Perfect Pizza Crust

Happy Monday!! I don't know about y'all, but we've been cooking in SOOO much the last week, with the ice and snow! I made this early last week for lunch, and was in the process of making it again on Saturday to put two crusts in the freezer - and ended up using them that night. Do you know how crazy expensive ordering pizza is?!?!??! Kenn likes mine better, anyway. :D

SO. This is Perfect Pizza Crust, from Carlsbad Cravings.

I will tell you right off: this is a YES, PLEASE!!!! - from me and my family. Crispy and chewy - and I made the dough in my bread machine. Oh, yeah I did. :D I halved the recipe the first time; we were only doing it for one meal, and my dad is gluten-free, so he wasn't going to share this one. :) This is half veggie, half mushroom, onion, and ground beef.

I will also tell you this: do NOT cook two pizas at the same time. That's what I did the second time, and the top one ended up almost steamed on the bottom, not with the crunch we expected - but the bottom pizza was perfect. I do recommend the broiling step, to brown up the cheese; we don't tend to use our broiler much, and I'm not sure why. It added the perfect touch to this lovely pizza! :)

I can't tell you if the dough freezes well yet; I have yet to be able to get a batch made and in the freezer! :) (Yes, it's because I'm lazy, and I know it. :D )

I really hope you'll try this recipe - either the long way by hand, or short-cutting with your bread machine. :D

Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED, dear friend!

Pizza Crust

 Good Friday afternoon! Goodness, has it been BUSY! I'm trying to get used to the fact that it's NOT going to be any less so between now and 2013. AUGH! :D

Anyway. :D Today's recipe is for pizza crust, brought to you by 1001 Recipe.

First off, this recipe makes a lot of dough. I did it in my bread machine; I wanted to make a personal-sized pizza, so I formed five balls of dough out of the total. One, I pressed into the bottom of a pie plate, stretching it really thin. Wow, did it rise! I like to bake my crusts for a few minutes with no toppings, so it has a chance to get a little crunchy. I decided all I wanted was a "lovely cheese pizza", just for me. (Quick! What movie is that from??? :D ) So I put some bottled sauce and grated mozzarella with a tiny sprinkle of parmesan cheese on my partially-baked crust.

So, this is what it came out as. I'm a little undecided on whether I will make it again. As I've said before, I don't make bread dishes too often because of the spike in carbs. But I think I'll recommend it to you! :)

If I *do* make this again, I think I might add a bit of garlic powder, to give it a bit more taste. I like my crust to bring something to the party, too! :D

OK, I'm outta here. Life is CRAZY busy, as I said, but it's GOOD. God is so good to me! I love counting my blessings - I have so many. You're one of them! :)

Enjoy your weekend! Be BLESSED! And try something new. ;)

ABM Whole Wheat Bread

Good Monday Morning! Did you have a good weekend? GOODNESS, mine was BUSY. And today's been busy, too! Crazy, man! :D

ANYWAY. Today, I'm bringing you one of those recipes that this time of year just begs for: bread. And my favorite kind: bread that can be made in my bread machine! :D This recipe comes to us from Food.com, for whole wheat bread.

This is a pretty healthy recipe! It doesn't use sugar; it uses honey. So, as far as a healthy bread recipe (as a diabetic, that's a bit of an oxymoron, but still... :D), this is a YES, PLEASE. But I would suggest upping the salt just a tiny bit.

It baked up really nice for being whole wheat; I do add vital wheat gluten to my bread machine recipes, tho, so that always helps. This had a nice crust on it - I did let it bake in the machine, just so I didn't have to mess with the oven. It was substantial enough when you bit into it to have a nice chew to it, too.

So, if you're looking for an easy, healthy bread machine recipe, go for this one. :)

Let me know if you try it, what YOU think!

OK, outta here. So much to do, so little time.... :D Have a WONDERFUL day! Be blessed!