Homemade Pizza Dough

I've been using this pizza recipe for years and always tell myself that today is the day I will post the recipe on my own blog, especially because I always make a few modifications from the original anyway. This is hands down my favorite homemade pizza dough recipe. 






MY FAVORITE HOMEMADE PIZZA DOUGH
Source: Janssen Bradshaw from Everyday Reading
Servings 2 14-inch pizzas
Prep time: 3 hours

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups warm water
1 tablespoon yeast
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
3 cup all-purpose flour (can sub out half wheat flour or white wheat flour, but I never do)

Instructions
In a stand mixer, add water, honey, sugar, and yeast for 5-10 minutes until the yeast is frothy. Add in all remaining ingredients and let mix for 5 minutes (or 10 minutes if you're doing it by hand). Resist the urge to add more flour. 
Spray a bowl with cooking spray, scrape your dough into the bowl and cover. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours and up to 3 days. Two to three hours before you're ready to make your pizza, take it out and let it come to room temperature and rise on the counter. (If you freeze half the dough, put it on the counter about 3-5 hours before you're ready to cook). *If I am in a hurry - I just let this raise for an hour on my counter and it still turns out great.* 

When ready to form crusts: 
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Roll out dough and transfer to greased cookie sheet or baking sheet (Or pizza stone). Poke with fork several times around crust so it won't get puffy and par-bake in oven. You want it to be cooked through but not starting to brown. 

Remove from oven, flip over, add toppings, and return to oven to finish baking. 

Pizza crusts can be made ahead and even frozen for quick dinner prep. 

Stromboli

One of my new favorite meals to make (and eat) is Stromboli. I love that it is super versatile and you can make it with pretty much anything that you have around. I love that it's easy and I love how yummy it is. We've had it 3 or 4 times in the last month, with different fillings every time. It makes me feel like an awesome baker when I pull something out of the oven and it's perfectly golden and crisp. There are so many variations of this, I just know it's going to be a family favorite for a long time to come.

Stromboli
Source: Lauren's Latest

Ingredients:
1/2 lb. pizza dough
Dried parsley & Parmesan cheese
1 tbs milk
Filling ingredients such as
-Pizza sauce, cheese, pepperoni
-Cheddar cheese, deli ham
-Ground beef, onions, red peppers, marinara sauce
-Salami, ham, mozarrella cheese, pizza sauce
-Chicken, bacon, cheese, alfredo sauce

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lightly spray and spread pizza dough out on baking sheet to be approximately 10x16. Spread pizza sauce (if desired) over 2/3's of the dough lengthwise, leaving a 3x16 rectangle of plain dough along one of the edges. Top sauce with remaining filling ingredients. Brush the plain strip of dough with a small amount of milk. Fold in the sides about an inch and brush them with milk. Roll up like a jelly roll lengthwise starting along the long edge of dough topped with all the fillings and ending with the plain strip of dough on the bottom of the roll. Brush the entire stromboli with milk and gently cut slats in the top of the dough every 1-2 inches. Sprinkle parsley and parmesan cheese over top and bake 8-10 minutes or until bubbly and golden. Remove from oven, cool 5 minutes and slice into pieces. Serve hot with a side of pizza sauce.

Creamy Ranch Pizza

It's no secret, David and I love Hidden Valley Ranch dressing. We are even shooting to be spokespeople for them in 30 years after we've taken hundreds of photos of us with out family enjoying our Ranch dressing (ala Jared & Subway). This is just one more way that HVR brings so much joy and deliciousness into our lives. 

Creamy Ranch Pizza
Source: Hidden Valley Ranch

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Hidden Valley Ranch dressing
3 oz cream cheese, softened
2 Tbs tomato paste
1 cup cooked chicken, chopped
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Toppings such as roasted red pepper strips, olives, green onions, bacon, etc...
Pizza dough for a 12" pizza crust.

Pizza Dough:
1 1/2 c. warm water
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. yeast
1/2 tsp. salt
3-4 1/2 c. flour

Directions:

In mixing bowl, combine water, sugar, and yeast. Let stand for 10 minutes or until yeast is bubbly.
Add salt and stir. Add about half of the flour and mix well. Gradually add more flour (usually between 3-4 cups) until dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Cover and allow to rise for 45 minutes or until doubled in bulk.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Roll out pizza crust and poke holes with a fork. Place in oven to pre-cook for 5-10 minutes or until slightly (slightly) golden brown. Combine dressing with cream cheese and tomato paste. Stir in chicken; spread mixture on crust. Arrange toppings on pizza; sprinkle cheese over all. Bake for 15 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Can you tell which pizza is David's and which is mine?

California Club Pizza

This pizza is a knock off of the California Pizza Kitchen's California Club. In fact, most of the time I refer to it as "California Pizza Kitchen's California Club Pizza of Deliciousness." But... lets be honest, that title is quite the mouthful, and you are going to want to save all of your mouthfuls for this delicious recipe. Thus, from now on, we will refer to this meal as "The California Club." (p.s. The recipe may look a little daunting, but it's really easy and so worth it!)

