Best pizza dough recipe and tutorial

This is an ordinary glass bowl. Glass it the best kind to proof yeast in.
Warm water goes in the glass bowl. 1 1/2 Cups of warm water.
Put 2 Tablespoons of plain white sugar in the bowl with the water.
This is just plain active dry yeast. Nothing fancy. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons over the sugar water.
This is the yeast sprinkled over the sugar water. I'm making this as easy as I can.
Now set a timer for 10 minutes while the yeast gets all foamy. That's called proofing the yeast.
You cat get your pizza pans ready while you wait for the yeast to proof. I don't actually like cornmeal on my pizza. I'm thinking of using just the cooking spray.
Here are my pans sprayed and sprinkled.
Here is my creamy yeast water.

Side view.

Nothing fancy. I use extra virgin olive oil. You need 2 Tablespoons of the oil, and 2 teaspoons of salt.
Oil and salt go in the bowl with the yeast.
There's something beautiful about making pizza. Give it all a stir.
If you have the option, you can dump it all in the kitchen aid now. Otherwise, start stirring in flour with a wooden spoon.
Add one cup at a time, mixing on low speed all the while.
Use the dough hook, but you knew that!
Not sure why I am posting such a useless picture. Add flour until dough stops sticking to the sides of the bowl. It's 4-5 Cups depending on how you measure your flour.
I preheat the oven and then set the dough on the stove to rise.
Cover dough with a towel. Shhh! It's sleeping. Actually, you may turn out the kitchen lights as yeast likes the dark best. This rising step takes only 45 minutes to an hour.
While you're waiting for the dough to rise, you can start chopping your fresh ingredients. Usually, I use green peppers on my pizza, but this week red were half the price of green. I also like to chop my Canadian bacon a bit so it is more evenly dispersed. This is the best part of pizza making: you get to do things your way!
My dough has doubled. Time to make pizza!
Now that I'm getting my hands in it, I had to put the camera down. If you love thin crust, roll out that dough, but if you like the fluffy crust you get at most take out places, stretch, pull, and toss the dough until it fits your pan. This recipe makes two pizzas, so cut it in half first!
Here is a Pineapple and Canadian bacon ready for the oven. Want the sauce recipe? OK, I'll go dig it out of my saved files. Be right back!
(While I'm gone, why don't you enjoy these photos of my finished pizzas?)
Three of the four I made last Tuesday for dinner with the missionaries.
Another angle.
Some close up action! Pepperoni!
There's that Hawaiian again, cooked this time!
Gotta make at least one plain cheese for Brindy!
Ok, now I'm back with the sauce recipe. Here it is:

Pizza Sauce by Cyndi

1 Can tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 pinch black pepper

Place sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and heat until warm. This makes enough sauce for the two pizzas you will get from one batch of dough.

The final bit of instruction is to turn your oven up as high as it will go to cook your pizza. My oven stops at 550, so that's what I use. It takes about six minutes to bake each pizza seen above.
The missionaries thought this was Papa Murphy's take and bake pizza! When I told them it was home made, they said it was the best home made pizza they've ever had! It's not hard to make really really really good pizza! You don't even need sea salt and mineral water like some you tube videos show! Have fun!

Morning glory

Happy Birthday Natalie!

Food storage items

These are the kinds of things you would need on hand in order to spend less each time you shop.

Flour (10-20lbs)
Sugar (5-10lbs)
Brown sugar (2lbs)
Salt -1 large can for baking
Baking soda
Baking powder
Assorted dried beans/lentils
Oatmeal
Cream of wheat
Egg noodles
Spaghetti noodles
Macaroni noodles
White rice
Brown rice
Whole wheat flour 5kbs
Shortening 1 large can
Yeast 4oz
Raisins (2-4lbs)
Chicken and beef bullion cubes
Various spices and flavorings (garlic powder, vanilla, chili powder, cinnamon, etc)

It's also good to have a variety of soups, canned veggies, tomato sauce, and canned fruits. I have been keeping a couple pounds of butter in the freezer. I make sure to always have: milk, cheddar cheese, eggs, carrots, celery, and onions in the fridge. I try to have at least 5lbs of potatoes in the pantry. Some fun things to keep around for extras are: chocolate chips, powdered sugar, cake mix, cold cereal, soup mixes, bread crumbs, jello, pudding, pie filling, frozen berries, frozen veggies. These are the kinds of things you can use to pull together any kind of meal. Tomorrow night, or Saturday morning I will spend the remainder of this weeks groceries $34.00, on some of the above items. That way I don't run out of staples.

