Pretending

{Updated with recipe at the bottom} 

Sunday marked the maiden voyage of this bad boy:

Pizza has been on the menu for the last couple of Saturdays, but due to last minute changes never ended up being made.  When this Sunday rolled around I figured we had better finally make it for dinner before Jane and Sophie ate through the NEWEST packs of pepperoni I had just bought.  Making pizza sounds  more complicated than it really is.  It's actually pretty easy, especially with the help of a Kitchen Aid.  It's a bit TIME consuming -- and definitely requires planning ahead (for the dough to rise, etc.) -- but it's really not all that difficult.  We first started making pizza from scratch a couple of years ago due to Sophie's allergies.  Without knowing what exactly was in the recipes from various pizza places, it was just easier to make it ourselves to be sure that Sophie wouldn't have an allergic reaction.  An added bonus was that each kid could customize their "own" pizza and we were able to avoid meltdowns from the children over what they wanted (or didn't want) on our pizza.  These days we order from Domino's quite a bit -- with a small cheese-free and garlic-butter-free pizza for Sophie -- but every now and then we still make it from scratch.

This Sunday, as I got out the mixer and started dumping everything in, I realized we were all out of whole wheat flour.  I didn't want to have to switch gears once again, so I decided to pull out the wheat grinder that we've had for almost 4 years now and have NEVER used.  I bought it with our first tax returns when we were living in Cincinnati and it has sat in the box -- unopened -- in our food storage pantry ever since.  I had grand plans to build up our 2 year supply and store lots of wheat and grind our own flour and make our own bread but all those plans quickly evaporated when I discovered that the closest Bishop's Storehouse was a couple hours away in Columbus and I didn't know where else I could easily procure large amounts of wheat.

Fast forward to last year during one of my normal Wal-Mart runs here where I found 25 lb bags of wheat in the flour aisle.  I've never seen anything like that at Wal-Mart!  I grabbed the bag, bought it, and carted it home.  And then stashed it in the basement where it has sat for several months now in the food storage pantry just WAITING to be ground into flour by the little red hen.  Hahahaha.  Well, this little red hen had two little helpers who were overly eager to offer their services with the grinding of the wheat and the making of the pizza dough.







Ethan was especially excited about the grinder.  I think it was probably the coolest thing he's ever helped with in his young life.  Although, to be honest, I thought it was pretty cool myself.  Hahahaha.  It was at this point that I told Scott that I felt like I was the Pioneer Woman.  One can pretend, right?

Wheat waiting to be ground.

{Ethan's helpful little hand.}

Freshly ground flour.

Sophie was particularly interested in "helping" to knead the dough and divide it into little balls.  

Don't let the sweet little dimpled face fool you.  This was an isolated incident of cooperation and peacefulness from the super muppet.  Not five minutes after the dough was set to rise, she (along with pretty much all of the children) dissolved into a spewing, splattering thunderstorm of a fit when things didn't go her way in a family game of "Scriptionary" {think Pictionary but with scripture stories.}

It was a Sunday after all and NONE of the children were having a fantastic day.  Scott had taken Grace home before church even started that day because she felt "sick" and thought she was going to throw up.  Jane went with them because I didn't think I could handle four kids by myself especially if one of those were Jane. I figured she could probably use a nap anyway since she was up so much the night before.  As it turned out Grace was just carsick and once she was home she perked right up and kept Jane perked up as well.  Naptime did not happen for anyone.  When the rest of us got home Ethan and Grace were in hypo hyper mode for the rest of the day and Sophie and Jane were just plain cranky.  Mostly because our bedtime story has remained pretty consistent over the last few weeks.

To finish up the day, the kids were losing it by dinner time, so I whipped up the pizzas without their help, made them eat as quickly as possible, and then shuffled those children right off to bed!  Because that always goes really smoothly.  Hahahaha.

Homemade Pizza.  It was really good.

*  *  *

And lastly -- while we're still pretending -- I think I might have been a bit insane when I decided to sign up for this Ironman Triathlon Challenge.  It has only just dawned on me that aside from being a very real physical challenge, it will also require a major time commitment as well.  In order to keep up with the weekly goals, I think I might have to pull some two-a-days.  What?  Who am I???  And what was I thinking????  Hahahaha.

UPDATE:                                              Pizza Dough Recipe

{I think this recipe is pretty good, and we obviously like it enough to use it whenever we make pizza, but just as a disclaimer I am NOT making any claims that this is the BEST pizza dough EVER.  K? Hahahaha.}

2 1/2 c. warm water (I just get hot water from the tap)
2 T. yeast
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. honey
7-8 cups flour (I use about 2-3 c. of whole wheat flour and regular bread flour for the rest.  Add the last few cups slowly until the dough pulls away from the side and is slightly tacky to the touch but not sticky.  Depending on humidity you might not need all of it or you might need more.)

1.) Mix and knead for 10 minutes (or until it pulls clean from side of mixer).
2.) Cover and let rise for 30 minutes or until its doubled in size.
3.) Divide into 24 balls and let rise for another 30 minutes (or pat out onto 2 cookie sheets).
4.) Flatten each dough ball into a miniature sized pizza and add sauce and toppings.
5.) Bake at 425 for about 12-15 minutes depending on your oven.