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The kind folks at OXO sent us a kitchen scale to try out and it couldn't have come at a better time. I'd been wanting to make Alton Brown's recipe for pizza dough and Alton only weighs flour by weight, not by volume. I had attempted this recipe last weekend with miserable failure because I tried to convert weight to volume by asking "the google."
So when The Wife told me what came in the mail, I was looking forward to trying this again. We love to make pizza dough and have a great recipe that's never failed us, but I'm always interested in trying out an Alton recipe.
Back to the fine folks at OXO - not only did they send us one kitchen scale, the sent a second for one lucky reader - That means it's GIVEAWAY TIME! Details following the recipe.
Ingredients:9 1/2 ounces of Flour (recipe calls for bread flour, but I used all purpose)
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
5 teaspoons olive oil
3/4 warm (100-105 degree) water
Directions:
Place your mixing bowl on the OXO food scale, zero it out and measure out 9 1/2 ounces of flour.
Add in your yeast, sugar, salt and 2 teaspoons of olive oil and whisk to combine.
Making sure you have the dough hook attachment on, turn to "stir" and add the water. When the dough has come together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, turn the speed up to halfway (6 on a KitchenAid) and knead the dough for 10 minutes.
Place the dough on a lightly floured cutting board, kneading until smooth.
Put the remaining olive oil into your mixing bowl, and return the dough to the bowl,
Roll it around so it's covered with the olive oil, cover with a warm towel and place somewhere warm and let the dough rise for an hour. (This is where Alton and I part ways, he says to let the dough rise in the fridge for 24 hours, but I didn't have that much time- maybe next week.)
After an hour, your dough should have more or less doubled in size.
Preheat your oven to it's highest setting, mine is 525 - and make sure you're pizza stone is in the oven as it warms.
Turn it our onto a lightly floured cutting board and cut in half. At this point you can either make two pizzas,or set one ball aside for another project. I used the second dough ball for breadsticks to accompany dinner later that night.
I always find it easiest to start by patting your dough out into a circle as flat as you can get it, then use your rolling pin to get it to your desired flatness. Make sure to turn the dough over several times. Add flour as needed (by the tablespoon/large pinch.)
When it's as flat as you want it, place about one tablespoon of cornmeal on a pizza peel and transfer.
Give it another roll with the rolling pin and poke a bunch of holes in it with a fork - this will keep it from having large air bubbles in the oven.
Put the pizza on your pizza stone and bake for 1-2 minutes, just long enough for the dough to get firm enough that you can put toppings on and it will slide off of your pizza peel. (if you try to place toppings on the fresh dough, you'll never slide it off of your peel onto your pizza stone.)
Voila - you're just made pizza dough. And you'll never go back to store bought stuff again.
Now top it as you like. I did olive oil, sliced garlic, tomatoes, spinach and fresh mozzarella - topped with garlic powder and red pepper flakes.
Bake until the edges are golden brown and you cheese is melted - about 7-8 minutes.
We both really enjoyed this dough - it seemed to be sturdier than our standard dough, although I attribute that to the increased kneading - cultivating the glutens in the flour. Next time, I'll allow it to rise for the full 24 hours, but either way, this was delicious.
Enjoy!
Now on to the GIVEAWAY! One lucky reader will receive this OXO Good Grips 5lb Food Scale with Pull-Out Display courtesy of OXO. This is a great product and we LOVE the pull-out display - so convenient for big bowls, etc.
To Enter:1. Like
One Couple's Kitchen on Facebook and leave a comment here letting us know you have done so.
2. For a
2nd entry, follow us on Twitter @1CouplesKitchen & leave a comment here letting us know you did so. OR if you already follow us on Twitter, leave us a comment letting us know that you already do.
3. For a
3rd entry, follow us on Pinterest & leave a comment here letting us know you did so.
4. For a
4th entry, tweet our giveaway to your followers and leave us another comment letting us know you did so.
ALL ENTRIES MUST BE RECEIVED NO LATER THAN 11 P.M. EST ON THURSDAY, MARCH 15TH. Winner will be chosen at random.
Winner will be announced on
Friday, March 16th! Saturday March 17th! (Sorry for the delay!)
Finally. After a long time saving and a long time looking I bought a car.Its a 2003 Toyota Avalon with decent miles on the odometer.Not exactly the sporty black baby with moon roof and rumbling varoom I had in mind but still with style.
I opted for sensible, like-new appearance, smooth ride, roomy interior, quiet and good over-all reviews(but slightly humdrum) 
The toothy smiley face is growing on me The convenience of having a second car and not dropping John off at work to be mobile is very nice.Still dreaming about my next car though. The really fun one to drive :)
Our baby celebrated her 21st birthday with a little help from some of her nieces and nephews.
Flowers from my garden decorated a yellow cake with her favorite Fluffy Chocolate Frosting
Raider creatively arranged the pillow for his snooze on the sofa. 
In the spring we contacted our township about a tree at the curb that was in decline. They arrived today to remove it.
The township planted trees in our neighborhood many years ago and sadly some of them are now in need of removal.
I saw what is probably one of the last hummers of the season at the feeder.
And something that makes me very happy...I got my new-to-me car in the garage!The past few weeks I have been working diligently downsizing and disposing of things we don't need.I have gone through every closet, nook and cranny.It feels much better already and reminds me of a song from a while back that I loved by Sara Groves and Joel Hanson called Traveling Light.
I served it at our Bible study where it was enjoyed. Someone even asked for the recipe.The cake was moist as I expected, the flavor was pleasant and the cream cheese frosting great but still not exactly what I was looking for. I'm going to try a Bundt cake next.
His tweet got me thinking about how to help even more. Remember the little fundraiser we did for Monterey Bay and Heifer International? I was happy to report of the $300 we raised. So I thought, why not try to help out this cause for AB's birthday here too.
Alton Brown will help the Tennessee Aquarium with their new sustainable seafood endeavor later this fall. The "Serve and Protect" project will raise awareness and promote local and sustainable seafood choices.
I love making things from scratch. If I were to ever open a restaurant, I would make everything from scratch - from the rolls on the table, the salad dressings and the pasta. I've never understood why more restaurants don't make more things in house. But that's another post for another day.
