Homeade pizza and soft pretzels

What if I told you that you can make pizza at home for less than two dollars per pizza? Sounds great right?  What if I told you that you can also make homemade soft pretzels like the ones you find at the mall? Well it is not too good to be true, you too can make these in the comfort of your home with the most simple of recipes and the great thing is the recipe is the same for both the pizza crust and the soft pretzels. There is only a slight difference in the final finishing which I will explain.

Its a great way to get the whole family in the kitchen by letting them fix their own pizza. Which bakes up best in a pan with sides.

DOUGH:
1 package (1/4oz) active dry yeast
1 1/2 cup warm water (110-115degrees)
4 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1teaspoon salt

Now all you have to do is combine these ingredients in a mixer with a dough hook and mix until it forms a ball. Then you cover your dough in the same bowl and let it rise until doubled. From this point you can roll it out and make pizza dough. It makes two thick crust pizzas or more if you like thin crust. It will store in the refrigerator for a few days fine as well as long as you keep the bowl covered with Saran wrap. It only takes about two or three tablespoons of sauce to cover a pizza so a jar of sauce can go a long way. Also we can get about 4 pizzas out of a small bag of cheese. We add pepperoni on our for the kiddos and one pack can last quite some time. If you add vegetables I would suggest using fresh and not frozen since frozen can take longer to cook and make your pizza soggy. Bake your pizza at 425 degrees until all the cheese is starting to change colors the dough will not brown around the crust unless you put egg on the crust which is not necessary it is just to help the color. I usually sprinkle a little garlic powder around the edges of the crust just to add some extra flavor.

Now if your goal is to make soft pretzels you would take the dough and roll into 15 inch pieces (the whole amount of dough will make about sixteen pretzels or you could make a pizza and pretzels)
and shape into pretzels and place on a baking sheet. Then you take one egg white and brush your pretzels with it and top with course salt or cinnamon sugar, whatever you prefer.  Bake these at 425 degrees for twelve to fifteen minutes or until it is starting to brown. I serve ours with cheese dip for the salted pretzels and chocolate dip for the cinnamon pretzels.

I hope you enjoy my recipe, if you do please share and you can also follow me on face book now. Happy HOMEsteading!

English muffins (thanks to the Rusty Plow homestead)

(can be gluten and dairy free, see below for subsitutions)

Ingredients

• 1 cup of milk
• 3 TBSP butter
• 3 TBSP of honey
• 1 cup of warm water (105-110 degrees)
• 1/4 oz of yeast
• 2 TBSP cornmeal
• 5 cups + extra for sprinkling all purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt

(To make gluten free, use a mix of rice flour instead of the ap flour, and use soy milk in place of the milk)

Directions
Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water, mix lightly and set aside for ten minutes to foam lightly.

In a small saucepan, heat the milk, butter and honey until the butter is melted. Let cool lightly.
Combine the yeast mixture and milk mixtures gently.

In a large bowl, sift 3 cups of flour. Stir in the milk and yeast. Sift the remaining flour and salt. Stir until cohesive.

Flour and marble slab well and knead the dough for 3 minutes or til lightly elastic. Let rest for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, cover two cookie sheet with parchment and lightly sprinkle with cornmeal.
Flour the marble slab lightly and roll the dough out until it's a 1/2 inch thick. Air on the side of too thick okay.

Cut out circles (don't twirl your cutter, just cut). Gently place on the cookie sheets, sprinkle the tops with cornmeal

 and cover with a dry, light cloth. Let sit in a warm place for 45 minutes or til nearly doubled in size. It's more like 2/3. 45 minutes will definitely do though.

Heat a heavy bottomed skillet on medium low, don't grease it.
Gently place a muffin in your hand and shake lightly to remove some of the corn meal.
Gentleness is key in all of the handling. Place into the pan and repeat til the pan is full.
 Don't let them touch each other. Keep the heat on low. Cook for 8 minutes per side or until browned well,
 flip and cook again. Let cool lightly on a wire rack. Split and top with butter and honey, or with egg and sausage whichever your choosing.