Thursday food usage

Oatmeal for breakfast again. Plus the kids ate some little bananas a lady from church sent home with my husband. Lunch was kinda weird because we weren't home all morning. We came home and had granola bars someone gave my husband at church, and some bananas and watermelon they also gave us. I guess the Lord is the real reason the experiment is working. I suppose we would have had chicken noodle soup for lunch otherwise. (from cans in storage) Chili was put together last night before bed, so I just hefted the crock into the warmer and set it for two hours. It will make a great fast easy meal on piano lesson night. I'll mix up some corn bread to go with our chili. I like to put a corn bread muffin in a bowl and spoon chili on top and eat it together with a spoon. That way I don't load up my corn bread with butter and honey, and it makes the bowl of chili seem fuller for me who is on a diet.

How about I break it down one week at a time?

For the first week of February, our dinner menu is:
Tuesday: Buttermilk pancakes, sausage, orange slices
Wednesday: Beef stroganoff, wheat rolls, green beans
Thursday: Home made chili, corn bread
Friday: Banquet pot pies (I never get these, I need the pie tins for a project)
Saturday: Boxed mac and cheese (we had dinner plans that fell through, so I had to think quick)
Sunday: Creamed pork chops, steamed rice, green beans

Here's what my grocery list looked like: (I estimate prices before shopping)

vanilla 2.00
dish washer soap 2.00
fabric softener 2.00
milk 2.00
breakfast sausage 3.00
navel oranges (4) 2.00
ground beef 2lbs 6.00
tomato sauce (4) 2.00
sour cream 3.00
mushrooms 1.00
butter 2.50
green beans (4) 4.00
pot pies (12) 10.00
onions 3.00
diced tomatoes 1.00
cream of mushroom (2) 1.00

Estimated total: 46.50

I bought a can of peaches for 1.00 and got 79.00 cash back. No more ATM fees! Then I got to work on my shopping list. Here are the actual prices. (I calculate as I shop.)

vanilla 8oz 1.18
dish washer soap 4lbs 2.27
fabric softener 80count 3.68
milk 1 gallon 1.98
breakfast sausage 2boxes of 10 1.96
navel oranges 4=2.24lbs @ .68/lb 1.52
ground beef 1.70lbs 5.54
tomato sauce 4@ .48 1.92
sour cream 1lb 1.18
mushrooms small can .48
butter 1lb 2.48
green beans 4@ .58/can 2.32
pot pies 12@ .58 6.96
onions 6 @ .58/lb 2.33
diced tomatoes 1 can .53
cream of mushroom 2@ .50 1.00

Actual total was 37.33
so I decided to grab some laundry soap for 5.98 (10lb box)

Then Natalie wanted a snack, and we had to get enough for everyone, so I got four little bags of m&m cookies for .30 each.

Total after taxes was 45.62

On Tuesday, we had oatmeal for breakfast .10 each(already had ingredients) Then we ate six pot pies for lunch (had boys I tutor over, and one boy did not want a pie)
.58 each. Brandon took a cup of noodles to work - .28 for him.

Dinner with the missionaries: Buttermilk pancakes 3-5 inch pancakes per adult, two pancakes for each kid. I am on a diet and had cold cereal for dinner. (had all ingredients, made from fresh buttermilk, not mix), two boxes of breakfast sausage, (10 people/20 links= 2 links per person. (I gave mine to the missionaries) Four navel oranges sliced and piled on a plate= several orange triangles on each plate. We drink water with our meals. 3.48 of the groceries I bought on Monday went into this meal. We averaged about .39 per person for dinner, plus maybe .50 for me who ate cold cereal with all that milk.

On Wednesday: We had oatmeal for breakfast. Home made bread for our PB&J sandwiches, we also have rolls from the same dough. We had rolls for a morning snack. A lady at church sent some cookies home with my husband last night, so each kid had a cookie too. Then for dinner I am making beef stroganoff, green beans, and more rolls. I already have the top sirloin from last week's extras, so I am using the sour cream, mushrooms, and half an onion for the sauce. I already have egg noodles in food storage. I will use one or two cans of green beans, and make rolls from scratch. It's hard to say how much half an onion costs unless I haul out my kitchen scale, which maybe I will when I cook dinner, but anyway, that's the first two days this week accounted for and nobody is starving to death! Time to start some wheat rolls for dinner!

Let me explian how it works.

