Braided Pizza

OK, so a cute story for my 6 readers of the blog. I learned how to make this recipe during high school when I was about 16-ish. I invited my best friend and her boyfriend over to "my" house, along with my boyfriend (now husband). It was a double date you see. This is what I made to impress them. Though, come to find out my husband doesn't like the crust on his pizza- and what is this aside from a pizza with A LOT of crust? I like a lot of crust and prefer this over my regular pizza recipe simply because I have more control of how much sauce I use. Since I promised you 6 readers that I would take good photos the next time I made a braided pizza - I had the perfect excuse to make what I wanted. :)

I tweaked the recipe a bit this time around - as I didn't have the energy to go all out and make the sauce completely by hand.

For this recipe you will need a good pizza dough and sauce recipe. Of course you can always buy pre-made dough, I prefer using homemade dough simply because it's always super hard for me to roll out the store bought doughs. You'll also need the ingredients for the inside and outside of the braided pizza, those ingredients are listed later.

First- start with the sauce.

SAUCE

As I mentioned, I used a different sauce recipe than the one attached to the link above. My original sauce recipe is good if you have A LOT of time - and really like chopping fresh tomatoes. This was the first time I used this sauce recipe, and typically I don't tweak recipes unless I've tried the original. I did tweak this recipe this time though. As a personal preference I like "wetter" (for lack of a better word) sauces. The recipe is good - but it's incredibly THICK. I tried to thin it out using a tablespoon at a time of water (ended up adding 6 T. of water) and it only helped a little. I just so happened to have a can of diced tomatoes with oregano, basil and garlic and decided to dump the whole can in and ended up with the perfect consistency. Also, this sauce recipe is really yummy. :)

While the sauce is slowly simmering, start the dough.

PIZZA DOUGH
(Copied from my Pizza blog post I linked to above.)

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 to 3 c. Flour

1 pkg. active dry yeast

1 t. salt

1 c. warm water

2 T. oil

DIRECTIONS

In large mixing bowl combine 1 1/4 c. of flour, the yeast and salt. Stir in the warm water. Beat at low speed with mixer. Stir in as much of the remaining dough as you can mix with a spoon. Turn dough onto lightly floured counter top and kneed in enough of the remaining flour to make a smooth and elastic dough (6-8 minutes). Place dough in a large bowl and cover bowl with a warmed wet towel and let rest for 10 minutes.

***FYI - the above directions are so much easier if you have a dough hook attachment on your mixer. Saves you lots of time.*** 

THE INSIDES (AND OUT) 

INGREDIENTS 

4 ounces-ish of shredded mozzarella cheese (or whatever cheese you prefer)

1 pkg. of pepperoni 

1/4 c. olive (or vegetable) oil 

1 t. dried basil 

1 t. dried oregano

2 T. Parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 400 degrees. 

Ok, let the fun begin. 

Roll the dough out. 

You'll want to cut the dough into about a 12x8 inch rectangle. I didn't measure mine - I just eyed it. A pizza cutter makes cutting the dough a lot easier. 

From here - you'll place a single layer of pepperoni in the center of the dough. Leave yourself about an inch and half buffer on each side. 

Then, top your pepperoni with your cheese. After you placed your cheese on top of your pepperoni, take a paring knife and make slits about 1 inch apart along the sides of the dough coming to within a 1/2 inch of your filling. 

Starting at the top, make your dough "hug" the filling. Once the two sides meet, pinch them together so that they stay. 

Continue this process all the way down to the bottom of the dough. 

Carefully transfer your braided pizza to a cookie sheet. 

In a separate bowl combine the oil, basil, oregano and parmesan cheese. Using a brush, brush the oil and spices on top of your dough. 

Place dough into your pre-heated 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes, or until dough becomes golden brown. 

Serve with your sauce and enjoy. :) 

Kudos for Greek Spanakopita Pie

This recipe is sooo good. Major kudos to Betty Crocker's Greek Spanakopita Pie. I'd never baked with phyllo before and I was really surprised at how easy it was to handle. I was really nervous about picking up all the sheets after they were assembled, but they held together surprisingly well. 

The recipe itself was very simple. The most "difficult" part of the recipe is really just the most time consuming - that being the time it takes to assemble the phyllo. Preparing the meat mixture took about 15 minutes to accomplish. The smell of parsley was just wonderful. 

The recipe took me approximately 2 hours from start to finish. Though, I spent a lot of time in my prep work. 

In the future, I think I'll add more feta to the meat mixture in addition to the crumbles you place on top.

Final verdict - Very good. I'll be making this again (with more cheese).  :)  

Ginny's Snickerdoodles

Ready for fall? This recipe makes your kitchen smell AMAZING! The cinnamon just fills the air. I absolutely love this recipe. :) 

This is a recipe from my Grandmother. I have a collection of her recipes that she wrote by hand. I compiled them for my family and made a cookbook with them. 

Page 63. :) 

Preheat oven to 350

INGREDIENTS 

1 c. shortening 

1-1/2 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 t. vanilla 

2-3/4 c. flour 

2 t. cream of tartar 

1 t. baking soda 

1/2 t. salt 

Topping -  

Cinnamon sugar 

DIRECTIONS 

Mix together the shortening, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Sift together and stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. (I'll admit I didn't sift together the dry ingredients before adding them to my mixer). 

Form the dough into small balls and place on a lightly greased baking sheet.

Then using the bottom of a glass dipped in cinnamon sugar press the cookies flat. (I rubbed a small amount of shortening on the bottom on my glass so that the cinnamon sugar stuck really nicely). 

Bake for 8-11 minutes. I baked mine for 11 minutes. After removing from the oven I let the cookies rest on the cookie sheet for two minutes before moving to a wire rack for cooling. I yielded 50. 

Enjoy!! 

Peanut Butter Cookies

I realize it's been a couple months since last I posted, so I'm apologizing with Peanut Butter Cookies. If you're allergic to peanuts, then I doubly apologize - and I hope to have something else up soon for you. This is a tried and true classic from my childhood. 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees 

INGREDIENTS 

1/2 c. butter 

1/2 c. peanut butter 

1/2 c. white sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 t. vanilla 

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. baking soda 

1 c. flour 

DIRECTIONS

Cream together the butter and peanut butter. Then, beat in the white and brown sugar. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Arrange your cookies by teaspoonfuls (I used a cookie scoop - so mine are bigger) on cookie sheets. Press flat with a floured spoon or mark with a floured fork. Bake until firm, about 10-12 minutes depending on the size of your cookie. 

Enjoy! :)