Almost Turkey Day!!!

This is a picture I took earlier in the year, but it shows some of what I am grateful for, the beauty I am surrounded by.

I have the turkey and the ham and all the trimmings, including my homemade cranberry sauce. Now all I need is Jim and my Thanksgiving will be complete. Well, actually it would be more complete if the kids, grand kids and great grand kids could all be here. That would be wonderful, but I will take what I can get. I also bought supplies to make Jim cheesecake, which he loves. I am thinking I will take half of it to Ellen and Scott, that way we will only be half as bad. Also planning to make cookies and pet treats, Charlie let me know he was disappointed that I was out. You know that look they give you, like OK, I was good, now where is my goodie??

The weather has been warm? in the 30's. I still have problems associating warm with temps below 50. With the sun and the calm air it really is pleasant outside, brisk would be a good description. It is nice walking the dogs around, except when Charlie spots or sniffs a bird. Then I have to hold on as quail explode around me, or a rabbit takes off. Charlie would have been a great field dog. I have been toying with the idea of seeing how he would do with agility training. Right now he is so hyper but I am thinking by the Spring he might be calm enough to work with.

I had mentioned perfecting my pizza making and Violet Lady asked for the recipe, so here it is. One important thing, make sure to use Bread Flour, it is high gluten and gives the dough elasticity.

I package of yeast= 2 1/4 teaspoon 1 Cup warm water 1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt 2 Tablespoons oil 2 1/2 cups bread flour

Combine water and yeast then add sugar. Have flour in mixing bowl and whisk salt into it, then add oil and liquid. Mix slowly, I use a spatula to fully incorporate the ingredients. If you have a heavy duty mixer at this point I attach the dough hook and mix until a ball forms. Mix for 2-3 min. You can also knead on flour covered surface if you do not have the heavy duty mixer.

Lightly grease a bowl, put dough into bowl and turn dough until all sides are coated with oil. Cover and let rise for approximately 20 minutes. This needs to be a warm area.

Roll out on flour covered surface using only enough flour to keep dough from sticking. I have also discovered that I can put the dough on my cookie sheet and kind of press it into place. Very important, using a fork poke holes all over your dough, other wise you end up with all kinds of bubbles in your crust. There is actually a tool you can buy, a roller with tines you can roll over the crust. Pre-bake crust for about 5 min.
Add sauce and toppings , return to oven and bake for about 10-15 additional minutes at 450 degrees.

I mention the warm area as the last time Jim was home it was chilly in the kitchen and the dough was not rising. I ended up putting the bowl in hot water, as I was in a hurry it still did not rise as much as usual and I ended up with a thick crust. It was still OK, but usually we have a thinner crisper crust. I have tried all types of toppings and like being able to monitor the amounts that go on. I was surprised at how easy all this is. The dough is the kind that is nice and stretchy just like the kind in the pizza parlors that they toss around.

I bake this on a cookie sheet and cut it into 9 pieces. Good luck and enjoy. I hope I have included everything.

I wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving, remembering what the day is about. No meltdowns over trivial things. Being glad for all we have and not worrying about what we do not have.