There are so many decent pizza recipes out there, and some that are half way good- but I can't do half way when it comes to PIZZA!! I used to work at a pizza place, and I was the daytime manager and in charge of making the dough in an enormous mixer thing. I thought several times about snagging the recipe because it was so good--but that wouldn't be right, right? So I didn't. In the years since dreaming of that dough I have made several very bad pizza doughs, doughs that make you want to not eat the crust. But several months ago I came across this recipe in the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Wow, this dough is what you can make a good pizza on, and remember a good pizza is all about the dough, and quality toppings. EAT UP!

From Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
Makes 4-1 lb loaves. (This recipe can easily be doubled or halved.)

Ingredients
2-3/4 cups lukewarm water
1-1/2 tablespoon granulated yeast (2 packets)
1-1/2 tablespoons Kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
6-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Directions
1. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, or in a large (5 quart) bowl working with a wooden spoon, mix the yeast, salt, sugar, and olive oil with the water.
2. Mix in the flour without kneading. I found this process to be incredible simple with my stand mixer, but it will certainly come together the old fashioned way. If you are not using a machine, you may need to wet your hands in order to incorporate the bit of flour.
2. Transfer dough to large (5 quart) bowl or lidded food container. Cover (not airtight), and allow to rest at room temperature until dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.
3. The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 12 days.

Yields about 4 pizza doughs depending on thickness.

How do you like your pizza thin or thick?? For me it depends on my mood and how hungry I am!!

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Without good friends, I would be a completely different person. I know they are a blessing, and it is possible that I would not have them- but I fear even think of it. We console, cherish, and admire eachother. And they share amazing recipes with me that become stapes in my own home. I love my friends.

This following recipe is one I make twice a week now. I can't describe how much I love it, or how it makes my house smell like a home- you just need to give it a try for yourself. Each recipe makes two loaves.

Finally, a sandwich bread recipe that is here to stay, and that makes trying to make my all my own bread so much yummier!

Janine's Honey Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

1 TBS Yeast
2 1/2 Cup Water (At room temperature or about 80 degrees)
1/3 Cup Honey
1 TBS Salt
1/2 Cup Oil (Janine uses Canola, I prefer Olive Oil)
6 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
Optional: 1/4 Cup Vital Wheat Gluten Flour

Mix together the yeast and 1/2 Cup of the water and then let mixture sit for 1-2 minutes. Add remaining 2 Cups of water, honey, salt, and oil and combine. Slowly add in approximately 6 cups (check tip #1 below) of whole wheat flour. I say approximately 6 cups because you want to add flour gradually until the dough gets elastic (check tip #2), mix in Kitchen Aide for at least 6 minutes, by hand for around 15-20 minutes. Now put it in a bowl and let the dough rise for about 45 minutes to an hour (check tip #3).

Once the dough has risen, pound it down and take it out of the bowl. You may need a little extra flour if the dough is too sticky. Cut the dough in half. Roll out each piece with a rolling pin and roll each piece up (like you would if you were making cinnamon rolls) and stick each loaf in a buttered loaf pan.  Cover and let rise until almost doubled.

Preheat the oven to 350 and bake for 32-35 minutes. Once the bread is done, remove it from the loaf pans and place it on a rack to let cool. Enjoy!

Delicious with some honey....

Janine's Tips
#1: I put 1/2 cup vital wheat gluten flour in with the other flour. VWGF gives the bread a fabulous texture, keeps it from being really crumbly and helps it to rise nicely. Note from Dreadlock Girl: I only add 1/4  of the VWGF and that seems to work fine, I am cheap okay!?!

#2: What you're looking for is dough that is somewhat "sticky", but not so sticky that it leaves globs of dough stuck to your hands. If it's still too sticky, just add more flour a little at a time.  Be careful not to add too much flour as that will make the loaf heavy and dense. If it's still too sticky, just add more flour a little at a time.

#3: Boil water in a kettle and stick both the heated water and the dough in the oven...the moist warmth makes the dough rise beautifully even if the rest of your house is cool...which it often is here in Oregon in the winter.

#4: Variations: Consider playing around with the ingredients after you have learned the recipe adding: ground flax, sunflower seeds, millet, etc. Or adding raisins and cinnamon to the dough when you add the flour for a cinnamon swirl bread.

For the cinnamon swirl bread: Once you roll out the dough, spread on a thin layer of butter, top with brown
sugar and sprinkle generously with cinnamon.  Roll up like you usually would.  Bake as directed.

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I never thought to make my own hamburger buns, but I have been trying to make all of our bread products because it causes me to plan better-plus they are cheaper and taste so much better. I looked up a recipe and I had no idea that it would taste THIS GOOD. The original recipe is from the NY Times Dinning & Wine section, but I found it on a cooking blog I love called Smitten Kitchen. There are very few sites where every single recipe I have tried off of them is actually outstanding, so I am very smitten with Smitten Kitchen.

