamy yeast to the flour mixture. Stir until well-blended. Add just a little flour at a time until the dough isn't sticking to the bowl. Flour the counter well, dump out the dough and knead for 5-8 min. Knead the dough only until it is smooth and a few air bubbles start to appear. Add additional four only if needed to prevent sticking to your hands and counter top. At this stage, less flour is better than more.

It is OK to use right now OR the dough can rise for about 30-45 min., punch down and roll out into pizza shape. If you let it rise the dough is a little softer. Roll out the dough with a floured rolling pin just to the size of the pan. Spray the pan with a no-stick spray. Lightly flour the pan, with cornmeal if desired.

Lightly four the 1/2 dough circle. Fold in half. Place the 1/2 circle in pan against the edges and unfold. About 1/4 - 1/2 cup tomato/pizza/pasta sauce is spread on top to the near edges. Then add the grated mozzerella/cheddar/colby jack/monterrey cheeses of your choice. Add other toppings as desired: meat toppings include pepperoni, ham, sausage, hamburger etc... vegetable toppings include mushrooms, peppers, olives, artichoke, spinach, pineapple, etc... as you like!

Bake in the oven for 16-20 min. Carefully check the bottom of the crust for the crustiness that you may like. Let stand 2 min. before slicing. I slice on a breadboard counter top never on the pan. Slice, serve and enjoy!

Homemade Soft Pretzels

Do you like the pretzels in the mall or at Sam's club? If so, here is a recipe you might enjoy. My children love to help me make this recipe that my daughter brought home after making it in her Home Ec. class. It is a fun family activity! My children have a blast making the snakes, buttering with the brush, and thinking up pretzel toppings instead of only salt. Their favorite is cinnamon sugar. These are best made in a small batch and eaten hot & fresh right from the oven. I'll rewrite the ingredients below and the method is shown above. It's a fairly standard method for commonly used for making breads or rolls. If I need to type out more information then what I have please let me know in the comments & I'll update it. Let us know how it turns out if you'd like. I hope it is fun and simple!

Ingredients

1 package active dry yeast

1 1/3 cups warm water (105 - 115 degrees F)

1 Tbs sugar

1/2 tsp salt

3 1/2 - 4 cups unsifted, all-purpose flour

1 egg

1 Tbs water

2 Tbs course ground salt

Basic Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Grease 2 large baking sheets.

In a large bowl, sprinkle yeast over warm water; dissolve.

Gradually add in sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, and about 3 1/2 cups flour until the dough is soft and sticky.

Turn dough onto a floured surface; Knead about 5-7 min. Add up to 1/2 cup flour as needed. Dough should be smooth now and not stick to board.

Cut dough in half and then into 6 pieces. Flour your hands and roll dough into snakes. Place snake on baking sheet. Fold to form a pretzel shape.

In small bowl, mix egg and Tbs water; brush on pretzels. Sprinkle with salt. Other sprinkle ideas include cinnamon sugar, lemon or orange zest or herbs like Italian blend, garlic or dill weed.

Bake 15-20 min. until lightly golden brown. Warm is best! Makes about 12.

Recipes from Around the World

Recently, two of my children were involved in a multicultural fair at school. Nessa did a report on Denmark and Zayah did a report on Sweden. Part of their report was finding and making a recipe from their culture. Here's what we found and made! It turned out so yummy that I thought I'd share.

Danish Cheese Bread - Ostebrod

Swedish Sticky Chocolate Cake - Kladdkaka

Cranberry Orange Muffins

Cranberry and orange together is one of my favorite combinations, so I'm always looking for good recipes that combine the two. This one did the trick. I made a bunch of substitutions to make it healthier since I'm on WW, but I'll include both the real ingredients and my substitions. Your choice.

Cranberry Orange Muffins (makes 12 large muffins)

2 cups flour (I used whole wheat)
3/4 C sugar (I used 1/2 c Splenda and 1/4 c sugar)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup fresh cranberries (I used dried, which worked just as well)
1 egg (I used two egg whites)
3/4 C orange juice
1/4 c vegetable oil (I used 1/4 c fat free yogurt)
1 tsp orange zest

Combine the dry ingredients together. Stir in cranberries. Mix the egg, orange juice, oil, and zest together. Add in all dry ingredients at once and stir just until moistened. Fill muffin cups 3/4 of the way full. Bake at 400 F for 15-20 minutes. (I cooked mine at 375 for 16 minutes).

Enjoy. If you have all of the substitutions I did, these muffins are only two WW points each.

Banana Chocolate Chip Whole Wheat Bread

I love different kinds of warm breads in the fall. This bread turned out really moist and scrumptuous. Enjoy~

1/4 cups packed brown sugar

1/3 cup oil
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups mashed very ripe bananas
2/3 cup plain nonfat yogurt
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon


1-2 cups chocolate chips

Powdered sugar, for dusting


Beat oil and sugar together. Add in eggs, one at a time, beating slowly until incorporated. Add in vanilla, bananas and yogurt. Mix until well blended.Sift together flour, soda, cinnamon and salt. Add into wet ingredients, mixing ONLY until barely combined. Add in chocolate chips, mix a few times until distributed. Over-mixing will make bread dry, so try to mix as little as possible once the flour is in.Pour into two 8x4 inch loaf pans or one 9x5 inch pan. Sprinkle a generous amount of sugar on top. Bake at 350 F for about an hour, or 1 hr. 15 min. for 1 big loaf. Be sure to check center with a knife.

Mom's Cornbread

I am not sure who's Mom's recipie this is, but it has been in my family for a long time. At least as far back as my great grandpa. He used to have it for breakfast. He would put it into a bowl, while it was still piping hot and pour cold milk on it, and sprinkle with sugar. This was one of my favorite breakfast's growing up. The key is to eat it fast enough that the corn bread is still warm, and hasn't dissolved into crumbs. I made it to go with my leftover Chicken Jambalaya from the other day. It was awesome. (Not my pic... I stole it from Google.)

Mom's Cornbread

1/4 cup melted butter

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup of milk mixed with 1 TB lemon juice)

1/2 tea soda

1/2 tea salt

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup flour

When I was little, my mom didn't have a microwave, so she would put a metal bowl on the stove on low to melt the butter, and then mix everything else into it. I still do it this way, just because that is how my mom did it. While the butter is melting mix the soda and the buttermilk together. Stir the sugar, egg and buttermilk into the melted butter, and then add the cornmeal, flour and salt. Mix until just combined and bake in a greased 8x8 pan at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, until the edges are just a little tiny bit crispy. (This recipie can easily be doubled to a 9x13.)

60 Minute Rolls

This is my favorite quick, easy rolls recipe. I make them every time we need to bring rolls for something and I normally make a double batch so we can have some at home.

60 Minute Rolls

1/4 C butter
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
4 1/2 C sifted flour
5 Tbsp sugar
2 pkgs yeast (4 1/2 tsp)
1/4 C warm water
1 egg, beaten
1 1/4 C milk

Dissolve yeast with 1 tsp sugar and warm water. Heat milk with 5 Tbsp sugar, salt and butter until lukewarm. Add yeast mixture and egg and stir in flour. Dough will be sticky. Cover. Let set for 15 minutes. Knead slightly. Roll out, shape into rolls, and let rise 25 minutes. Bake for 10 minutes in 400 degree oven. Also makes delicious cinnamon rolls ready in 1 hour.

Makes 2 Dozen