hershey's-chocolate-kissesI made the monthly Sam’s run for Chocolate Kisses this week. Remember I told you that I get looks and comments whenever I buy the Loopy Kisses? This is what 105 pounds of kisses looks like (along with peanut M&M’s for the Elves, and 3200 page protectors for the May Sock Club and Sock Club Lite patterns). I’m thinking this might be my last kisses run until the fall, since we have to switch to non-melting options for the warm weather. And warm weather starts up here pretty darned soon. (No one blinks twice when I walk by with a cart full of peppermints. Go figure.)

So what’s your least favorite household chore? Mine is grocery shopping. (Well, really, the whole process. Menu planning, shopping, dragging it all in from the car, putting it all away.) I like cleaning, I don’t mind laundry, and I like cooking and baking. But grocery shopping? Not at all.

And speaking of cooking and baking, I’m sharing a pizza crust recipe with you today. Why just the crust? This is from Cook’s Illustrated (love that magazine) and the whole deep dish pizza recipe is too long to type it all out for you. But the crust was the best part of it, anyway. :-)  I thought their sauce recipe was ok, but next time I’ll use my grandma’s spaghetti sauce for this pizza. This was adapted for my big deep dish pizza pan, but you can split it up for smaller pans. Don’t be put off with the wordy instructions. It’s actually pretty simple, and totally worth it.

delicious-deep-dish-pizza-doughDelicious Deep Dish Pizza Dough

4 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
2 1/4 tsp. salt
3 tsp. sugar
1 1/2 packs instant or rapid rise yeast (just over 3 tsp.)
15 oz. water, room temperature
4 1/2 Tbl. unsalted butter, melted
plus 6 Tbl, softened
1 1/2 tsp. plus 6 Tbl. olive oil

Mix flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer and knead with the bread hook on low speed for about a minute. Add water and melted butter and mix until fully combined (low speed). Mix at medium spead for 4-5 minutes until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl as it mixes. Coat a large bowl with 1 1/2 tsp. olive oil and put the dough into the oiled bowl (flipping it once so that the top and bottom are coated in oil). Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled (about 45-60 minutes).

When done, turn dough out onto a dry work surface and roll into a 12 x 15 rectangle. Spread the softened butter over the surface, leaving a half inch border around the edges. Roll up into a tube (starting with the short side and rolling to the other short side). Now flatten the tube into an 18 x 4 inch rectangle. Fold the rectangle into thirds (folding the short ends in). Pinch the seams together and return to the oiled bowl, cover with plastic and let double again (about 45 – 60 minutes).  Turn out onto a dry work surface and roll into the size circle you need for your pizza pan. (Note – you can split the dough before the final rise, if you’re going to be making smaller pizzas.)

We added cheese, sauce and toppings (in that order), ending with Parmesan cheese on the top. For Deep Dish Pizza, bake at 425 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

I’m off for Spring Break – yay! At the moment, we’re driving through the lovely state of Kansas, heading to the mountains. Knitting Daughter will join us for the week and Web Guy will join us for a long weekend (no more Spring Breaks for Web Guy – it’s all Working World now.) I’ll be back in the office on the 5th, but I’ll blog on Monday to let you know what we’re putting up for you that night. Of course Loopy goes on whether I’m here or not, thanks to Awesome Susan and the Elves. I just love them.

Contest winners on Monday!

Sheri whoplanstobesnoozingwhenwepassthecreepywindturbines