No coupons, no gleaning/expired stuff. A big part of it is our breakfast. One and a half cups of quick oats and a quarter cup of raisins feeds me and the kids. Brandon still has Krusteaz pancakes every morning, but anyway, our breakfast is really cheap. We do add about a teaspoon of sugar and a little drizzle of milk to our oatmeal. At 1.88 for the oats, one box feeds us for 8 days (I've checked). That's just .23 cents a day for five people. Rounding up to .24 cents, that's .4 cents per person per day (just for the oatmeal. With the raisins, milk, and sugar, it could be as high as ten cents. Not sure, because I haven't measured those. The number two big thing is to MAKE A MENU! Then make a list based on what you need for the week. For example, if you want to have spaghetti, garlic breadsticks, and broccoli one night, you might have several packages of spaghetti noodles in storage like I do, or not, but you go to the store with noodles, tomato sauce, ground beef, onion, and broccoli on your list. I'll assume you have spices and basic baking supplies to make the garlic breadsticks. I know I can get a pound of pasta for $2, an onion maybe .40 cents, tomato sauce is around .50 a can, and groud beef is almost $3 a pound. Broccoli is about $2 per pound. So if you get a pound, add that. That's 7.90 Divide that by six and you have $1.31 per person for dinner. Now we will have leftovers the next day. I will add two cans of tomato soup to that spaghetti and have soup for lunch. At about .75 a can for Campbell's brand (at my cheapest store)and divide by 5 (Brandon is at work) that's .30 per person for lunch. Say Brandon takes a cup of noodles to work. It was 3.36 for 12, so .28 for him. Now we have a total of 1.98 but wait! The next day we might have hot dogs on buns and apple slices for dinner for just about .50 per person. So it's the average that makes it about .50 per person per meal. Plus we had leftovers, so we really didn't use that entire 1.31 for dinner. You do have to start with some basic stored items, so maybe it would be more if I calculated the flour, sugar, etc, but here's the thing. When I go to the store on Monday I can usually get everything I need for the week for just about $40.00. On Friday night or Saturday, I go back and load up on flour, sugar, salt, canned soups, oatmeal, pasta, etc. So I was able to keep it to $80 including storage items that I didn't buy every Monday. Make sense? I do shop at a store where you bag your own groceries and I'm sure that's a lot of my savings right there, but you could do just as well at any discount grocery store. I'll try to keep track of actual prices this month so you can see how much I am paying for each item. Good luck!

The experiment

Brandon and I have been spending too much money, so we came up with an experiment to keep food costs down. Here are the results for January. It's not 100% accurate, since receipts don't tell poundage for veggies and such, so I tried to remember how much I bought. We eat oatmeal with raisins every morning, I made home made bread for lunches, so we had a lot of basics at home already. I always make a monthly menu, but this system carries it a step or two farther. Enjoy! I hope this inspires someone! Here goes:

January 2011 Groceries Total cost: < $320.00

Each week on Monday mornings, I pulled 80.00 out of an ATM. The cost for using the machine was $3.00 each time. I pulled cash out four times for a total cost of $12. I intend to use the cash-back strategy for February in order to save even more money. I shopped on Mondays and Friday evening or Saturday each week. I made out a grocery list and wrote down estimated prices on each item, with a total cost estimate for that trip to the store. Here is what I purchased in January. I made sure to buy extra items for food storage e.g. sugar, salt, etc. Food storage and supplies I haven’t used this month are marked with & sign. Many items were used, but not nearly used up. For example I used butter, but I also bought 2lbs for storage. I bought 10 pork chops and still have six in the freezer. Since my system is still pretty crude, it’s hard to indicate such things. I had change left over that went into a coin jar, so I actually spent less than $320.00 Taxable items are marked with *

Amounts shown are as close as possible. The menu I used for January follows.

Acorn squash 5 small

&All purpose flour 30lbs.

*&Aluminum foil 75 ft.

Applesauce 3 x 2lb jars

Au Jus gravy mix 1 pkg.

&Bacon 1lb.

Baked beans 1 largish can

&Baking powder 1 reg.

&Baking soda 1 reg.

Bananas 2 bunch

*&Bar soap 3 bars

Boneless pork chops 10 thin chops

&Boneless skinless chicken breasts 3lb

Broccoli approx. 4lbs

Brown and serve breakfast sausage 20 count

&Brown sugar 2lbs

Butter 4lbs.

Buttermilk 2qts

Canadian bacon 1 small pkg.

