Homemade Pizza and Bread Sticks

Making homemade pizza is a family tradition that goes way back to my growing up years when my mom would make it on her rectangular cookie sheet.

Only she and dad liked green peppers -so  she always put some on a small corner and left the rest plain pepperoni or hamburger, or even goat burger. (Much to the chagrin of my future brothers-in-law who never knew what to expect when they ate at our house!)

Now that I’m the mom – I’ve experimented with various pizza crust recipes until I found this one.

I mix it up in my Bosch mixer (have I mentioned how much I love my Bosch?) – but you could use a Kitchen-Aid or do it by hand.

The secret to a good pizza dough is to give it time to rise and the gluten to develop – so make sure you start about 2 hours ahead of serving time.

Pizza Crust

2 packages (or 2 Tablespoons) yeast
2/3 cup warm water
2 teaspoons sugar
2 cups cold water
2 tablespoons olive oil (can use vegetable)
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon oregano
6-1/2 cup bread flour

Combine the first three ingredients in a small bowl and let stand until bubbly; set aside.

Mix cold water, oil, sugar, salt, oregano and garlic in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer.  Add the yeast mixture alternately with the flour.

Knead for 5 minutes. Turn the mixer off and put the lid on. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes. Turn the mixer on for 2 minutes. Then let the dough rest for 10 minutes. Continue this cycle 6 times (60 minutes total).

Divide the dough into 3 sections.  Press out onto greased round pizza pans or cookie sheets.  Add pizza sauce only and bake at 475 degrees for 15 minutes. Pull from the oven and add all your favorite pizza toppings – including cheese. Bake at 475 degrees for another 10-15 minutes until the cheese is melted and browned.

I like to make 2 pizzas and the third dough round I turn into bread sticks.

To do this – I spread the dough out on the cookie sheet and slather with butter. (Lots of butter!)

Then I sprinkle it generously with garlic salt (we like the kind with parsley in it) and even more generously with Parmesan cheese.

I take a pizza cutter and cut the dough into bread sticks.

I bake the pan for about 15 minutes at 475 degrees or until they are lightly browned.

When I remove them from the oven – I quickly break them apart and put them on a plate where they are immediately consumed!

And a tradition continues…