Happy 4th of July!!

July 4th has always been a favorite holiday of mine.  We get to celebrate our country, and we get to eat food.  As a kid, we always went to Auntie Regina's house and had a party, ate tons of great food, and swam in the pool.  It was an all-day event that I always loved.  Since Auntie Regina moved to a house that doesn't have a pool, we've all been creating new traditions.  For the past few years, Scott and I have always gone down to the beach and visited with his dad's family at their beach house.  It's always a fun time.  This year, we have two invitations, and we are trying to do both.  Because of the impending hurricane (tropical storm?), all parties have been moved to July 5th, but it gave me a chance to try out a new cupcake recipe!  I hope all of our friends and family love my new creation!

Happy 4th of July Cupcakes!

I love using my King Arthur Flour cookbook for baking.  I love the recipes and they have never steered me wrong.  For today's cupcake, I decided that an easy White Cake recipe would be the best.  I had never made this cake before, but I have to tell you:  It is awesome!  For the frosting, I used my go-to buttercream recipe.  

The Cake:

Elegant White Cake (from the King Arthur Flour Cookbook)

1 stick of butter, room temperature

1/2 cup shortening

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

3/4 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

5 large egg whites

2 3/4 cups flour

1 cup milk

Cream together the butter, shortening, baking powder, sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Beat until everything is fluffy and light, about 5 minutes (From when everything first comes together, to the end of 5 minutes, the batter really transforms!)

Add in the egg whites, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add in 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix well.  Add 1/2 the milk, 1/3 flour, 1/2 milk, 1/3 flour.  Mix and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl after each addition.

Scoop the batter into lined cupcake tins.  I made 24 cupcakes with this batter, and had just a tiny bit left over (not really enough for even 1 more cupcake).  Be very careful not to overflow the tins.  They should really only be about 2/3 full of batter.

Bake for 20 minutes in a 350* oven that has been preheated.  Remove when baked, and cool on a rack.  Once cool to the touch, transfer the cupcakes out of the tins and onto the racks to continue cooling.

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The Frosting:

Easy Buttercream (From the King Arthur Flour Cookbook)

1 stick of butter, room temperature

1/2 cup shortening

1/8 tsp salt

6 cups confectioners' sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

Beat together the butter, shortening, and salt until fluffy.  Add in about 3 cups of the confectioners' sugar and beat slowly until well blended.  Add about 1/4 cup of the milk and the vanilla and beat again until fluffy.

