Pizza Night!

I have a couple of pizza dough recipes that I like--I haven't done a scientific taste test so I'm not sure which is my favorite. I'll post both and let you decide.

Pizza Hut Dough

1/4 c dry milk
1/2 t salt
1 T sugar
1 pkg yeast (2 1/4 t)
1 1/3 c water (105 degrees)
2 T oil
4 c flour

Put dry milk, salt, sugar and yeast in a large bowl. Add water and stir to mix well. Let it stand for 2 minutes. Add oil and stir again. Add flour and stir until dough forms and flour is absorbed. Turn out onto a flat surface and knead for 10 minutes (I don't usually make it the whole 10 minutes--you could also do this in a BOSCH). Divide dough into 3 equal balls. Cover the bottom of 3 9-inch cake pans with oil, spreading evenly. Using a rolling pin, roll out each dough ball. Place in cake pans. Spray outer edge of dough with cooking spray (I don't always do this). Cover with a plate, place in a warm area and let dough rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Top pizzas with desired toppings. Bake pizzas at 457 degrees for 10 minutes.


"Pizza Caterpillar"/Pizza Dough
I got this recipe from my neighbor in Fort Wayne. It's a stuffed pizza braid and my kids love it. They nicknamed it pizza caterpillar and request it all the time. It looks fancy and really isn't hard to make--it's fun! I also use this dough to make regular pizza. Tonight I doubled the recipe and made one of each.

3 1/4 cups flour, divided
1 T sugar
1 t salt
1 pkg yeast (2 1/4 t)
1 c warm water
1 T butter, melted

Mix 2 1/4 cups of flour with the sugar, salt and yeast. Stir in the water and butter. Mix in only enough of the remaining cup of flour to make a soft dough (I usually don't add much of it). Knead for 4 minutes (by hand or in a mixer).

To make pizza: roll out the dough on a pizza stone, top with desired toppings and bake at 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes. (No rising time for this pizza dough)
To make pizza braid: roll out dough into a 10x14 rectangle on a greased baking sheet. Spread sauce down the center third of the dough. Top with a layer of pepperoni and cheese (or whatever you want--I've used sauce, olive oil, just cheese, etc). Make slices in the dough from the filling to the dough edges at 1-inch intervals. Fold the dough strips at an angle over the filling, alternating sides for a braided look (my kids love helping with this step). Brush the top with a beaten egg white (or olive oil) and sprinkle with garlic salt and Parmesan cheese. Bake for 18-25 minutes at 400 degrees.