Homeade Pizza & Breadsticks!!

One of my meal projects last week was to make homemade pizza crust.  I normally use store-bought crust, but I had some bread flour on hand, so I decided to put it to use! I think my yeast had lost some of its activeness because it didn’t bubble as much as it should and of course my dough didn’t rise as much as IT should! It was still very good and I even made a batch of it for breadsticks. I will be attempting to make these breadsticks again soon with new yeast! These weren’t as soft as I like, but I’m blaming the yeast!!

And….you can’t make homemade pizza without homemade PIZZA SAUCE!! This pizza sauce is very good with just the right amount of herbs…I used it on the pizza and for dipping the breadsticks in. Yum, Yum, Yum!!!

Pizza Crust or Breadsticks (Makes 1 crust or about 10 breadsticks)

 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

1 teaspoon white sugar

1 cup warm water (110 degrees F)

2 ½ cups bread flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon basil

½ teaspoon oregano

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon onion powder

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. In a medium bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Add yeast and let stand for about 10 minutes.

3. In a small bowl, mix olive oil, salt, basil, oregano, garlic powder, and onion powder.

4. Sift flour into yeast mixture. Add oil mixture and beat until smooth. Let rest for 5 minutes.

5. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and pat into circle. Transfer to a greased pizza pan.

6. Bake for 8 minutes. Then, remove from oven and spread with desired toppings. Return to oven for another 8-10 minutes. (This helps the crust to bake more evenly and prevents the possibility of having a gooey crust).

7. For Breadsticks, form into ball, and then roll out into sticks. Place on greased pan and bake for 12-14 minutes.

Pizza Sauce

1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

1 tablespoon basil

1 tablespoon oregano

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Mix all ingredients until blended well. (If you like your sauce thin as our family does, this will cover 2 pizzas).

Can you tell that I LOVE mushrooms???