Continue mixing the remaining sugar and milk until they are fully incorporated and the frosting is light and fluffy.  Note:  I did not use all of the milk.  I just kept adding the remaining 1/4 cup a little at a time until it was the desired consistency.

~~~~~~~~~~

For today's cupcakes, I needed 3 colors of frosting.  

Split the frosting as evenly as possible into 3 bowls.  Color the frostings to your choosing (clearly, for the 4th of July, I used red, white, and blue).  I used 30 drops each of red and blue food coloring.  NOTE:  The liquid food coloring, which I used, can make the frosting a lot less stiff.  So keep that in mind and add in a little extra confectioners' sugar if necessary).

Put the three colors of frosting into 3 separate piping bags (I used the clear disposable kind).  Don't fill them up all the way, as they will make a big mess.  Snip the tip of the bags, about 1/2".  Put the 3 bags together into one large piping bag (I used a 16" piping bag), already fit with a star tip.  Evenly squeeze the frosting down to the tip of the piping bag and use either paper towel or wax paper to pipe a design and make sure the three colors come out evenly.

About halfway through, I did need to refill the bag.  If this also happens to you, just fold down the big piping bag, and open the smaller bags to refill with frosting.  Squeeze down to the tip, and repeat the frosting process!!

ENJOY!!

Super Simple Dinners: Chicken Caesar Salad

For the past two weeks, I've been in NJ for work.  Overall, it wasn't a fun trip, but did result in 2 visits to my sister's...Which was fun.  The first visit, it was just the two of us, and we had a lot of laughs over dinner and a bottle of wine.  The second visit, Timur (her husband) was home and the three of us had a great dinner and wine.

While I was on my 2nd visit, I helped my sister prepare dinner and noticed something on the refrigerator....Something that I decided I was going to adopt as a habit.  It was a weekly meal list.  The simple act of writing out what is for dinner each night of the week can really make life so simple.  Basically, they decide what they're going to have for dinner over the weekend, and then go to the market on Sunday to buy needed ingredients for the week.

It's the simplest thing - but it takes the guess work out of dinner time...It also takes care of the "I'd really like to make X but I'm missing 3 ingredients."  

So Stephanie...You're a genius.  Just don't let it go to your head.  :o)

So one of the meals on my sister's list was Chicken Caesar Salad.  I got so excited when I saw this because she made it for me once before and I fell in love with it.  She gave me the recipe, but I still haven't made it yet...But I WILL be making it this week!

So here it is!!  (from www.myrecipes.com)

11 cup romaine lettuce 
1 cup red bell pepper
3 Tbsp olive oil 
1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice 
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce 
2 tsp Dijon mustard 
1/4 tsp sugar 
1/4 tsp table salt 
1/4 tsp black pepper 
1 clove(s) (medium) garlic clove(s) 
1 1/2 cup(s) plain croutons 
1/2 cup(s) grated Parmesan cheese 
2 pound(s) roasted skinless chicken breast

Remove chicken from bones and shred with 2 forks to measure 3 cups meat. 

Combine chicken, lettuce, and bell pepper in a large bowl. 

For vinaigrette: combine oil, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, sugar, salt, pepper, and garlic in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. 

Pour over salad. Toss well, sprinkle with croutons and cheese, and toss gently to combine.

Enjoy!!

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes!

Once upon a time, not too far from here, we used to be allowed to bring cupcakes to school on our birthday.  This was the most exciting time of year for me.  An excuse to eat cupcakes in the middle of the school day, and show off my mom's cupcake making abilities to the rest of the class.  I remember instead of regular old cupcakes, my mom would make cupcakes baked in Ice Cream Cones!!  How exciting is THAT?

I decided to recreate the Ice Cream Cone Cupcake this weekend.  We had a few friends over to celebrate Scott's new job, and to show off our house!  While I made a TON of food (and have TONS of leftovers), the most exciting thing I made for our company were these cupcakes. 

I have to admit, I did do these a little different than my mom used to.  In those days, we didn't get super fancy with the frosting - we just frosted the top with a knife....But I figured I would try and make these look like real soft serve ice cream, and I think it was a success!!