These buns are not just for hamburger loving meat-eaters though. They could be used to host a grilled Portabella mushroom and other veggies, or other meats and/or treats- so it is not just a burger bun. This is the bun that you won't  want to stop making (or eating). We had an extra bun so I just slathered it with honey and ate it as a treat!  The recipe does take a *little* planning ahead, but the end result will just blow your mind, so it is extremely worthwhile.

Light Brioche Buns (for Hamburgers and Much More)

Time: 1 hour, plus 2 to 4 hours’ rising

1. In a glass measuring cup, combine 1 cup warm water, the milk, yeast and sugar. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, beat 1 egg.

2. In a large bowl, whisk flours with salt. Add butter and rub into flour between your fingers, making crumbs. Using a dough scraper, stir in yeast mixture and beaten egg until a dough forms. Scrape dough onto clean, unfloured counter and knead, scooping dough up, slapping it on counter and turning it, until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes.

3. Shape dough into a ball and return it to bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours.

4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using dough scraper, divide dough into 8 equal parts. Gently roll each into a ball and arrange 2 to 3 inches apart on baking sheet. Cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel and let buns rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours.

5. Set a large shallow pan of water on oven floor. Preheat oven to 400 degrees with rack in center. Beat remaining egg with 1 tablespoon water and brush some on top of buns. Bake, turning sheet halfway through baking, until tops are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Yield: 8 buns.

Notes: For a very quick one-hour rise put the rising dough in your oven (make sure it is off) and pour the boiling water from the last step of the recipe into a shallow pan on a lower rack (if you have two racks in your oven). Then close the oven quickly and let the dough rise in this sort of greenhouse and you will not need to wait very long for it to double. Then your water is already in there for the last step. I do this for all my bread now since one of my favoirite friends told me this oven greenhouse trick.

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This is the best chicken I have made. EVER. It is consistently delicious each time I have made it, and the gravy that is to be had from the drippings, for that I have no words. I was skeptical of the combination at first, but when I smelled it roasting in the oven I knew I had done good.

Chicken in Milk

(from Jaimie Oliver's "Happy Days with the Naked Chef" cookbook)

1   4.5 lb. organic chicken
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 stick of butter
olive oil
1/2 cinnamon stick
1 good handful of fresh sage, leaves picked
zest of 2 lemons
10 cloves of garlic, skin left on
2 cups of milk

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F, and find a snug-fitting pot for the chicken. Season it generously all over, and fry it in the butter and a little olive oil, turning the chicken to get an even color all over, until golden. Remove from the heat, put the chicken on a plate, and throw away the oil and butter left in the pot (NOTE: I save it, and use it to yummify some roasted + mashed potatoes, it is fab). this will leave you with tasty sticky goodness at the bottom of the pan, which will give you a lovely caramelly flavor later on.

Put your chicken back in the pot with the rest of the ingredients, and cook in the preheated oven of 1.5 hours. Basted with the cooking juice when you remember. The lemon zest will sort of split the milk, making a sauce that is absolutely fantastic.

To serve, pull the meat off the bones and divide onto your plates. Spoon over plenty of juice and the little curds. Serve with wilted spinach or greens and some mashed potato.

Serves 4

Other yummy recipes:

Chicken Tamales
Basic Homemade Pasta
Homemade Oven Baked Mac and Cheese
Tomato Bread Pudding

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I guess even the Beatles can be wrong. Strawberries have a very short season only lasting about 2 weeks as far as good pickin' goes.  This year with the cooler weather it was drawn out quite a bit longer! I have never picked strawberries the way that I did a couple days back, they were all ripe and I would stay in one spot and just pick and pick...so we ended up with 20 pounds of berries.

To deal with the bounty I  snapped up 8 envelops of instant pectin (or sent The Husband to the store for them actually) and started instantly to wash, de-stem, and mash. The recipe is on the back of the pectin, and I don't use anything other than Instant Fruit Pectin (like in this picture) anymore.

Why do I love freezer jam so much better ? because of the lower sugar and MUCH fresher taste. This recipe calls for 4 cups of fruit and 1+1/2 cups of sugar per package, not the 5 cups of fruit to 4 cups of sugar or whatever the atrocity is of canned jam. No comparison on taste either since these berries aren't cooked and boiled- and it is quicker too- so if you have the freezer space you really don't have any reason not to try it, it is as easy as mixing three ingredients together and then putting them in containers.

I love that color, that bright red is beautiful. There is just  something about good strawberries.I just bought an amazing food dehydrator at a second hand store and next year I will certainly pick double the berries next year and dry half of them. Stay posted for some dehydrating adventures.

But for now talk to me! Do you have any memories of jam making? What kind of berries do you like best for jam?

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