Long Time No See and Pizza Hut Pizza Dough

Wow! I haven’t posted since January 10th! Miss me? ;)

Long time no see huh? I thought I should post to inform you guys that no, I have not fallen off the face of the earth or been eaten by human eating zombie dolphins. Or something like that.

I’ve had a bunch of different stuff going on at the same time in my personal life that has made it impossible for me to update regularly. Long story short lets just say that life has not been nice. And I will be accepting your prayers. ;) Heres hoping that things will get better soon! (On a side note! My horoscope said that I’ve been going through a lot the past few months, but that there are new great changes coming for the better! So fingers crossed ;))

Anywho, enough about me. How have you all been? I have soooo many things I need to do food blog related wise. I was in the midst of a ‘blog renovation’ before life started sucking, so I will definitely be trying to get back to that! I also need to go check out a bunch of food blogs for all those posts I’ve missed!

Now, on to the yumminess! Growing up, making pizza was a standard in my house. On weekends my mom would ‘wing it’ and make some dough, and we would slather on some ketchup and sprinkle on some cheese and veggies. Now that I’m more of a, what would you call it….food snob? This simply wont do! I have been searching for a good pizza dough for a while now, and a little while ago I stumbled on this beauty. Pizza Hut crust clone? Yes please! I’ve got to say I was pleasantly surprised! The crust was puuuurfect … I promise you best pizza dough you will ever taste. If its not, I want YOUR recipe!

What I love about this is you can toss in the ingredients into the bread maker and have it do all the work. Do you work all day? Toss in your ingredients into the dough maker, and set your timer so that when you get home you have ready made fresh dough. Spread your pizza sauce on top and sprinkle on your toppings and you have prepped dinner in 5 minutes!

Now what do I mean when I say this crust is awesome? My definition of a perfect crust is to have a nice ‘sound’ when you tap it…nice and crunchy on the outside and soft hot bread on the inside. Mmmm…..pizza crust….

Copy Cat Pizza Hut Dough Crust

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups water
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons cornmeal ( I used semolina)
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

Directions:
1. Add ingredients (except for cornmeal (or semolina)) to machine bread pan in order as per manufacturer's instructions. Set to "Dough" cycle.

2. Lightly grease your pan and sprinkle with cornmeal.

3. When the dough cycle is complete, roll out dough and place in pan. Let rest in pans for 10-15 minutes. Add toppings of your choice.

4. Bake at 350°F until done (approximately 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of toppings).

Read more...

Cinnamun buns....oh how thee haunt me!

Ah yes, sorry for the lack of posts. I've been uber busy with school. In fact...I should probably be working on my Law Essay instead of posting....but alas I am here!;)

Today, Im going to blog about Cinnamon Buns:

Is there anything better? :) Well a little while ago, my mom said she had a killer crave for cinnamon buns.I obliged. Instead of going to my "go-to" cinamon bun recipe, I tried one that was called "Clone of a Cinnabon"...I thought ,...you cant go wrong with that right? So I tried it.

Man.

It was brutal.

The recipe's dough was supposed to be made with a bread maker, So I startd adding the ingridints to the mixer. But soon I realized the recipe was WAY to big. I recuded the flour, and the bowl for the mixer was FULL. Needless to say, the mixing didnt work out in the breadmachine...:/

So I tossed it ino my kitchen aid mixer. That didnt work too well either.

So....I threw it in a bowl and kneaded by hand. Then I left it to poof a little...and it OVER poofed :P

aye-vay.

needless to say...it was a disaster.

So. I went back to my own recipe. It really is a wonderful recipe. I *love* it so very much! Its UBER simple to make and tastes DELICIOUSSS! Its a recipe that everyone....EVERYONE asks me for....but for some reason I could nevr quite bring myself to share it...its just *that*special ;)

I dont know why I *had* to try the other recipe.....even though this one is so yummy but I did...(and I plan on giving it ONE more shot....just dividing the recipe in half!)

So without further adu....here is the recipe!:)

Easy Peasy Cinnamon Buns

Makes about 15.... I usually double the recipe...or even quadruple it ;)

Dough:

2 cups of flour
2 TBSP granulated Sugar
1 Tbsp + 1 Tsp Baking Powder ** I know its a lot! But it makes the buns POOF incredibly!
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 cup butter (or margarine)
3/4 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 350F

2. In a large bowl mix together all the dry ingridients.

3. Cut in the butter and mix until crumbly
4. Make a well in the center of the mix, and pour the milk into the middle.
5. Stir to form a soft dough adding a bit more flour or milk as necessary. ( I usually use a pair of clean hands ;) )
6. Turn out on to a lightly floured surface, and kneed a few times.
7. Roll the dough into a rectangle. I have found that when the dough is rolled out horizontally it yields more cinnamon buns, and when rolled vertically, it yields bigger buns.

Topping:

1/3 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon

1. There are different ways to spread the topping in, but my favourtie way is to spread the butter all over the dough with a butter knife, like you would spread butter on toast. its the easiest and most convinient way to do it. Also, since the butter isnt melted...it wont ooze out when you roll it. Then just sprinkle on the brownsuagr and cinnamon...ofcourse adjust the amount to taste...I personally LOVE a LOT more cinamonn and sometimes even add some walnuts!

Then Roll up the dough like a jelly roll to make it into a long narrow log. Cut into 15 equal slices (or as much as youd like)

Place the buns into a greased baking ban. by baking pan I dont mean a sheet pan but a baking one...like this one (it doesnt have to be springform!)

Allow at least an inch all around for each cinnamon bun, because these things poof like crazy when baked.

Bake for about 15 min or until light brown.

Top it off with some glaze (mix 1/2cup icing sugar with 1 tbsp milk) or make cream cheese frosting or anything else you like to put on top!

Enjoy! Let me know in the comments if you do make it! I'd love to see pics!

Well thats it for now...Its 10:39 pm...and I should probably get to that pesky Law essay...:/ *sigh* only 5 more weeks of school left before exams!

Read more...