So here's what I did:

Ingredients
1 box of cake mix (I used Funfetti) and the required ingredients
24 flat bottomed wafer Ice Cream Cones
Buttercream Frosting (see recipe below)
Jimmies (or Sprinkles, whatever you call them!)

Buttercream frosting (from the King Arthur Flour Cookbook)
5 1/2 Tbsp Butter
1/3 cup Shortening
1/8 tsp Salt
4 - 5 cups confectioners sugar (I used 4 cups)
2 tsps Vanilla Extract
1/4 - 1/3 cup milk (I used 1/4 cup, plus a splash more)

Beat together the butter, shortening, and salt until fluffy.  Add 2 cups of the confectioners sugar and beat slowly until well blended.  Add the vanilla and half of the milk, and beat until fluffy.

Continue mixing in the sugar and milk alternately until everything is completely incorporated, and beat until light and fluffy

The Method
Mix the cake mix according to the box directions
Pour the cake mix into a pour-able measuring cup (it makes things a bit easier)

  

The cake batter, poured into a measuring cup, and all of the ice cream cones, ready to be filled!

Fill the ice cream cones about 2/3 of the way full with the cake mix (you don't want to over fill.  Overfilling won't cause the cake mix to bake upwards - it will just make a mess!)

Bake the cones by placing them into muffin tins at 350* for about 15-20 minutes (don't let them get too browned!)

 

Remove from the oven and cool

When cooled, frost and decorate!  I frosted my cupcakes by loading the frosting into a piping bag and swirling on top.  But you are the chef and this is your project, so have fun!!

Zuppa Inglese Cake!

Zuppa Inglese Cake.  Technically, it means "English Soup."  No, I don't know why.  But it's delicious.  Seriously.

"Zuppa Inglese Cake" - The delicious creation of cake, cream, fruit, chocolate, whipped cream, and Lady Fingers.  

I've eaten Zuppa Inglese Cake (my family actually pronounces it "zoop-englase") many times before, but this was my first attempt at making it.  And I would go with SUCCESS!!  I had a hard time with a few aspects of it (namely the white cream and chocolate cream), but it still came out delicious.  We celebrated my mom's 60th birthday this weekend, and this was a delicious dessert to the amazing dinner that my sister put together.

The essentials of this cake are:  Sponge cake (or Chiffon Cake), white cream, fruit, chocolate cream, whipped cream, and lady fingers.  

So let me walk you through the process:

I made the creams first, because you need to cook them on the stove and I wanted to give them ample time to cool down.  They are almost identical, and they both gave me the same problem.  They were too runny.  After a couple hours cooling in the fridge, they were still too runny, so I put them back in a sauce pan (I skipped the double boiler and went right to the main pan), added some more corn starch, and let them boil for about 5 minutes while stirring continuously.  And it worked out great.  I actually got them a little thicker than I needed and cut them with some whipped cream.  They came out perfect.

  

White cream, and chocolate cream, on the stove in the double boiler

Next, I made the cakes.  I used a recipe from The King Arthur Flour Cookbook and it came out A-Mazing!  So delicious.  I had to make two separate recipes, and each recipe made enough for 2 9-inch round pans.  The secret with Chiffon Cake is the cooling.  Just like when you make Angel Food Cake, you need to cool these upside down.  Even leaving them on the counter for 5 minutes will cause them to fall.  So you gotta do it right.  By cooling upside down, I mean propping the pans on something (I used cans of Pam and cans of Baking Powder).  The cake doesn't fall out of the pan because you don't grease the pan.  I divided each cake in half and used 5 layers all-together.  The other 3 layers were delicious to snack on!!

Next, the fruit.  I chose to use peaches (canned peaches in light syrup, and slice them thin), strawberries sliced thin, and instead of using jam, I used cherry pie filling.

Finally, the Whipped Cream.  I used a quart of Heavy Whipping Cream, and started beating it in a bowl and whisk attachment that I had left in the freezer for a while.  I then added about 6 Tablespoons of Confectioners Sugar and 2 teaspoons of Vanilla Extract and let it beat until it was the perfect consistency.

So your next question is probably, "But how?"  My answer would be, "However you want!!"  There is no real science to this cake.  Just layer it up, and go for it!  My method was:  Cake, Cream, Peaches, Cake, Cream, Strawberries, Cake, Chocolate Cream, Cake, Cherries, Cake, and then Whipped Cream on top and all around the sides.  The best part about frosting the sides is that you don't have to do a fancy job - you're going to cover the sides with the Lady Fingers, anyway!!!