Canned green beans 6 cans

&Canola oil 48oz

Celery 1 bunch

Chicken drumsticks approx. 4lbs

*Cough drops 2 x 50count

*Cough syrup 1 bottle

&Cream of chicken soup 4 cans

&Cream of mushroom soup 4 cans

Cucumbers 4

Deli sliced chicken lunchmeat 12oz

Diced ham 1 lb?

*Dish detergent small box $tree

Doughnuts 2 mpl bars (shop w/Brandon)

&Eggs 18cnt large

Evaporated milk 2 – 12oz

*Fabric softener 1 box 40 count

Fettuccine 8oz

Flour tortillas 10 sft taco size

French fried onions small can

Fresh button mushrooms ½ lb?

Frozen beef patties 8 1/3lb

Frozen peas 2lbs

Frozen salmon filet serves 6

Fruit O cereal 1value bag

*&Gallon ziplock bags 50 count

Grape juice 2 x 2qts

Green bell peppers 3

Ground beef aprox.7lbs

Ground pork sausage 1lb

Hamburger buns 8pack

*Head phones 1 set $tree

Heavy whipping cream ½ pint

Hoagie rolls 6count

Honey dew melon 1

Honey ham 4 lb

Hot dog buns 2 x 8count

Hot dogs 4x 8 count

Iodized Salt 1 reg. can

&Ketchup 40oz

*&Kotex maxi pads 24 count

Maruchan noodle cups 12pack

*Men’s speed stick deodorant 1

Milk 8 gallons

Navel oranges 8

Navy beans 16oz

Nestle quik large can

*Night lights 2 @ dollar tree

Non-stick cooking spray 1 small can

&Olive oil 1 pint

Pancake syrup 2 diff. Size bottles

Parmesan cheese 8oz deli fresh

Pepperoni 1 small packg

Pineapple 2 x 20oz cans

Powdered Sugar 5lbs

&Quick oats 1 x 2lb box

Red bell pepper 1 small

Red delicious apples 8?

Rice crispy cereal lg. Value bag

Salad dressing spread 32oz

&Shortening 1 lg. can

Sliced roast beef 7 oz

Sliced American cheese 72 slice

Sweet potatoes 3 small

Taco seasoning 2 packages

Tater tots 1 package

Toilet tissue 12 pack 1000sheet

Tomato paste 1 8oz can

Tomato soup 6 cans

Top round London broil steak <1lb

&Top sirloin approx. 1lb

Turkey stuffing 1box

&White sugar 5lbs

&Whole wheat flour 5lbs

&Yeast 4oz jar

&Ziplock sandwich bags 50count

Zucchini 1

January 2011 dinner menu:

Saturday January 1 – Home made chili, corn bread

Sunday January 2 – Teriyaki chicken, brown rice, broccoli

Monday January 3 – Buttermilk pancakes, sausage, applesauce

Tuesday January 4 – Spanish rice, green beans, fresh wheat rolls

Wednesday January 5 – Home made pizza, jello

Thursday January 6 – Tuna noodle casserole, peas

Friday January 7 – Buttermilk biscuits, sausage gravy, orange slices

Saturday January 8 – Chicken and dumplings, fresh wheat rolls

Sunday January 9 – Grilled cheese, chicken noodle/tomato soup

Monday January 10 – Scalloped potatoes, ham, peas

Tuesday January 11 – Turkey breast, stuffing, mashed potatoes, steamed carrots

Wednesday January 12 – Spaghetti, garlic bread, green salad

Thursday January 13 – Navy bean soup, corn bread

Friday January 14 – Ham fried rice, orange slices

Saturday January 15 – Salmon, brown rice, green salad

Sunday January 16 – Home made macaroni and cheese, broccoli, rolls

Monday January 17 – Potato soup, wheat rolls

Tuesday January 18 – Hot dogs on buns, potato salad, home baked beans

Wednesday January 19 – Breaded pork cutlets (schnitzel) with German noodles(Spatzle)

Thursday January 20 – French dips, au jus, fresh veggies

Friday January 21 – Chicken potpie, steamed broccoli

Saturday January 22 – Dinner out: Old Country buffet

Sunday January 23 – Tacos, applesauce

Monday January 24 – Chicken fettuccine Alfredo, peas

Tuesday January 25 – Sliced ham, green bean casserole, corn bread

Wednesday January 26 – potluck (beef stew)

Thursday January 27 – Cheese burgers, tater tots, jell-O

Friday January 28 – Baked potatoes, broccoli (actually we just had cold cereal)

Saturday January 29 – Beans and franks, corn bread

Sunday January 30 – Beef enchiladas, green salad

Monday January 31 – Pineapple chicken, steamed rice