Pizza Dough

 I've been making this pizza dough for YEARS! It is my only one I'll ever make again. It's easy, versatile and tastes delicious. We use it for pizza (obviously!), calzones, cinnamon sticks, pizza rolls, etc. You can't go wrong with this one! 

I ALWAYS double it (or even triple it if needed) One batch makes 8 mini pizza or 1 18 inch pizza

This one comes from The Food Nanny cook book.

Below you will also find different varieties of pizza we love to make. We LOVE homemade pizzas at our house and my kids always say I should own my own pizza shop, LOL! I joke that it's because I worked at 5 Buck Pizza when I was in high school... those skills are STILL with me ;) 

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp active dry yeast
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3-4 cups of all purpose flour

Directions

• Mix the yeast, sugar and water together in a small bowl. Cover and let stand until foamy, about 5-10 minutes.
• Mix the oil, honey, salt and yeast mixture in a large mixing bowl (I use a kitchen aid mixer or my Bosch)
• Add the flour all at once
• If the dough seems too wet, add more flour 1/4 cup at a time until the dough is soft. 
• Knead until it is moderately stiff and somewhat firm to the touch, about 6 minutes. 
• Lightly greases pizza pan(s)
• Roll out dough and gently stretch to fit the pan.

Top with your favorite sauce and toppings.

Bake at 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes. I always set my timer for 10 minutes and then watch it from there. Depending on the toppings it can take up to 15 minutes to bake all the way through. 

To make into cinnamon sticks:

• Once you stretch onto pan, slather with melted butter and sprinkle generously with a cinnamon sugar mixture. 
• Slice into strips with a pizza cutter
• Bake about 10 minutes
• Drizzle with frosting/glaze (I mix a little powdered sugar and milk together to make an easy glaze)

To make into pizza rolls:

• Roll out dough into large rectangle
• spread pizza sauce over dough, leaving a 1" border
• top with mozzarella cheese and any toppings of your choice
• roll up like you would a cinnamon roll (into a log) and cut like a cinnamon roll
• Place onto greased cookie sheet and bake 10-15 minutes
• dip in more pizza sauce or ranch if you are like us and love pizza and ranch!

My favorite Ranch pizza sauce:

• 2 Tbsp sour cream
• 3 Tbsp Mayo
• 2 1/2 Tbsp milk
• 1/2 tsp garlic salt
• 1/8 tsp dill weed
• 1/8 tsp dried parsley flakes
• dash of onion powder
• salt and pepper to taste

• Mix all ingredients together and top pizza dough with it. We then top it with mozzarella cheese, chicken, bacon and diced tomato. 
• Bake 10-15 minutes
  
  

The Chicken Garlic Pizza from Papa Murphy's is my husbands most favorite pizza! We don't get it very often because it's pricey and who wants to PAY for something they still have to cook? Not me LOL! But I decided to try and find something similar and make it at home and this was perfect! We love this version.

Ingredients:

• Garlic sauce (recipe below)
• grilled chicken
• tomatoes
• green onion
• Pizza blend cheese, or just mozzarella

Garlic Sauce Recipe:

• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 tsp parsley flakes
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper to taste
  
  
• Melt butter then add garlic and cook 1 minute. 
• Add flour and cook stirring constantly for 1 minute.
• Stir in broth and milk. Cook until sauce boils and thickens. 
• Add remaining ingredients and stir until cheese is melted.