One layer of Chiffon Cake with White Cream

Peaches!

Layer #2 of Cake and Cream, with Strawberries!

Layer #3 of Cake with Chocolate Cream

Layer #4 of Cake with the Cherry Pie Filling.  You can put white cream in this layer, too, but I didn't

Layer #5 of cake on top, and totally frosted in Whipped Cream!!

  

Get Decorating!!  The Lady Fingers I bought had a sugar layer on them, so I made sure to face the sugar outwards!

I also added some extra plops of whipped cream, and made sure my mom remembered how old she is ;-)

The final result, all cut up.  Pure Deliciousness.

Here are the recipes I used!!

White Cream Filling (Adapted from The Recipe Link)

1/2 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold milk
1 1/2 cups scalded milk
3 eggs slightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Scald the 1 1/2 cups milk.  Combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a saucepan. Gradually add cold milk, stirring well - make sure you mix in the sugar mixture that gets stuck in the corners of the pan). Slowly stir in the scalded milk. Stirring gently and constantly, rapidly bring mixture to boiling over direct heat and cook 3 minutes. Pour into top of double boiler and place over simmering water. Cover and cook about 12 minutes, stirring 3 or 4 times. Vigorously stir about 3 Tablespoons hot mixture into the eggs. Immediately blend into mixture in double boiler. Cook over simmering water 3 to 5 minutes. Stir slowly so mixture cooks evenly. Remove from heat and cool. Stir in vanilla extract and chill.  ***I did everything up until this point.  I saw that the mixture seemed too runny for me, and I let it cool, anyway.  After about 2 hours, it was still too runny.  I added the cooled mixture back into a sauce pan, and mixed in another 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch.  I turned the heat on the stove, let the mixture come up to a boil, and stirred continuously (about 5-7 minutes) until it thickened up.  I then transferred the mixture back into a bowl and let it cool in the refrigerator.  When I was ready to use the cream, I mixed it up, and then added in some whipped cream to make it fluffier.

Chocolate Cream Filling (Adapted from The Recipe Link)
1 1/2 ounces (1 1/2 squares) unsweetened chocolate
2/3 cups sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold milk
1 1/2 cups scalded milk
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

Add unsweetened chocolate to 1 1/2 cups of milk and scald. Combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a saucepan. Gradually add cold milk, stirring well. Slowly stir in the scalded milk. Stirring gently and constantly, rapidly bring mixture to boiling over direct heat and cook 3 minutes. Pour into top of double boiler and place over simmering water. Cover and cook about 12 minutes, stirring 3 or 4 times. Vigorously stir about 3 Tablespoons hot mixture into eggs. Immediately blend into mixture in double boiler. Cook over simmering water 3 to 5 minutes. Stir slowly so mixture cooks evenly. Remove from heat and cool. Stir in vanilla extract. Chill.  ***I did everything up until this point.  Once again, I saw that the mixture seemed too runny for me, and I let it cool, anyway.  After about 2 hours, it was still too runny.  I added the cooled mixture back into a sauce pan, and mixed in another 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch.  I turned the heat on the stove, let the mixture come up to a boil, and stirred continuously (about 5-7 minutes) until it thickened up.  I then transferred the mixture back into a bowl and let it cool in the refrigerator.  When I was ready to use the cream, I mixed it up, and then added in some whipped cream to make it fluffier.

Chiffon Cake (From the King Arthur Flour Cookbook)

7 eggs, separated (make sure you do not get any of the yolks mixed into the whites!!)

1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar

1 1/2 cups sugar, divided

2 cups KA AP Flour

2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

3/4 tsp Salt

1/2 cup Vegetable Oil (I used Corn OIl, because that's what I had)

3/4 cup Milk (I used 2%)

2 tsp Vanilla

1 tsp Almond Extract

In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites with the Cream of Tartar until foamy.  Gradually add 1/2 cup of sugar and continue beating until stiff and glossy.  Set Aside.

