I think I've found the biggest problem with making homemade food--everyone loves it. "What? That's not a problem," you say. The problem is that my husband likes my homemade foods too much-- he never wants to go out. If I suggest we try out a new restaurant, he replies, "Why? You're food is better anyway." It's very flattering, but sometimes making everything homemade is exhausting. This recipe is great because pizza is simple to make, so it's one of my go-to dinners for Friday nights.
I usually make two large
pizza, and we eat the leftovers on Saturday. For two 16" pizzas with
medium/thick crust, I triple the recipe below.
What you need For one thick-crust 12" pizza:
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 2 1/4 tsp (1 pkg) active dry yeast
- 1/4 tsp sugar
- 1 Tbs oil
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
- 1 tsp cornmeal
- Pizza sauce
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups cheese
- toppings--we like pepperoni, mushrooms, and bell peppers
Let's get cooking:
1. Stir the sugar and yeast into the lukewarm water. (The water should be the same temperature as your finger if you dip it in). Let the yeast mixture sit 5 minutes until foaming. It should start to look like the pic below. Then add the oil.
2. Measure 2 cups of flour in a medium mixing bowl. Add the yeast mixture and stir until combined. Work in additional flour, using your fingers if it gets too stiff to use a fork. The dough should not be too sticky or too crumbly. You may not need all the flour, so add a little at a time.
3. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead about 50 times by hand. The dough should be fairly smooth and elastic. Form into a ball and place it into a clean mixing bowl. Cover with a towel and let it rise until doubled. (This usually takes about 30-60 minutes, depending on how warm my kitchen is.)
3. While I'm waiting for my crust to rise, I prep the rest of my pizza. I wash and chop the veggies, grate cheese, etc. By the time I've finished all that, my crust is done rising.
4. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Sprinkle your pizza pan with cornmeal. On a floured surface, roll out your pizza dough, then place it on the pizza pan. Bake without toppings 8-10 minutes.
6. Add sauce, toppings, and cheese, then bake 9-11 minutes until cheese is turning golden.
Mmm, time to eat!
-Lily
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I discovered that I could make homemade bread crumbs a couple years ago, and I've never looked back. They're so easy, and cheap, and taste so much better than the crumbled cardboard that you buy in the store. Yummy!
For about 3/4 cup crumbs, all you need is two slices of bread.
Yep, that's it. I usually keep bread heels, ends, stale homemade bread, etc. in a ziploc or bread bag in the freezer, then I just pull out what I need.
Toast bread for 1-2 cycles.
You want it golden and dry, but not burnt.
Cut into fine crumbs
And, now you have homemade bread crumbs!
Substitution note: usually recipes call for store-bought breadcrumbs, so if you substitute homemade you may need to experiment a little with the amount you use. You may need a different quantity to get the same taste or texture.
-Lily
I love greek yogurt--so creamy, delicious...and expensive. Too expensive for me to buy regularly. But, I recently discovered that you can make greek yogurt at home. Apparently, greek yogurt is simply regular yogurt that has had the whey (liquid) strained out. Who knew?
What you need:
Place the cloth in the colander and set over the bowl. I didn't like buying cheesecloth all the time, so I bought a set of very thin white kitchen towels. I just run it through the washer when I'm done and it works great. If you're using cheesecloth, I'd double it up.
Pour in the yogurt. Wait about 2-4 hours, depending on how thick you want your yogurt.
Discard the liquid whey in the bowl. (I've read that you can use whey rather than water when making bread. I need to try that in my homemade honey wheat bread!)
Scoop out the yogurt from the cloth, and enjoy your homemade greek yogurt!
-Lily
