Joel Is Da' Man!

We had some friends over tonight, 6 adults and 8 kids, so I asked Joel this morning if he would make up some of his famous pizza for the crowd. He said yes! I thought that I would share the pizza crust recipe that we use so that you too could make your own homemade pizza. The toppings are up to you, go ahead be creative, try something new and just enjoy!

PIZZA CRUST (makes 4 thin or 2 thick crust pizzas)
1 2/3 cups warm water
1 tsp lemon juice
2 TBL oil (we use olive oil)
2 TBL sugar
1 tsp salt
2 TBL dry milk (you can substitute liquid milk just reduce water by 2 TBL)
4 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp active dry yeast

I let my KitchenAid do a lot of the work for me. I add the warm water, sugar and yeast to the bowl, let it proof for about 5 minutes or until you see the yeast start to foam. Add the remaining ingredients and with the bread/kneading attachment mix on low until combined. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and let the machine knead the dough for 10-15 minutes. It can be noisy and our mixer likes to walk across the counter so don't leave the area. Pull the dough out of the bowl, form into a pretty ball, spray the bowl with oil, return the dough to the bowl and let it rise for about an hour or until about double in size. If you won't be ready to use it in an hour then put the bowl in the fridge to slow the rising. The rest of the work is done by Joel...

Split the dough into your desired amounts (2 pieces for thick or 4 pieces for thin crust). Roll out the dough, prick it with a fork, place on pizza pan and par bake for 5-7 minutes at 425 until it starts to get a little brown. At this point you can let it cool, wrap it in plastic wrap and place it in the freezer for a later date. Otherwise, top with your favorite pizza makings and put back into the oven for another 5-7 minutes. You want little bubbles to start forming in the cheese but hey, it's your pizza and there is a lot of leeway there so cook it until you think it looks great! Joel usually par bakes the crust on the pizza pan but cooks the topped pizza right on the oven rack.

Beautiful! This is after the rise.

Joel working the dough into it's pizza shape.

Poking all the holes in the dough.

Onto the pizza pan. Roll under the edge.

Fresh out of the oven - perfection!

Then turn it into these...
Edited to include recipe: These delights are known as "bones" in our household. Joel starts with a fresh (don't par bake this one) pizza crust. Brush on some olive oil, sprinkle with bones seasoning mix, top with Parmesan cheese and bake for 5-7 minutes until golden brown. Check for and pop any bubbles in the crust about half way through cooking time. If you like thin crispy bones roll out the crust and bake immediately if you like big chewy bones then roll out the dough and let them rise before baking. Serve with pizza or marinara sauce for dipping. This is the bulk recipe for the bones seasoning mix, you may want to half or quarter the recipe if you don't plan on making these very often.
3 cups garlic powder
1 cup Italian seasoning
1 TBL cayenne
1 TBL ground black pepper

or these...

or this - enjoy!