Whisk together the remaining 1 cup sugar with the flour, baking powder, and salt.  In a separate bowl, beat the oil, milk, egg yolks, vanilla, and almond extract until pale yellow.  Add the dry ingredients and beat until well blended (About 2 minutes on medium speed on a stand mixer).

Gently fold in the whipped egg whites.  Be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl so the batter is well-blended.  Pour the batter into an two 9-inch ungreased round pans .You can also use a 10-inch tube pan, if desired.

Bake in a preheated 325*F oven for 50 minutes if using 9-inch rounds, or for 1 hour if using a tube pan.  Don't open the oven during the baking process!!!  You know it's done when a finger gently pressed in the middle doesn't leave a print, and you can hear a crackling sound.

Cool the cake pan upside down for 1/2 hour before removing it from the pan.  

Whipped Cream

1 Quart Heavy Cream

6 Tbsp Confectioners Sugar

2 tsp Vanilla

Beat it!

After you have assembled the cake, store it in the refrigerator.  I made this cake Saturday afternoon, and we didn't serve it until Sunday.  This gave the cake plenty of time to settle and marry, and it turned out delicious.

Enjoy!!

Nonni's Chow Mein

Sometimes, you just need a big bowl of comfort food.  That's what I got on Tuesday.  Nonni's Chow Mein.  This dish is something that my mom used to make once in a while when I was younger, and I always loved it.  And somehow, in the move of my Aunt and Grandmother (temporarily) into my mother's house, we ended up with about 2 heads of celery in the fridge.  So that means.....Chow Mein!!

This is seriously a very easy dish to make.  In true Nonni form, there are no exact measurements for anything - it's all dependent on what you like.  But I tried to write everything down, and I can't wait to share it with you!

Nonni's Chow Mein

Ingredients

• Sliced Onion (about 2-3, depending on the size)
• Largely chopped celery (as much as you want, we probably used about a whole head)
• 1 lb Lean Ground Beef
• 1 can bean sprouts, drained
• 1 can mixed Chinese vegetables (or just a can of water chestnuts), drained
• Black Pepper
• Cornstarch
• Soy Sauce

The Method to Nonni's Madness

• Put the ground hamburger into a pan with a little bit of oil and break it up.  You don't want the mean to get overly browned - just so it's not pink anymore.  
• Add in the onion, and mix together and cook until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes
• Add in the chopped celery, and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until the celery is softened.  
• Add in the bean sprouts and vegetables, and black pepper.  Don't add in the sprouts until close to the end, because they really only need to heat up.
• Mix together a little bit of water, a heaping tablespoon of cornstarch, and the soy sauce and add this into the pot.  This helps everything thicken up a bit.
• Cover and simmer on low for about 10 minutes.  Taste it, and add salt if needed.

Serve the Chow Mein with either white rice, or the Chinese Crunch Noodles.

And ENJOY!!

Monday Matters

1. So I had a jam packed week last week/weekend.  Not lying.  


1. I worked about 50 hours in 4 1/2 days trying to catch up after vacation.  It wasn't pretty.  I was working on a project that was put to me by someone who understood nothing about the scope of the project he needed me to do.  So yea, that was fun.


2. Friday night, we went to Wrights Farm Restaurant (which I like to call Wrights Chicken Farm) for dinner.  Scott's brother had been in town and we went there with a few people from the family.  It was delicious.  All you can eat Salad, Chicken, Macaroni, and French Fries?  Thank you!


3. Saturday morning, I went to the house and FINALLY mowed the lawn.  Seriously.  I say finally because I hadn't done it since SEPTEMBER.  Like, early September.  Like 6 weeks ago.  It took me about a good 3 hours and I had to do everything twice.  No lie.  The grass kept clogging the chute and I had to stop a million times.  So frustrating.  Never again will I wait that long!  The plan this weekend is to mow again (and pick up the clippings I left behind this weekend), and fertilize.



That's 10 lawn bags.  Completely full.  

4. Once I finished mowing, Scott's brother, mom, and aunt came over and we walked them through the house - Scott's brother hadn't seen the inside yet and it had been months since his mom had seen it.  They were pleasantly surprised with all of the updates, thus far.


