{Foodie} Pizza Dough

I made 3 loaves of bread and a homemade poofy crusted pizza.

I have the urge to post the recipe that I got from one of the online recipe centers.

Basic Pizza Dough

INGREDIENTS

• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 tablespoons yeast
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

MIX PIZZA DOUGH BY HAND:

1. Pour warm water into a bowl. The water should be about 85 to 115° F. Test it with your hand. It should feel very warm, but comfortable. 
2. Add the honey and salt. Mix by and hand (or any other method) until well blended. 
3. Add the yeast and mix some more. Let this mixture sit for about 5 minutes.
   
4. Add 1 cup of flour and the olive oil and mix until well blended.
5. Add the rest of the flour (and any other additions) and mix well. The dough should turn into a ball. If the dough does not ball up because it's too dry, add water one tablespoon at a time until it does. If your mixture is more like a batter, add flour one tablespoon at a time. Adding water or flour as needed to get the right consistency will assure you always get a perfect dough. Just remember to do it in small amounts.
6. Once the dough is balled up, place the ball on afloured board and knead for about a minute. This builds the gluten which helps the dough to rise and become fluffy when cooked. Place the dough in a plastic grocery bag or a covered bowl and store in a warm, dry area to rise.
7. After about 45 minutes the dough should have about doubled in size. Show it who's boss and punch it down. That's right, give it a good smack so it deflates. Let it rise for another hour to an hour and a half. The dough is now ready to be rolled out. You can punch the dough down one more time if you want and wait another hour or two before rolling out. The choice is yours. 
8. Roll out the dough and add sauce,toppings, and cheese. Bake at 400 degrees F and enjoy. 

NOTE: This dough can also be made in advance and refrigerated for a day or so, or even frozen. Be sure to let it come to room temperature before using.

{Foodie} Pumpkin Pie Recipe and Tutorial

Since today is the first of October, I thought I would share what we did to honor this fact. Well, Remember Orion's School pics? Well we decided to make use of the props. :D So this is  my tutorial for making your own pumpkin like you would get in a can.  You can get so much more from a pumpkin than from a can that would cost about $1.99. Yes, two dollars does not seem like a lot but it really is especially when you can get a 10-15 pounder for roughly the same price. The best thing I learned was that you can use regular field pumpkins for the pie. This rocks! So here we go. 

Making your own canned pumpkin...minus the canning

Scoop out all stringy stuff and seeds.  You may need to scrape with a spoon to get everything out. 

Make sure to save the seeds on a cookie sheet  try to pick out most pumpkin parts. I sprinked with sea salt and roasted at 350 for about an hour. Be sure to stir halfway. 

once pumpkin is cleaned out cut into chunks that will fit in your pan. 

put pieces with skin up and ad a little water to pan. Bake at 350 for an hour or until fork can be inserted into the skin. 

Let pumpkin cool for 10 minutes or until able to handle. 

scoop out pumpkin and mash.

You may have to strain some water off.

Mash or puree to desired consistency.  Viola! You can now add desired amount to your favorite recipe. NOTE: The average can of pumpkin is 16 oz. 

MMM Yummy  Roasted pumpkin seeds. 

Pumpkin Pie Recipe

1 3/4 cups pumpkin puree

3 eggs

2 TB unbleached flour

1/4 cup unbleached sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (tweek to liking)

3 TB Butter

2 Tb Milk or cream

1 uncooked pie crust

Preheat oven to 350. 

Mix all ingredients until at desired consistency. Pour into pie shell in pie pan (some people have actually poured it into just the crust, no pan).

Bake at 350 or until knife inserted into center of pie comes out clean.

There you have it my first recipe that I created. WOOT!