Food on Fridays: Thick and Chewy, Fast and Easy Pizza Dough

Food on Fridays is a carnival inviting people to yack about food!

Bloggers can link up their food-themed posts via Mr. Linky; readers without blogs can leave their fascinating food-thoughts in the comments.

And while I love a great recipe and will gratefully click over to find out what someone recommends, let me assure you that any topic remotely related to food is great.For example, if you want to share your shock over recent reports of mercury-tainted high fructose corn syrup? Or the massive salmonella peanut-butter poisoning? Perfect. Write about it. Link to Food on Fridays. We want easy access to your food frustrations!

Official Food on Fridays Participants

1. Stretch Mark Mama (Superbowl Party Dip)2. Andrea at HopeAnnFaith (Cheeseburgers)3. Sarah at Beauty in the Mundane (Yummy Pancakes)4. Tammy at This Pilgrimage (Pineapple Perfection)5. Esther at Tuesday Afternoons (Steel Cut Oatmeal)6. Shalee at Shalee’s Diner (Ancient Chinese Secret)

Here’s my Food on Fridays offering:Every Friday I notice a trend in the blog stats.

Just that one day a week–Friday–people stumble upon my blog not because of overnight steel cut crock pot oatmeal, but because of something else I wrote about years ago:

Thick and Chewy, Fast and Easy Pizza Dough

If you want a quick dinner solution on a Friday night and would like to save a few bucks, try making your own pizza–even the dough!

I got the original recipe and instructions from one of the Tightwad Gazette books years ago, but have altered it to fit what works for me.For your convenience, here’s the recipe reprinted from the original post, in case you need it this very night.Thick and Chewy, Fast and Easy Pizza Dough

1/2 – 3/4 c. warm water

1 T. dry active yeast1 t. sugar (for the yeast)

2 c. flour (I use half whole wheat and half white, but most kids would balk at that the first time)

1 T. vegetable oil (I use olive oil)

1/2 t. salt

(also, I double and sometimes triple this for my family of six–without needing to increase the amount of yeast–and frankly, I don’t measure any of the ingredients precisely anymore. I just toss in what looks to be about right and it turns out find almost every time. But you might not want to try that the first time.)

1. Combine 1/4 c. water with yeast and sugar. Stir to dissolve the yeast, set aside until bubbly about 5 minutes.

2. Mix flour and salt, then add the oil.

3. Stir the yeast mixture into the flour mixture, adding water until it forms a ball you can work with. I start with a wooden spoon and then switch to using my fingers to squish and mix. Knead for a few minutes (I just knead it in the bowl until it seems to be the consistency of, well, pizza dough). The original instructions said to cover with plastic wrap or another bowl and let stand for 10 minutes, but I go ahead and spread it into the pan(s) and let it do it’s mini-rise there.

4. While messing around with the toppings–chopping things up, calling the kids to help spread the sauce, and pulling out the cheese–the dough rises enough.  I don’t preheat the oven. Instead, I stick the pizza(s) in the oven with it cold, and let the crusts rise a little more as the oven heats up.

5. Put all the toppings on and bake at 375 or 425˚ for 10 or 15 minutes (or until done–I lift with a spatula to see if it’s brown on the bottom as well as watch the cheese). It may take 20 minutes for a thick crust.

Voila. Thick and chewy, fast and easy. And cheap.

More Friday Carnivals

• Hooked on Houses hosts Hooked on Fridays
• Anne Glamore at My Tiny Kingdom is hosting Flashback Fridays
• The Inspired Room is hosting A Beautiful Life
• Amber at the run-a-muck is hosting Friday Funnies

[Drop in again tomorrow–Saturday, January 31st–for the Mega Memory Month Celebration!  Read more about it here. There’s even a ScriptureStickies giveaway you can enter to add to the party atmosphere. Participants have been invited to link up with their final projects celebrating what they worked on during the month. Take note: MMM is hosted by someone blogging in the Eastern Standard Time Zone. Plan accordingly.]