Pizza Crust

This has been updated on 6/3/2011.

This recipe has gone through many sources and changes over the last 17 years. I have a versions of this from 1994 and the recipe here is one that came off a website and now I can not find which one it was, however the recipe is so close to the original one that I had that I can not give anyone credit for it and I don't take credit for it myself. However, it is a really good pizza dough!

Makes 2 crusts.

Put one package (2 1/4 teaspoons) yeast in 1/4 Cup warm water with 1 teaspoon honey and let rise.

Sift 2 1/2 Cups all purpose flour into mixing bowl and mix in 1 teaspoon of salt.

Mix in yeast mixture, 3/4 cup warm water, 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil and mix together well. Add more flour if dough is too sticky. Remember, some stickiness is okay. Turn dough out on a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 to 15 minutes. During this time think about all the difficulties and crabby people that you have had to deal with.

In a lightly greased bowl place the ball of dough and cover with a clean cloth. Let the dough rise for about 45 minutes.

Turn dough out on your kneading board again and divide in half. Reform each part into 2 new balls (during this time think about all the wonderful things in your life) and cover and let rise for 15 to 20 more minutes..

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Spread dough on lightly greased baking sheets and put on the toppings.

Pepperoni pizzas cooks faster because the oil in the meat gets hot faster and speeds the cooking. Leaner meats will take longer to cook.

Set your timer for 10 minutes and check the bottom edges. You can slide the pizza off the baking sheet to crisp up the crust a little more for 1 to 2 minutes before you take it out of the oven.

Thank you for stopping by.

Curl up with a slice of pizza and enjoy the evening and the compliments!

Dee Dee

Marinade Recipe for Chicken Breasts

Tonight my husband's band was over so I made food samples (experiments) for them.

I made beef kabobs with the recipe that I posted earlier and I also made my own marinade for chicken that I wanted to get feedback on.

One 11 oz can of Mandarin Oranges with the juice.

4 Tablespoons of Brown Sugar

4 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce

1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil

Dash of salt to taste

1/2 teaspoon French Tarragon

Put these ingredients in a bowl and mix with an egg beater.

I mixed the marinade up yesterday and let it sit in the fridge overnight. The smell and taste told me that this would not be good for beef so this morning I put a frozen skinless chicken breast in the marinade bowl and let it defrost like that.

I placed it on a rack on a baking pan and basted with more of the marinade.

every 15 minutes while baking I would spoon more marinade over it. I cook it until the meat thermometer reached 170 degrees F.

Take out of the oven and let sit for 10 minutes before slicing.

I will tell you that if it wasn't good I would not have posted the recipe but I have asked the band to visit here and leave comments so you don't have to take my word for it.

One thing I would have done differently is buy fresh chicken. The chicken I got was as tough as an old stew hen. Had it not been for the marinade it would not have been very easy to eat.

I haven't decided what sides would be best with this, but since I had made kabobs with different things I did not need to worry about a full course plan.

I spent the entire day cooking and later I will be sharing another recipe with you.

Thank you for stopping by!

Dee Dee