Easy Homemade Garlic Knots

I don't know what took me so long to try this. We are in trouble now.

I stole some pizza dough and made garlic knots out of it, before rolling out the rest into pizza crusts. They were amazing and I'll have to triple my recipe forever now so I have enough extra dough to make garlic knots.

Garlic Knots

Make pizza dough as usual. I'll include the recipe below, and here is the link for the full directions in case you haven't read them before. The preheated pizza stone is the key to the pizza crust.

Preheat oven (I used a toaster oven) to 350*. 

When the dough has risen, pull off bits and roll into a snake between your hands until it's about 6 inches long. Then tie into a knot and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Brush with Garlic Herb Butter and bake for about 20 minutes or until light brown on the bottoms. The tops of mine did not brown much at all. Brush with additional butter, if desired, and serve.

Garlic Herb Butter

1/4 cup Butter
1/4 tsp Salt
1 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Parsley
2 cloves Garlic, minced

Mix all ingredients well. I recommend making extra for dipping your garlic knots, and your pizza crust, and really you can just put it on top of your pizza....


Pizza Dough

1 tsp Active Dry Yeast
2/3 cup Warm Water (not hot)
2 cups Flour (white, whole wheat, or combo - if 100% WW I recommend whole wheat pastry flour)
1 tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Olive Oil

If you like a thicker crust, just double the recipe.  My pictures show a double batch.

Combine ingredients in mixer with dough hook, lock it down if your mixer has a locking mechanism, and let it go at low speed for 15 minutes.   Spray with olive oil and cover with a towel.  

Let rise for 1 hour in a warm area.  If your house is cold, go ahead and heat your oven, and set the bowl on the stovetop.  If you have laundry drying in the dryer, that's another place you could let it rise. I usually just leave mine in the kitchen but I'm in Florida and it's rarely cold in there.

Easy Cheddar Garlic Biscuits

Oh yes, I bet you know what these are. They are just as good as the restaurant chain and you can make them yourself for cheap!

Cheddar Garlic Biscuits

2 cups Baking Mix (I use Pamela's which is gluten-free)
1/2 cup Cheddar Cheese, grated
1 cup Milk or Buttermilk
1/4 cup Melted Butter
1-2 cloves Garlic, minced
1/8 tsp Salt
1/8 tsp Onion Powder
1/8 tsp Parsley


Preheat oven to 375*. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix the baking mix, cheese and milk well and scoop onto baking sheet. I used the large Pampered Chef and it made the perfect size biscuits. Bake for about 10 minutes or until they are golden brown.

Mix butter, garlic, salt, onion powder and parsley. When biscuits are done, brush butter mixture on each biscuit. Enjoy!

Sweet Dinner Rolls

These are the rolls I'm asked to make for special dinners like Thanksgiving.  They are quite sweet so you can easily cut down on the sweetener if you like (I usually do).  These rolls are great for sandwiches too.

Sweet Dinner Rolls

1 cup Milk or Buttermilk
5 Tbsp Butter
1 Egg
5 Tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
4 cups Flour (I use bread flour, you can use whole wheat or a combination of wheat and white)
2 1/2 tsp Yeast
Mix everything with an electric mixer with dough hook attached and on a low speed until well kneaded. Cover and let it rise for 1 hour. Punch down and let rest 5 minutes. 

Then make into rolls on ungreased baking sheet. Cover and allow to rise for 1 hour. 

Before Rising

After Rising

Bake at 350*:
Large rolls (12) Bake 12 minutes
Medium rolls (1Cool Bake 9 minutes
Small rolls (24) Bake 7 minutes

They don't get too brown on top, so don't keep them in until they are brown. When you check them, check the bottoms - they will be light brown - that is how you know they are done. (see first pic)

Pizza Crust

If I can manage to plan ahead by an hour, I can a have delicious homemade pizza made for a fraction of the cost of ordering delivery.  Hooray!

Pizza Crust

1 tsp Active Dry Yeast
2/3 cup Warm Water (not hot)
2 cups Flour (white, whole wheat, or combo - if 100% WW I recommend whole wheat pastry flour)
1 tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Olive Oil

If you like a thicker crust, just double the recipe.  My pictures show a double batch.

Combine ingredients in mixer with dough hook, lock it down if your mixer has a locking mechanism, and let it go at low speed for 15 minutes.   Spray with olive oil and cover with a towel.  

Let rise for 1 hour in a warm area.  If your house is cold, go ahead and heat your oven, and set the bowl on the stovetop.  If you have laundry drying in the dryer, that's another place you could let it rise.

Preheat your oven (and pizza stone) as high as your oven will go (mine is 550*). 

Stretch out the dough on parchment paper, and dock it with a fork to (hopefully!) prevent bubbles.

Top with sauce.

 
Add shredded cheese and toppings.

Carefully slide pizza onto the hot stone in the oven (parchment and all). Bake about 9 min or until cheese is bubbly and bottom of crust is brown. Cool 5 min before serving.

This is how my family's pizza looks - pepperoni and veggies for the grownups, just pepperoni and cheese for the boy and only cheese for the girl.  Sigh.

Pizza Sauce is coming up tomorrow but if you must have it for dinner today, here it is - original recipe by my husband:


Pizza Sauce

2 cups Tomato Sauce (1 14oz can is fine)
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1 Tbsp Oregano
1 Tbsp Basil
2-3 cloves Garlic, minced
10-15 drops Liquid Stevia, or a dash of sugar or agave, optional

Cornbread Muffins

Oh my, these were so good!  I made a big pot of chili and wanted some cornbread to go with them, so I adapted this recipe from allrecipes.com to cut down a little on the sugar.  They made perfect muffins.

Cornbread Muffins - makes 12

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

1/2 cup white sugar (yes I cut it down - you could cut it down more or sub honey or agave)

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup flour (white or whole wheat, or a combination)

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375*.  Prepare muffin pan (grease cups or line with paper liners).

Mix together and pour into prepared muffin pan.  Bake 20-30  minutes until done. (Insert toothpick into center of muffin - when it comes out clean, they are done.)  Serve - with butter!

I have a pair of cast iron muffin pans, so I preheated them in the oven.  When they were ready, I sprayed them quickly with olive oil, poured in the batter and baked the muffins.  This gave them that nice brown crispy outside.