Rise and Shine it's PIZZA TIME!!!!

Finding the perfect pizza dough is one of the most important ingredients to making a perfect pizza every time! Not only is this wonderful dough excellent for pizza, but also for making our one of a kind cheesy garlic bread sticks. What we love about this dough is that you can make thin, hand-tossed, or deep dish pizza out of one recipe, and it turns out just right every time! Our pizza sauce is made from scratch using our freezer tomato juice from previous posts.

Mama Ter's Pizza Dough: makes 2 pizzas

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 Tbsp. yeast
1 Tbsp.sugar
1/2 tsp.salt                                                

3 Tbsp. oil
4 cups flour

Pizza Dough Directions: Dissolve yeast in warm water, and add a little sugar at a time until foamy (don't stir and let it sit for 5 min.) Add salt and oil to yeast mixture, and beat for a few minutes until smooth. Add 2 cups flour ,and beat until smooth. Add the rest of the flour, and add more as needed. Mix by hand until the dough is soft, non sticky, and all blended in. Knead for about 5 minutes, place in clean greased bowl. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let the dough raise for 1 hour. Meanwhile pre-heat oven to 425 F. Sprinkle a pizza stone with cornmeal or spray a pizza pan and then sprinkle cornmeal on it. Roll out dough, and then cover with sauce and pizza toppings. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

* For a variation you may substitute 1 Tbsp. of honey for 1 Tbsp. of oil for a sweeter crust. Another variation is you can spread butter on pizza dough before adding toppings for a richer buttery taste.

Teri's Rich Pizza Sauce:Makes enough for 4 pizzas

Ingredients:
1- 12 oz. can tomato paste
1- 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 tsp. oregano
1 1/2 Tbsp. parsley flakes
1/4 tsp. onion salt
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
2 cups tomato juice(fresh tomato juice is the best)

Pizza Sauce Directions: Mix in a sauce pan, and simmer on low heat for 20 minutes.
 ( this sauce can also be frozen for future uses)


Garlic Cheese Bread Sticks:

Ingredients:
1 stick softened butter
Garlic Powder (sprinkle to desired taste)

1 cup parmesan cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Enough pizza dough to cover 1 rectangle cookie sheet

Directions: Roll out dough on greased cookie sheet, spread softened butter evenly on dough. Sprinkle with garlic powder and cheese.Bake at 425 F for 10-15 min, until outside edges of crust are golden brown.

* Use pizza sauce for dipping sauce for bread sticks*