5. We then jetted back to Cranston (I had to make a pit-stop at the storage unit to pick up some shoes) and got showered and changed for a wedding.  We went casual to the wedding, and then came back home and changed up for the reception.  It was a beautiful night at the Squantum Association in East Providence.


6. Yesterday was the only non-busy day.  And it was glorious.  I seriously sat at home ALL day in my pajamas and read a book.  I did run out to the market (in said pajamas) and I also baked some Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins.  But other than that, I woke up and went to bed without every changing my clothes.  AWE-SOME!!


2. Speaking of Macaroni (see point 2 above)...My husband and I have been having a friendly debate forever now, and I found out that my mom sides with ME:  When I make macaroni, I like to mix all of the sauce/gravy into the macaroni so that everything is deliciously covered.  My husband prefers that you just put macaroni in a bowl and put a scoop of sauce on top.  His way is how they do it at Wrights Farm.  I find it frustrating because it allows people to take all the macaroni with the sauce and leave the last person to get gluey macaroni with no sauce.  No.  My way is the right way.  :o)


3. Those Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins I made yesterday??  Delicious.  Although I have to admit that the first batch of muffins came a bit flat.  I think it's because I put some chocolate chips on top.  So I don't know.  But they were still delicious.  And check out the recipe....I wrote it out in 2nd grade!  :o) The funniest part?  My sister texted me today and said she made the same thing yesterday.  How weird is that??





Check out that recipe.  Wrote it in 2nd grade!!!  I love the note about how all my papers should be that neat.  






Deliciousness!

4. So at the wedding we went to on Saturday I discovered that my camera is even more amazing than I originally though.  I can change pictures to black and white and sepia and it saves a copy!  How cool is that???
 


5. This weekend, I spent most of the weekend reading the third book in the Game of Thrones series.  I don't think I need to tell you that I"m obsessed.  I am.  I have found that I enjoy certain people's stories much more than others (I honestly can't stand Daenerys - she annoys the crap out of me), but I'm really enjoying it.  I'm going to have to go back and re-read all of the books once I finish, though.  I know there's a lot of stuff I'm missing.


6. And my final point for today's Monday Matters....Someone recently tried to put me on a huge guilt trip and spelled "loose" instead of "lose."  The spelling error was nothing, but it infuriated me on accounts of the attempted guilt trip.  So I leave you today with a list of my biggest pet-peeves...It's a short list.  But it'll do for now :o)


1. Loose - If your pants are too loose, then you should buy a belt.
2. Lose - If you don't buy a belt, you're probably going to lose your pants.


3. There - Go over there and get me a cookie.
4. Their - Go pick up their dirty plates.  They just had cookies.
5. They're - Go to the kitchen.  They're hungry for cookies.


6. Your - What is your telephone number?  
7. You're - What do you mean you don't know?  You're so forgetful!

Sausage Loaf

Sausage Loaf.  Most of the time when I talk about this, people look at me like I'm nuts.  I'm sure it can be called anything, Sausage bread, sausage calzone, whatever....

It takes only 3 ingredients to make sausage loaf.  1)  Pizza Dough.  2)  Sausage.  3)  Eggs.

And that's it.  It's SO easy....Yet for some reason, it's often not made.

On Sunday, I made some Homemade Pizza Dough....As I mentioned, we had a family party, and I felt like I needed to bring something.  I made the sausage loaf once before (for a previous party with the same family) and I don't think anyone touched it....I think some people are afraid to try something new.  So I decided that I would make this for us for dinner, and I made Spinach Pie to bring to the party instead.

In any case, it's incredibly easy to make this....And it's so delicious.

Take a pound of hot sausage and remove from the casing (you can also buy it in bulk, if you prefer).  Cook up the sausage in a skillet, and make sure you break up the meat well.  You don't need to add any oil to the pan, there's plenty of fat already in the sausage.  Once the sausage is cooked, drain out any extra fat, and add in 2-3 beaten eggs.  Stir everything together and cook until the eggs are good and cooked.  You don't need to any ANY seasonings here - there are plenty of seasonings already in the sausage.

Cooking up the sausage!