California Club Pizza

Source: Insipration from California Pizza Kitchen

Ingredients:
Pizza Crust (recipe below)
1 large chicken breast
5 strips bacon
3-4 cups Iceburg lettuce
3-4 cups Romaine lettuce
Avacado, sliced
3 cups cheddar cheese
3 tablespoons Miracle Whip
Lemon Juice
Garlic Powder

Directions:
First things first, make the pizza dough: 

Pizza Dough (adapted from here)
1 1/2 c. warm water
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. yeast
1/2 tsp. salt
3-4 1/2 c. flour

In mixing bowl, combine water, sugar, and yeast. Let stand for 10 minutes or until yeast is bubbly. 

Add salt and stir. Add about half of the flour and mix well. Gradually add more flour (usually between 3-4 cups) until dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Pull dough out of mixing bowl, spray with cooking spray and place dough back in. Cover and allow to rise for 45 minutes or until doubled in bulk. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 425 and place bacon inside for 10-15 minutes or until brown and slightly crispy. 

Move onto making the toppings for the pizza:
Defrost chicken slightly so that it is still frozen but easier to cut. Cube chicken and grill in a tiny bit of oil until brown. Crumble bacon into little bits.

Remove pizza dough from bowl and place on a lightly-floured surface. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and roll/stretch dough to fit pan. Place dough onto pan, poke a couple of holes with a fork and then bake for 10 minutes or until dough starts to slightly brown. 

Chiffonade lettuce. Mix iceberg lettuce and romaine lettuce together in large bowl. Add a dash of lemon juice and the miracle whip. Mix until lettuce is well coated. Slice avocado. Set aside.

Remove crust from oven and add cheese to the top of the pizza. (The more cheese the better.) Sprinkle a little bit of garlic powder over the entire thing. Spread cubed chicken and crumbled bacon over the entire crust. (Then throw a little bit more cheese on top of that.) Put crust (with cheese, chicken, and bacon) back into the oven until cheese is melted and chicken is warm.

Top with lettuce mixture and avocado.  Serve immediately.

Seriously, the very first time we ate this at the California Pizza Kitchen I was blown away. I am pretty sure I described it as "a party in my mouth".  This recipe may not be exactly the same, but it sure was just as delicious. One warning though, it doesn't make great leftovers, so it's better to try to make exactly the right amount.

*Note: As a variation, you can toss the bacon and chicken in with the lettuce. This way you see more of the meat without it all being covered in lettuce. We like to put it with the cheese because it sticks a little bit better, but when I make it for guests I put it in with the lettuce because it looks better.

Ultimate Chicken Bacon Ranch Bites

Yum, yum, yum. These really are the ultimate. Take a Chicken Bacon Ranch pizza. Now make it bite sized. Can this dish get any more delicious? I submit that it cannot!

Chicken Bacon Ranch Bites
Source: Adapted from Our Best Bites. (These two wonderful ladies offer amazing recipes paired with happiness and humor that makes me excited to get into the kitchen.)

Ingredients:
12 Rhodes rolls (I use half of my pizza dough recipe and divide it into 12)
5 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 large chicken breast
2-3 cups cheddar cheese
1 T oil
1 tsp Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix
2 T grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Take your ranch dressing mix and combine it with 1 1/2 T parmesan cheese. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350. Rip the first roll in half, stretch it out so it's flat and place cheese and desired toppings on each square. Pile it on. No really - even if you think it won't all fit - just put it in there. It will be better that way. Next stretch the sides of the flattened roll to cover all of your fillings.

Place seam side down in half of a muffin pan section. Repeat the filling process with the second half of the roll. Scootch the second tasty bite next to the first in the same muffin section. Continue these steps until all 12 rolls have been split in half and filled. Each muffin section should have two pizza bites. We like a lot of filling so our motto is "It will fit if you make it!"

Brush with oil and then top with cheese/ranch mixture. Bake for 11-14 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve hot with Ranch for dipping. Mmm... Mmmmm ... Delicious!

Oven Grilled Pizzas

These are a quick and easy dinner, so long as you have the supplies on hand and you remember to pull out the Rhodes rolls before leaving for work in the morning. I've also started making my own dough (saves on money as long as you have the time). You can make these pizza's on the grill outside, but we usually just make them in our oven. Delish!

Oven Grilled Pizza
Source: The Peaden Kitchen

Ingredients:
5 Rhodes Rolls
Pizza sauce (lets be realistic, we use the jar of spaghetti sauce that is always in our fridge from eating so much spaghetti.)
Pepperoni
Lots of Cheese (we buy a 5 pound brick of cheese at Sams Club for just about $10.00 - it's a great deal and then we don't feel like we have to skimp on our cheese.)
Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing (See here for more details)

Pre-preparation directions:
Take rolls out of freezer before leaving for work in the morning. Place them on a plate covered in plastic wrap in the refrigerator.

Preparation directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Take two rolls and mush them together then stretch them out to create a little personal pizza. We use five rolls total. Two pizzas for David and one and a half for me. (Today we had an extra roll due to me being really tired this morning when I pulled out the rolls, so I turned one into a breadstick and put it right in with the pizzas and it turned out great.)

One all of the pizzas have been stretched out, place them directly onto the oven rack. Let them bake for about five minutes or until the bottoms have turned golden brown. Take them out, flip them over and put the sauce and toppings on the browned side of the pizza. Then lay a piece of tin foil on the bottom rack and place the pizzas back into the oven directly onto the top rack (so that any drippings fall through onto the tin foil below.) Bake until cheese is melted and gooey.

Remove from oven carefully. Serve immediately with Hidden Valley Ranch and Dr. Pepper. (Don't judge us.)