Stress and Pizza

Sometimes living with The Mom can be stressful, call it a personality clash. At times, I just feel overwhelmed with… stuff. I mean there’s literally tons of it, everywhere. She is always buying random things, with the best of intentions I'm sure, but never uses them. The cappuccino machine, half a dozen crock pots (at least), 3 bread machines, the ice cream maker... the list goes on. 

So I'm always trying to find uses for things, so that they don't sit around and collect dust. Some things just have to go though. For example, I use the bread machine to make pizza dough pretty regularly now, but the cappuccino machine had parts missing so it had to go.

This is one of my favorite recipes for the bread machine:

Pizza Dough:

Add ingredients to pan in order given.

1 C Water

1 Lrg Egg

1 t Salt

2 T Sugar

3 C Bread  Flour

3 T Dry Milk (reg milk can be used, just subtract 3 T of water)

1 ½ t Dry yeast (rapid rise is best in my experience)

½ C Parmesan Cheese

2 T Garlic powder

1 T Oregano (Basil is also great in this)

Use “Dough” setting in bread machine. Time 1 ½ hours.

Bake at 400F for 17 - 20 mins.

For best results, the water should be warm, but not overly hot as it kills the yeast. Everything else should be room temperature. If I forget or am in a hurry, I just zap the egg in the microwave for a few seconds to take the chill off. 

If it is a humid day, you should reduce the amount of water and check the dough after the initial kneading process. 

I normally don’t wait to put the spices and cheese in at the additive signal, I just put it in with the flour initially and the dough always turns out just fine.

This recipe was originally for one pizza crust, but it was too much crust for my taste. So I usually split it into 2 pizzas. Only need one? Throw the other in the freezer.