Sausage and egg, ready to go!

Remove the sausage mixture from the stove (I transferred onto a large plate) and allow it to cool down.  In the meantime, take your pizza dough and spread some out on the counter in order to get ready for the sausage mixture.  I spread out enough dough for 2 loaves, and let it sit and rise a bit while the sausage was cooling.

Two pieces of dough, spread and rising, waiting while the sausage mixture cools

Once the sausage mixture is cooled, spread half onto each piece of dough and get ready to roll!!

Spread the sausage mixture onto the dough, leaving room around all of the edges

Fold in the two sides, first.  If the dough is really dry, put a little bit of water on the top so that the dough can stick together

Roll the bottom up, ensuring that there are no holes for the sausage to escape!  Roll 'er up!!

Rolled and ready.

Transfer the loaves to a greased/oiled baking sheet (I put two per sheet) and cut small holes in the top of the loaves to allow for the residual heat to escape.  Spray a bit of oil on top, in order to allow for the tops to brown.  Bake at 425* for 20-25 minutes, until cooked throughout and beautifully browned.

Two loaves, ready to go!  (I made the slits on the top with a pair of kitchen scissors)

Beautifully browned loaves!

ENJOY!!!

Homemade Pizza Dough....And maybe a couple calzones....

I am a fan of the easy way out.  I have no shame whatsoever in admitting that I often buy pizza dough at the supermarket when I make pizza, spinach pie, or some kind of "calzone."  However, I do love making my own dough every once in a while.  My Aunt Annette does it all the time (it really is easy) and so yesterday, I decided to make some dough of my own.  

We're going to family party today, and I decided to bring some Sausage Loaf and some Spinach Pie (for you people out there who don't know what sausage loaf and spinach pie are, just assume that it's a sausage calzone and a spinach calzone....Other blog entries to come later this week).  I did make both of these once before for a previous family party, and while no one even touched the sausage loaf, some of the spinach pie did go (there were some store-bought calzones on the table, and I guess people felt safer going with those....).  Since I know Scott loves the sausage loaf, he and I ended up eating quite a bit of it for dinner last night, so only the spinach pie will make an appearance at today's party (and whatever doesn't get eaten, I'm taking home!!!).  

So on to the pizza dough.  

Home Made Pizza Dough - Rising in the bowl, ready to be spread and used!!!

You only need four things to make pizza dough at home.  

1)  Flour.  2)  Water.  3)  Yeast.  4)  Time.  

Seriously.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together 1 Tablespoon of instant yeast and 1 cup of warm water (you can also add up to 1 teaspoon of sugar, if you so desire.  This will help the yeast bubble up).  Let the yeast mixture proof.  Once it has proofed nicely, add 4-5 cups of flour and start mixing everything together with a dough hook.  Gradually add up to another 1 cup of water.  You need to use your judgement here.  You don't want the dough to be too liquidy, but you also don't want it hard as a brick.  Once the machine has kneaded the dough for about 10 minutes or so and the mixture is nice and smooth, you can dump the mixture onto the counter, knead it a bit by hand to make sure it's the consistency that you want, and then transfer it to an OILED bowl.  Cover and leave in a warm location (I left it on top of the stove with the light on).  

"The Yeast Makes the Dough Rise" - the yeast, sugar and water are all mixed together!!

Proofing the yeast - the most important part!!

Letting the mixer do the work!!!  Using the dough hook helps to knead the dough, and you don't have to do it all by hand!

The dough is ready to sit and rise!

The dough is covered in a bit of oil, and is sitting in an oiled bowl!  Getting ready to sit for about an hour to rise

Let the dough sit in a warm area for about an hour, or until the dough has doubled in bulk.  Punch the dough down, and then let it double again (this only takes about 30 minutes).

After the first rise, the dough is ready to be punched down!

Yes, I literally punched the dough!!  Ready to rise again!

The dough is re-risen, and ready to be used!!!

Now, you've got beautifully risen dough, ready for whatever you decide to make!  (Note, I divided the dough in 4 and made smaller loaves....)

Look for some more entries this week to make Sausage Loaf and Spinach Pie!!!

Sausage Loaf!!!

Spinach Pie!!!