Fail-proof pizza dough

I really like this dough when I'm making pastry wraps such as Costco Chicken Bakes or Stromboli. The original author isn't kidding. This turned out perfectly the very first time I made it.

From laurenslatest.com

yield: 2-12 INCH PIZZA CRUSTS; ABOUT 1 LB. OF DOUGH

INGREDIENTS:

for the pizza dough-
1 cup warm water
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon honey {or sugar}
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive or canola oil
3 cups bread flour {give or take 1/2 cup...depending on the heat & humidity}

for the cheesy garlic bread sticks-
1/2 recipe Fail-Proof Pizza Dough from above
2 tablespoons softened salted butter
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese {use the real stuff!}
1/4 pound grated mozzarella cheese
{salt & pepper, if desired}

DIRECTIONS:

For the pizza dough--In a large mixing bowl, preferably that of a stand mixer, stir yeast and honey into warm water. Sit for 5-10 minutes or until bubbles form and mixture starts to foam. This tells you that the yeast is alive and kicking. 

Pour in salt, oil and half the flour and mix. Once that flour is incorporated, start adding flour in bit by bit until you get the pizza dough to the consistency you want: slightly tacky, but when you touch it it doesn't stick to your hands. Once you reach this stage, knead for 6 minutes. Turn a timer on and walk away! Resist the temptation to stop earlier than 6 minutes! That seems to be the magical number. The dough should be smooth and easy to work with. And the bowl should be clean! 

{*This is the point when you could freeze your dough!! Divide into portions, place into freezer bags, seal removing all air and freeze. To use, remove from freezer and let sit out to get to room temperature and double in size; 6-8 hours. Then use as you'd like.} Lightly grease the bowl & the dough so it doesn't dry out, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise 1-2 hours. That's it! Use as desired.

For the Cheesy Garlic Bread Sticks- Preheat oven to 500 degrees with pizza stone inside. {If you don't have a pizza stone, use an upside down cookie sheet...a tip I got from Natalie!}
Mix butter and garlic in a small bowl and set aside.
Spread pizza dough out into a 12-inch circle on parchment paper. {This makes it easier to transfer to the pizza stone.}
Spread the butter and garlic mixture over dough and top with Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses. Top with a light sprinkling of salt and pepper, if desired. {That step is totally optional!}

Lauren's Latest original recipe.

Ingredients for quadruple the dough

4 cups warm water
3 tablespoons active dry yeast
1/4 cup honey {or sugar}
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons salt (or 1/6 cup)
1/2 cup olive or canola oil
12 cups bread flour {give or take depending on the heat & humidity}

Sweet, Sticky Chicken stir-fry

Ingredients

2 skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces

2/3 cup flour

1 tsp salt

2 T brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

1/2 cup reduced sodium soy sauce

4 tsp chopped fresh ginger root (or 1/2 tsp ground ginger)

4 tsp minced garlic

2 T hot sauce

salt and pepper to taste

2 T olive oil

1 head of broccoli

2 carrot, sliced into coins

2 cups brown rice, cooked

Directions

1. Steam broccoli and carrots for 5-10 minutes, until tender.

2. Place flour and salt in gallon ziplock bag. Dredge chicken pieces in flour, then place in pan with heated oil. Sear chicken then turn down heat and continue to cook until cooked through. Remove chicken from pan.

3. Mix together brown sugar, honey, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and hot sauce in a small bowl.

4. Pour sauce into pan previously used for chicken. Simmer uncovered until sauce thickens. Return chicken to the pan, add steamed broccoli and carrots, and coat to stir.

5. Serve over brown rice.

Kevin's hobo dinner

1-2 lbs potatoes, diced small

Olive oil for drizzling

Salt

Onion powder

Garlic powder

Rosemary

Can of green beans

Thinly sliced onions

Thinly sliced bell pepper

Precooked summer sausage, sliced

Ground breakfast sausage, browned

Crushed red pepper flakes

3 T butter

In medium bowl, drizzle olive oil onto diced potatoes, enough to coat. Sprinkle on spices generously and stir to coat thoroughly. 

Place seasoned potatoes on tin foil sheet or in casserole dish. Top with green beans, onions, peppers, and both kinds of sausage. Dot with butter cut into small cubes. Dash with crushed pepper flakes. Fold up foil packet or cover casserole dish with tin foil. 

If cooking in fire, Kevin said it only took 15 minutes (the fire was hot). If cooking in the oven, cook for ~45 minutes at 425, until potatoes and onions are soft. Remove foil and bake for another 5 minutes or so to crisp things up. (The green beans are the most sensitive so watch them to keep from burning or drying out too much.)

Better Copycat Costco Chicken Bake

All of the copycat recipes I found online just called for salad dressing of some sort. I find that when I make white ranch pizza sauce using straight salad dressing it's too strong for my taste. Luckily, a Costco employee posted a comment with a more accurate recipe. Oh my was it spot on! I kind of had to guess ingredient amounts, though, so bear with me. (And can you tell I have no clue how to write and publish a recipe???)

Ingredients for final bake 

Each bake ends up being almost 12 inches long

1 recipe of pizza dough (see here for my favorite recipe)

3 chicken breasts, cubed and cooked

1 cup mozzerella cheese

1 cup cheddar cheese 

1/2 cup diced green onions

1/2 cup bacon crumbles

2 cups medium-thick ranch white sauce (see below)

Roll out pizza dough until 1/4" thick and cut into 4 squares or rectangles. (The pizza dough recipe I use makes an 11" x 17" pizza dough so if you bought crust dough at the store it might be a different size, resulting in a different quantity of chicken bakes you can make.) In a medium mixing bowl, mix all ingredients together (except pizza dough, duh...) and spoon a quarter of the mixture onto each piece of dough. Roll up, leaving ends open somewhat as the rolls will lengthen as they cook. Sprinkle with shredded cheese. Bake at 425 F until lightly browned and you can hear the sauce inside sizzle. (If the end is still open it will start to bubble out a tiny bit.)

Ingredients for medium-thick ranch white sauce:

(I took the medium white sauce recipe from my Betty Crocker cookbook and modified it.)

2 T butter

2-3 T all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

dash pepper

1.5 cup milk

3 T ranch dressing powder (1 to 1.5 packets- I just buy it in bulk in bottles that are slightly larger than spice jars)

1. In a small saucepan melt butter over medium heat. Stir flour, salt, and pepper into melted butter until evenly combined with no lumps, making a roux.

2. Stir in milk all at once. Stir constantly to evenly distribute butter-flour mixture.

3. Stir the sauce over medium heat until the mixture bubbles across the entire surface and thickens.

4. Add 3 T ranch dressing powder and continue to cook and stir sauce 1 minute longer to completely cook flour.

Betty Crocker's Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

My aunt gave me the Betty Crocker "New Cookbook" (the edition printed in 1996) and this was one of the first recipes I started making in college. It became so much of a staple I even memorized the page number (#408). Recently while we were moving I didn't have access to my book so I called my sister and asked her to take a picture of the page number and text it to me so I could make them. It worked perfectly!

Ingredients

1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional- I leave them out)

1/4 cup chopped onions

2 T butter

1 (4 oz) can diced green chili peppers

1 (3 oz) package cream cheese, softened

1 T milk

1/4 tsp ground cumin

2 cups chopped cooked chicken

12 (7 in.) flour tortillas

1 (10.75 oz) can condensed cream of chicken or mushroom soup

1 (8 oz) carton of sour cream

1 cup milk

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

2 T chopped pecans (optional- I leave them out)

1 can large olives, chopped (I added this ingredient, they're not in the original)

Directions

1. In a skillet cook the 1/4 cup pecans (if using) and the onion in butter over medium heat till onion is tender and pecans are lightly toasted. Remove skillet from heat. Stir in 1 T of the canned green chili peppers. (When I don't feel like sauteed onions - like when I'm pregnant - I skip this step, and just add the 1 T of chili peppers when combining everything in step 2 and just add onion powder.)

2. (I like to pour a little of the cream sauce from step 3 to coat the bottom before placing in the tortillas.) In a medium mixing bowl combine softened cream cheese, the 1 T milk, cumin, and half the chopped olives; add nut mixture and chicken. Stir till combined. Spoon about 3 T of the chicken mixture onto each tortilla near edge; roll up. Place filled tortillas, seam sides down, in a 3-quart rectangular baking dish.

3. In a medium mixing bowl combine soup, sour cream, the 1 cup milk, remaining chopped olives, and remaining canned chili peppers. Pour the soup mixture evenly over the tortillas in the baking dish. Cover with foil and bake in a 350 degree F oven for about 35 minutes or till heated through. Remove foil. Sprinkle enchiladas with Monterey jack cheese and the 2 T pecans. Return to oven and bake about 5 minutes more or till cheese melts. 

Pan Pizza Crust

Adapted from Six Sisters Stuff

Ingredients

2-1/4 tsp active dry yeast (or instant)

1/2 tsp brown sugar

1-1/2 cups very warm water (~110 degrees F)

1 tsp salt

1 T Italian seasoning

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 T olive oil

3-1/3 cups all purpose flour (I tend to use more...probably due to the way I measure flour...)

Directions

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water and let it sit for 10 minutes. (I don't always let it sit because I use SAF instant yeast.)

2. Stir in the salt, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, Parmesan cheese, and olive oil. Mix in 2-1/2 cups flour. 

3. Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. (I do all of this in my Bosch mixer instead of on the counter.)

4. Place the dough in a well-oiled bowl, cover. Let rise until doubled, about an hour.

5. Punch down the down and form into a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute or so before rolling it out.

6. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, place your toppings on the dough and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza in a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise for 15 to 20 minutes before topping and baking. (I prefer to pre-cook my thick crusts for about 4 minutes in the preheated oven before topping and baking again.)

7. Bake pizza in preheated oven until cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15-20 minutes (less if you have prebaked your crusts.)

*This recipe will fill a 17x12 cookie sheet perfectly. Or you can roll it out and make three small pizzas by shaping and then placing into an 8" cake pan.

Ingredients for Double Recipe

Ingredients

4.5 tsp (1.5 T) active dry yeast (or instant)

1 tsp brown sugar

3 cups very warm water (~110 degrees F)

2 tsp salt

2 T Italian seasoning

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup olive oil

6-2/3 cups all purpose flour

Restaurant style fried rice

from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

4-6 cups cooked brown rice

1/2 bag frozen peas and carrots

2 T olive oil

2 eggs

soy sauce to taste

2 T sesame oil

Directions:

1. Cook brown rice ahead of time. 

2. In a small sauce pan, cook frozen peas and carrots according to package directions. Drain. In a separate frying pan, cook and scramble eggs.

3. Heat wok over high heat. Pour in olive oil, then stir in peas and carrots. Stir in cooked scrambled eggs and cooked rice. Shake in soy sauce. Toss to coat. Drizzle in sesame oil and toss again.